Today we can celebrate a big win in the fight for a fairer democracy. The government has announced in its English Devolution & Community Empowerment Bill that it will be scrapping First Past the Post (FPTP) for mayoral and Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections and reinstating the more representative Supplementary Vote (SV) system.
Since the first elected mayors were created in 2000, and then PCCs in 2012, the elections were held under SV, which gives voters a first and second preference vote. Under the system, if no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote on first preferences, all but the top two candidates are eliminated and their second preferences distributed to the remaining two candidates. The candidate with the most votes once the second preferences have been counted wins.
The system ensures that the votes of more people count towards the result and candidates secure office with broader backing from their community.
However, the last government decided to move mayoral and PCC elections from SV to FPTP in its 2022 Elections Bill. This move was vehemently opposed by the ERS and other democracy organisations, who warned it would remove choice from voters, mean fewer votes counted, and lower the bar for politicians to take power.
This was not just an esoteric argument about electoral systems, it had real world consequences for communities and our democracy. Elected mayors and PCCs make crucial decisions that impact every person in their area, so it is vital that they command broad support. In short, who wins these offices and how much support they command from their communities matters.
The damaging impact of First Past the Post
Since FPTP was introduced in 2023, the ERS has chronicled the damaging impact it has had on every election. Over the last three years we saw the warnings we made when the 2022 bill was going through come to pass: politicians winning powerful offices on smaller and smaller vote shares and wielding 100% of the power despite large majorities of voters not backing them.
This year alone we saw mayors elected on as little as 25% of the vote in the West of England and last year there were PPCs elected on less than a third (31%) of the vote. We also saw the Mayor of London elected on the smallest mandate ever last year.
This trend became even more alarming considering the government is set to give elected mayors even more powers over larger areas. This meant we faced a trend where mayors would have even more influence over communities while facing less accountability at the ballot box. That is not a dynamic that would strengthen trust in democracy.
Alongside our public campaign, raising awareness of the detrimental effect FPTP was having on each election, we also have been making the case to ministers to switch back to a fairer, more representative voting system. Our members and supporters have played a key role in this effort in pressing for a fairer voting system, with 10,000 of you adding your voices to a petition.
ERS supporters made a strong the case to move back to a fairer system
So we are delighted that the government has listened, and future mayoral and PCC elections will be held under SV again. This is good news for voters who will have more choice and more ways to ensure their vote counts. SV will also raise the bar for politicians, as they will again have to secure broad backing from voters to win power.
We should give full credit to ministers here, as their decision to restore these elections to a more representative electoral system is a big step in the right direction for improving confidence in our politics.
Days like today show what can be achieved when we persevere and work together to make the case for a stronger democracy.
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