Opinion: ‘If there’s something May’s local elections made clear, it’s that Britain’s voting system is not working’

Dave Ravel, Chair of the Hackney Liberal Democrats. Photograph: Dave Raval

If there’s something May’s local elections made clear, it’s that Britain’s voting system is not working.

In Hackney, the Green Party got 44.2 per cent of the vote but won around 74 per cent of the seats. Similarly distorted results were seen in councils across the country.

However you voted, I think we can all agree: this doesn’t seem right. But this is what happens when five or more parties compete under a system built for two.

At the 2024 general election, Labour won a landslide majority with just 34 per cent of the vote. Unless we change the system, 2029 could deliver a government with even less public support — or one formed by a party most of us actively voted against.

Most of the world’s stable democracies use forms of Proportional Representation, which means that the proportion of votes a party wins translates fairly to the number of seats it gets. So do Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales for their local and national elections. But not England.

It’s never been more evident that First Past the Post is not fit for purpose. It’s time to replace it. I call upon all the councillors elected on 7 May, to personally commit to working with their colleagues in Parliament, to change our voting system for the better.

Dave Raval
Chair, Hackney Liberal Democrats