HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Make Votes Matter is a political
pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...
based in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...
which campaigns for replacing the first-past-the-post voting system with one of
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
for elections to the
British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...
.


Overview

Make Votes Matter is "the cross-party campaign to introduce Proportional Representation to the House of Commons, led by democratically-organised activists in a united movement for electoral reform." It was co-founded by Owen Winter, Klina Jordan and other activists. It advocates for the replacement of the
first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
currently used for elections to the House of Commons. Make Votes Matter advocates a proportional representation system (in line with the rest of Europe), campaigning for it based on the principles established in the Make Votes Matter Declaration. These are that a voting system should ensure: * That those who are entitled to vote have a vote that counts, and counts equally – no matter who they vote for, or where they live; * That the share of seats a party gets should closely reflect the share of votes the people give them. The pressure group favours replacing the current voting system in the UK (First Past the Post), with a system of proportional representation where each vote individually counts and correlates to seats in parliament.


Activities

In the weeks following the
2015 United Kingdom general election The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Local ...
a number of online petitions calling for
electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...
emerged, coordinated by individuals and organisations such as the
Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single ...
and Unlock Democracy. These petitions received over 477,000 signatures and were delivered to 10 Downing Street by a cross-party group of politicians. Through these petitions, a group of activists formed to continue campaigning for proportional representation. In February 2016, Make Votes Matter organised a cross-party summit to discuss how to achieve a reformed voting system attended by politicians including
Chuka Umunna Chuka Harrison Umunna (; born 17 October 1978) is a British retired politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham from 2010 until 2019. A former member of the Labour Party, he was part of the Shadow Cabinet from 2011 to 20 ...
and
Natalie Bennett Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (born 10 February 1966) is a Australian-British politician and journalist who served as Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in ...
. In May 2016, the organisation orchestrated an open letter to then Leader of the Labour Party,
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
, signed by 7 MPs and over 10,000 members of the public, including 2,000 Labour members. Most recently, the campaign has orchestrated national days of action for Proportional Representation such as Hungry for Democracy on 6 February 2018 in which 407 people joined a 24-hour "hunger strike". Those that took part in the day of action included public figures, MEPs, and MPs such as
Stephen Kinnock Stephen Nathan Kinnock (born 1 January 1970) is a Welsh politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberavon since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Shadow Minister for Immigration since 2022. Early life and educ ...
. Later on in 2018, the campaign organised a nationwide day of action - Demand Democracy Day - on 30 June as a prelude to the inaugural Cabinet Office-organised National Democracy Week. The action day saw volunteers organise events in over 60 towns and cities across the UK from Truro to Aberdeen. Make Votes Matter is supported by an alliance of organisations and individuals that have endorsed the 'Make Votes Matter Declaration'. This includes the
Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...
, the Liberal Democrats,
Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid was ...
, the
Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from t ...
and
UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
as well as ex-Shadow Chancellor
John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...
,
Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...
,
Frankie Boyle Francis Martin Patrick Boyle (born 16 August 1972) is a Scottish comedian and writer. He is known for his Cynicism (contemporary), cynical, Surreal humour, surreal, graphic and often controversial sense of humour. A stand-up comedian since 199 ...
, the
Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single ...
and others.


Labour for a New Democracy

In September 2020, Make Votes Matter joined with other pressure groups and Labour MPs to launch ''Labour for a New Democracy'', a campaign to "build support for UK electoral reform in Labour with the aim of changing party policy by the time its next conference takes place". According to polling by YouGov in December 2019 three-quarters of Labour members believe the party should commit to supporting proportional representation and adopt it as a policy. A YouGov poll in April 2021 suggested 62% of Labour Party voters support proportional representation. A later poll by YouGov in September 2021 suggested this number had risen to 66% of Labour Party voters supporting proportional representation. A poll in July 2021 of almost 1,000 Labour Party members resulted in 83% saying they believed the party should back proportional representation. As of 4 June 2022, 334 constituency Labour parties (CLPs) had passed policy in favour of proportional representation. This works out as a majority of the 648 total CLPs, of which it passed the majority mark in December 2021. A motion to support proportional representation was rejected at the September 2021 Labour Party conference. Over 150 constituency Labour parties (CLPs) voted to send motions on proportional representation to conference and it was the second most popular issue for the conference. 79.51% of constituency Labour Party delegates backed the motion, while 95.03% of affiliates – almost entirely comprising unions – voted against. This led to an overall result of 42.24% in favour of the motion and 57.76% opposed. Labour for a New Democracy responded saying "Our task now is to bring on board the leadership and wider Labour movement." On 21 September 2022, it was announced that 370 CLPs were in support of proportional representation, equating to approximately 60% of all CLPs in the UK. On 26 September 2022, Labour Party members and trade unions voted in favour of ending the first-past-the-post electoral system and replacing it with a proportional electoral system at the Labour Party's annual conference in Liverpool. However, the motion is not binding. The motion was submitted to the Labour Party conference by approximately 140 local Labour Party groups. Since the party's previous conference in 2021, more trade unions including the two largest in Unite and
Unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or pe ...
have voted among themselves to embrace support for proportional representation. However, Labour Party leader
Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras ...
has said that electoral reform is not a priority and ruled out putting electoral reform in the Labour Party's next election manifesto. The decision by Keir Starmer has received criticism from multiple figures within the party, including
Mayor of Greater Manchester The Mayor of Greater Manchester is the directly elected metro mayor of Greater Manchester, responsible for strategic governance in the region that includes health, transport, housing, strategic planning, waste management, policing, the Greater ...
,
Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 20 ...
, former
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is given at the gift of the Leader of the Opposition and ...
,
John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...
, and Neal Lawson who chairs and helped set up the Labour affiliated think tank
Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...
.


See also

*
Chartists Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...
*
Electoral reform in the United Kingdom Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...
*
Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single ...
* History of suffrage in the United Kingdom * Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform *
Suffragettes A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...
* Take Back Parliament * Unlock Democracy


References

{{reflist


External links


Official website
2015 establishments in the United Kingdom Electoral reform in the United Kingdom Political organisations based in the United Kingdom