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ePetition details

Adopt proportional representation for all elections to make votes matter

We the undersigned ask the Mayor of Bristol to endorse proportional representation publicly and write to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to call for a review of all voting systems as part of normal parliamentary business.

Our electoral system is broken and needs reform.At the last local elections in May 2016, the Labour Party secured 36.56% of the vote in Bristol.

[1] A proportional representation of this vote share (70 councillors x 0.3656) would give 26 Labour councillors. As a comparison, the Conservatives would have 2 more councillors (16), the Greens 3 more councillors (14) and the Lib Dems 4 more councillors (12) under a proportional voting system. We are petitioning for the Mayor to support a more balanced, representative chamber in Bristol, and a more balanced representative chamber in Westminster.
In the 2015 general election, one party got 37% of the vote and 51% of seats, while 3 parties got 24% of the vote but share 1.5% of seats.

[2] The first past the post (FPTP) voting system violates the democratic principle of majority rule and leads to many people casting votes that don't count towards the result and are therefore wasted. Over 22 million votes (68%) were wasted in the General Election of 2017.
The UK has never had a say on proportional representation (PR). As David Cameron himself said, the Alternative Vote (AV) Referendum was on a system that is often less proportional than FPTP, so the rejection of AV could not possibly be a rejection of PR. With the referendum having a turnout of 42%, it was clear that the majority of voters felt ambivalent at best towards both systems. There are tried and tested PR systems that keep the constituency link.

[3] They would make every vote matter equally, rather than allowing a minority of swing voters in a few marginal seats to pick the government. A petition with 100,000 signatures has forced a parliamentary debate.

[4] Now we need local elected politicians to voice their support for making votes matter through adoption of proportional representation for all UK elections.

Sources
1.Bristol City Council election results: http://www2.bristol.gov.uk/LocalElectionViewer2016?XSL=main&ShowElectionPercentage=true&ElectionId=70
2. General Election results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_2015#Results
3. Electoral Reform Society A-Z of voting systems: http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems
4. Parliamentary petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/168657

Started by: Rob Bryher

This ePetition ran from 02/04/2018 to 24/08/2020 and has now finished.

97 people signed this ePetition.

Council response

Thank you for bringing your petition to Full Council.

As you will be aware, legislation that determines the voting system under which local government elections are carried out is set by national government. The government has repeatedly highlighted its preference to maintain the current voting system, citing simplicity and the way it generates a clear geographical link between residents and their representatives. Enjoying as they do a majority in parliament, it is clear that lobbying efforts to change the voting system for Westminster and local government elections need to focus their efforts on persuading Conservative MPs to change their minds to stand any chance of success.

For our part, we are clear that the vibrancy of local democracy cannot be measured simply through participation in elections. How far citizens feel empowered to participate in local decision-making forums, their engagement with their local representatives, and their ability to affect change within the city will not be resolved by simply switching to a different electoral system.

Working with councillors from across the chamber, Deputy Mayor Cllr Asher Craig has brought forward the “Your City, Your Future” https://bristol.citizenspace.com/bristol-city-council/your-city-our-future/ engagement programme to ensure particularly that citizens that have borne the brunt of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic can have their voices heard and help shape Bristol’s future as we rebuild.

Kind regards

Marvin Rees
Mayor of Bristol

This petition was presented to Full Council on 8th September 2020 during Agenda Item 6 Public Forum, papers for the meeting can be found at https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=142&MId=8368