Proportional representation for Labour's manifesto
Comments on socialistresistance.org2010sA comment by Alan in the thread under “Corbynism after Copeland” on socialistresistance.org.
The publication's own web text.
Editor's note. Posted under Alan's article Corbynism after Copeland, written after Labour lost the Copeland by-election and held Stoke Central in February 2017. A reader, Mike, argued that with UKIP's vote collapsing into the Tories, first-past-the-post put many Labour seats at risk, and that Labour needed “a commitment to Proportional Representation as a clear unambiguous policy”.
Mike’s points about PR and absolutely right and could have been reflected stronger in the article. PR is crucial not only because it is bad to have grotesquely unfair electoral system but because a clear statement to implement it would be a huge asset in Labour’s 2020 manifesto. Many people might well back Labour who would not necessarily do so because they would see it as the one chance on offer to get rid of first-past-the-post.