Fleetwood MP presents bill in parliament calling for proportional representation

Thursday, 1 December 2022 11:17

Fleetwood MP Cat Smith has presented a bill in parliament calling for proportional representation to be introduced in elections in England.

Her Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill, which will be read in the House of Commons next year, calls for the introduction of a ‘system of proportional representation in Parliamentary elections, for elections for directly-elected mayors in England, for local authority elections in England and for Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales.’

‘’The current voting system means that many votes don’t count, and frankly every vote should matter,’’ said Ms Smith.

‘’I know from my mailbag that this is an issue a lot of constituents feel very strongly about.

‘’I’ll be working on this over Christmas before publishing the full Bill in January.’’

Proportional representation is an electoral system in which the distribution of seats corresponds closely with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party.

For example, if a party gained 40% of the total votes, a proportional system would allow them to gain 40% of the seats.

The Bill will receive a second reading in the House of Commons on January 20^th, 2023.