MP backs calls for changes to voting system
Residents in Bath took part in the campaign group Make Votes Matter’s first Equal Votes national lobby on March 12, highlighting the need to change the UK’S First Past The Post (FPTP) voting system.
Unable to meet Bath MP Wera Hobhouse in person due to the pandemic, activists from across the constituency joined a video call with her.
Ms Hobhouse, who was active in the Electoral Reform Society before she was elected Bath’s MP in 2017, shared her views on how to achieve a proportional voting system in the current political situation and urged Bath Make Votes Matter campaigners to work with Labour party members. advocating for a change in Labour Party Policy on these issues.
Ms Hobhouse said: “Electoral reform is the right thing to do for democracy in our country. Our voting system is broken and our politics suffer accordingly. Under our current FPTP system, the votes of so many people simply do not count.
“I believe in people power. Making each vote matter will truly empower all voters in this country.”
With local elections going ahead on May 6, campaigners say the time is right to push electoral reform to the top of the political agenda. At a local and national level, they say that PR would give voters the voice they are unfairly denied under FPTP.
Emma Knaggs, Grassroots Leader at Make Votes Matter, said: “Thanks to hundreds of committed supporters who took a stand for what they believe in today, a number of MPS are acutely aware of the strength of feeling there is among UK voters to see change to the voting system.”
A petition calling for MPS to support Proportional Representation can be signed at https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk/signpetition.