Today, in his first conference speech as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham committed his party to changing the way we elect MPs. It is hard to overstate how significant that is.
Speaking in Liverpool, he told the hall: “We will contest the next election with a manifesto commitment to change the electoral system, so that everyone’s vote counts and everyone’s voice is heard.”
He went further, announcing a new National Commission on Electoral Reform and inviting all the political parties to be part of its work.
For a prime minister to make that commitment from the conference stage is a remarkable moment. It is also an acknowledgement of reality. Labour won 63% of MPs on just 34% of the vote in 2024, yet that huge majority did not deliver stability. We are now on our seventh prime minister in ten years – a fact the Prime Minister himself referenced.
The Prime Minister’s pledge for a new commission to look at electoral reform is an important step in the right direction. This needs to be an independent and trusted process that focuses on making sure Parliament properly reflects the way the country voted.
How did we get here?
There is a growing problem with our democracy in that Parliament is looking less and less like the way people voted. The last general election saw the biggest mismatch in British history between the votes people cast and the seats parties won.
This announcement didn’t happen by accident. It happened because people signed petitions, wrote to their MPs, turned up at meetings and kept making the case, year after year, when plenty of people said it would never happen.
The ERS team has been in Liverpool for the last few days, and the mood has been striking. At fringe events and in the corridors, we have met MPs, councillors, members and trade unionists. Many of them no longer want to talk about whether the voting system should change, but how.
A commission is the right place to start. In my home country, New Zealand, it was an independent royal commission that set out the case for proportional representation.
We have the added benefit that we already have a wealth of experience in the UK, as we have had proportional systems for decades in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and London. Done properly, a commission can build the cross-party consensus that lasting reform needs. Inviting every party in is a welcome sign.
What happens next?
But we have been campaigning long enough to know that a promise made at conference, is not a change in the law.
Supporters of the status quo, and there are some in every party, will be hoping this commitment quietly fades once the conference lights go down. Commissions can be kicked into the long grass. Manifesto pledges can be watered down.
The Commission needs to be an independent look at what should replace First Past the Post, bringing together experts and the public to build consensus.
Last year, Andy Burnham told a rally at this same conference that “PR’s time has come”. Today he took a big step towards proving it. The job for all of us now is to make sure he finishes it.
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