22 Dec 25 “Fair Elections?” to Noah Law noah.law.mp@parliament.uk
Dear Noah Law,
I am pleased to see that the APPG for Fair Elections has recommended a National Commission on Electoral Reform. Without doubt change is needed. But when will it happen, and how soon can we expect its findings to be put into operation?
There is a significant chance, and some would put it more strongly, that such a Commission will not lead to anything new being in place before the next General Election. And another election under FPTP, with 6 significant parties rather than the traditional 2½, will be unusually difficult for both the electorate and the parties, highly chaotic, and potentially disastrous.
We can expect a low turnout of our disaffected electorate, swirling currents of tactical voting, MPs sweeping to power with minority support, possibly even down to 20% in some cases, and an overall result grossly unrepresentative of the wishes and needs of the British people. And possibly a new government strongly opposed to any change to the electoral system which put it in power.
I can see only one feasible alternative to this potential disaster. Ranked choice preferential voting in present constituencies would solve most of the problem. It would require minimal changes to the voting system, remains within the capability of a manual count, and could be introduced now by a simple vote in Parliament.
It would also be a useful move towards what the Commission is likely to recommend, being a single-seat version of STV (as used in NI, I believe) and a suitable first half of AMS (as used in Scotland and London). And it would be no barrier to a later switch to full D’Hondt, if that’s what we really want.
I beg you to give serious consideration to this proposal and grant it the urgent attention I believe it merits. Indeed, could you perhaps help persuade the government to introduce the necessary legislation? With the support of other parties, and a free vote in the Commons, we might hope to see a sane system in operation at the next election.
Warm regards
Bill Waghorn
(deeply concerned local member)