Andy Burnham today vowed to scrap Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system for Westminster elections.
In his first Labour conference speech as Prime Minister, Mr Burnham promised to introduce a ‘new politics’ through electoral reform.
He confirmed he would fight the next General Election, scheduled for 2029, with a Labour manifesto commitment to alter the system for choosing UK governments.
The PM, a long-time supporter of proportional representation, said a change would ensure ‘everyone’s vote counts and everyone’s voice is heard’.
Mr Burnham announced the creation of a new ‘national commission’ for electoral reform and invited rival political parties to be part of its work.
Changing the first-past-the-post system to proportional representation could allow smaller parties – such as the Greens – to form part of a Westminster government.
Mr Burnham’s plans are likely to revive warnings of a ‘coalition of chaos’ – made up of a variety of Left-wing or nationalist parties – taking charge of Britain.
But in his conference speech in Liverpool, the PM suggested it was the current first-past-the-post system that was to blame for the country’s recent churn of premiers.
Andy Burnham today set out his intent to scrap Britain’s first-past-the-post voting system for Westminster elections
Mr Burnham argued that Britain should not be governed by a ‘divisive’ administration elected with ’30 per cent of the vote or less’.
Just ten weeks on from his brutal ousting of Sir Keir Starmer from Downing Street, Mr Burnham told Labour members there was a need to change the country’s politics.
‘Westminster prizes point-scoring over problem-solving. And that is why so many things go unfixed for so long,’ he said.
‘If we want to change Britain, we need to change ourselves. I will work as hard as I can to get as much cross-party support for our plan for Britain as I can.
‘If we can secure that, it will project a message of confidence and stability to the markets and the world about Britain’s future direction.’
The PM has so far refused to call a snap General Election in order to win his own mandate from the country.
This is despite him having called for the Tories to do exactly that when they changed leaders while in power.
But he used his first Labour conference speech as PM to demand a ‘new politics’, as he bowed to calls from his party’s MPs for a national commission on electoral reform.
‘We can’t succeed in the eyes of the world if we continue with the levels of political turbulence we have seen in recent times,’ he added.
‘It is always in my mind that I’m the seventh PM in ten years. It is why I want to underpin our plan for Britain with a new politics.
‘We will all have failed in our public duties if we carry on as we are and open the door of No10 to a divisive government on 30 per cent of the vote or less.
‘Conference, in past years you have voted twice to support electoral reform.
‘I hear you, I agree with you and today I am announcing a new national commission on electoral reform.
‘I invite all political parties to be a part of its work.
‘We will contest the next election with a manifesto commitment to change the electoral system so everyone’s vote counts and everyone’s voice is heard.’
Immediately after Mr Burnham’s speech on Tuesday afternoon, senior Labour figures questioned his desire to pursue a change to the UK’s voting system.
Asked if there were any elements of the speech she may not have agreed on, skills minister Jacqui Smith, said: ‘Electoral reform isn’t top of my list of priorities.
‘Good luck to the commission. I shall be interested with what it comes out with.
‘But you know, respect to Andy, he has also long argued for that – it is something that has got a lot of support in the hall, probably a considerable amount of support in the country, and fair enough to him for trying to find a way through it.’
Former Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn described Mr Burnham’s address as an ‘inspirational speech’ but also suggested he was unsure about electoral reform.
‘We’ll see what the commission on electoral reform produces,’ he said.
Labour’s party conference voted to support moving towards a proportional representation voting system in 2022.
But the party’s 2024 manifesto instead focused its electoral and constitutional changes on extending voting to 16 and 17-year-olds and House of Lords reform.
Mr Burnham has previously spoken of how his late father Roy – who died earlier this month after suffering with Alzheimer’s – was unaware that his son had swung behind one of his political passions, a change in the voting system to proportional representation.
‘I don’t think he’s ever realised, because of his condition, that I’ve come round to PR, which is one of his missions – to get me to accept that,’ the PM told The Times in July.
