Elections in The United Kingdom - Current Issues - Electoral Reform

Electoral Reform

Some British parties, mainly the Liberal Democrats, have long proposed that the current First Past the Post system used for general elections be replaced with another system. The introduction of proportional representation has been advocated for some time by the Liberal Democrats, and some pressure groups such as Charter 88, Unlock Democracy and the Electoral Reform Society. In 1998 and 2003 Independent Commissions were formed to look into electoral reform. Following the 2005 election, in which Labour was elected with the lowest share of the national vote for any single party majority government in British history, more public attention was brought to the issue. The national compact newspaper The Independent started a petition, to campaign for the introduction of a more proportional system immediately after the election, under the title "Campaign For Democracy". The broad-based Make Votes Count Coalition currently brings together those groups advocating reform.

After the UK 2010 general election, the new coalition government agreed to stage a referendum on voting reform, which took place on 5 May 2011, with voters given the choice of switching to the Alternative Vote system or retaining the current one. The country overwhelmingly voted 'No', with only 10 districts out of 440 voting in favour.