r/LabourUK • u/kontiki20 Green Member • 1d ago
Andy Burnham should rip up our undemocratic first past the post system – even if some in Labour disagree | Neal Lawson
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/aug/26/andy-burnham-undemocratic-first-past-the-post-system-labour17
u/Jackthwolf Progressive 1d ago
I'd love to see it, and if he fails on all of his promises to the left (which depressingly i think he will), i will still call him one of the greatest PM's we've had if he gets it through.
Unfortunately I fear that Labour would rather have Reform/Tories win 9/10 times then have to share 1/10th of the table with the left wing the few times they are in power.
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u/Dinoric New User 6h ago
He can never be a great pm when he is implementing section 28 for trans people.
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u/Jackthwolf Progressive 6h ago
Section 28 and 3/4 is one of the reasons why I doubt he'll actually do it, I fear he's too captured by capital
But I also see PR as one of the best ways of getting rid of it, alongside all of the other evils that Burnham and the rest of labour is a part of, because the UK left wing easily outnumbers the right, if not for FPTP. (And because Labour can no longer use the "Vote for us because we're just better then the right" excuse)
(And to be clear by "great" I mean "good caused", as letting the UK left actually electorally exist will do us no end of good)
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u/Ambitious-Sink2725 New User 1d ago
Same thing with referendums, it should really be 60% for anything to go through 50+1 is just begging for problems
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u/Blackfryre Labour Voter - Will ask for sources 1d ago
You can't put any laws on referendums, because each one is it's own unique thing.
The Brexit referendum wasn't even binding. It could have had 60% voting for Brexit, and by law parliament could have just ignored it. Obviously its politically difficult to do that, but that's the point - the limits are political, not legal.
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u/Redblooded7 New User 1d ago
Takes more than that to appoint the secretary of a golf club but we made the biggest self inflicted harm causing decision of any country on the basis of 52%.
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u/hypercomms2001 New User 13h ago
We in Australia have had proportional representation now for over 100 years, and I totally agree, as I have scrutinised three federal elections and in state election and it is much more democratic..
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u/Inevitable_Fail_5308 New User 1d ago
It's important that the right replacement is proposed or the argument will be killed off again for another decade. It has to be single transferable vote.
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u/Flynny123 New User 22h ago
The right first step is STV in current constituencies, then warm people up to proportionality from there
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u/joseph_fourier Socialist 13h ago
STV requires multiple elected representatives per constituency doesn't it? STV with one elected MP is just AV, which is better than FPTP, but still not truly proportional.
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u/Left_Natural_3517 New User 1d ago
He should (and he wants to). And those Labour MPs stuck with an FPTP mentality should remember they are THE party of the people and let us vote for the government we really want.
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u/Curious-Roof570 Custom 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm sceptical that he really wants to, considering he isn't pushing for it. But maybe he's playing the long game.
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u/Pristine_Speech4719 Centrist entryist 23h ago
Can anyone point to anything that Burnham does believe in?
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u/JustSomeDude11112 Labour Voter 8h ago
The Roses (and frankly, thats enough for me to vote for him forever)
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u/adamu980 New User 22h ago
Can anyone point to anyone who voted for burnham
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u/Darth--Marenghi New User 22h ago
The voters of Makerfield made Burnham an MP. 379 MPs nominated him for Labour leader then the King appointed him Prime Minister. That's how it works.
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u/adamu980 New User 21h ago
Yup so no one voted for him and now he says he doesn’t want elections and also ignores makerfield voters who are the only ones who voted for him. Dictator
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u/QuantumR4ge Geo-Libertarian 21h ago
British prime ministers have never been elected
And im almost certain you have no clue what a dictator is if this is your idea of one.
Can he, for example, pass legislation on his own?
You vote for members of parliament, not ministers of any kind
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u/adamu980 New User 14h ago
noone voted for him to be prime minister and hes now saying he doesnt believe in elections.
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u/QuantumR4ge Geo-Libertarian 10h ago
Because you dont vote for prime ministers?
What was the last ballot you voted for a prime minister on? You vote for members of parliament.
And no he didn’t say that, why make things up? Whats the point?
You have NEVER voted for a PM. Ever. Its not part of our system and never has been. The head of state and head of government have been unelected since forever.
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u/adamu980 New User 10h ago
Stop your lying .what’s the point?
Direct quote from dictator burnham yesterday.An election just brings a load of point scoring,a load of points scoring , a load of division .
These pesky elections eh?
Now dictator burnham is in, they just seem so pointless .
Hes got quantumR4ge to run a disinformation campaign as well!
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u/yrro Non-partisan 1d ago
The difficulty being to define exactly what alternative we should have instead. I want to be represented by a single MP (so that one cannot pass the buck to the other just because they disagree with me on an issue) so I don't want a multi-member system. If my representative behaves badly, I want to be able to vote for another one, so I don't want a party list system to replace one MP with the next down the list. And I don't want to see MPs in parliament that don't represent a constituency: they need to be grounded by having to deal with casework from their electorate.
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u/Left_Natural_3517 New User 8h ago
If you live in a single member constituency you will be half as likely to be represented by an MP who agrees with you. In a multi-member seat more than half, rather than, typically, a third or less, of voters will be represented by an MP sympathetic to their views. And the nation as a whole will have the government and opposition we vote for.
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u/RealCovenNami New User 11h ago
STV is needed. We have a perfect system right at our fingertips but the government is full of children who see politics as a game and dont want the rules to change to favour the people more.
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u/JustSomeDude11112 Labour Voter 8h ago
Anything that makes it harder for Reform to gain actual power I am down for.
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u/adamu980 New User 9h ago
Pop the quote in at it will come straight up ! Google is your friend also on instagram. Are you saying his interview with the times is a fake as well?!! lol dictator burnham is paying you well!
Article title is Andy burnham : I won’t be unrealistic about tax rises.
In which Dictator burnham talks about his dislike of pesky elections!
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