Strategy for Elections Debate
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Alex Sobel
Main Page: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)Department Debates - View all Alex Sobel's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Strategy for Elections
Alex Sobel Excerpts(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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Rushanara Ali
The hon. Gentleman will understand the process and work of the boundary commissions. This strategy is focused on the themes that I spoke to earlier, and that is what we will be focusing on.
Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley) (Lab/Co-op)
As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for fair elections, I warmly welcome this policy paper. I think my hon. Friend the Minister and I were much more poorly equipped to vote when we were 18 than today’s 16-year-olds, so I warmly welcome that measure. I also welcome the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, introduced last week, with the Government saying that first past the post
“can lead to individuals being elected with only a small proportion of the total votes cast”,
and that Mayors and police and crime commissioners
“should be elected with a greater consensus among their electors.”
The Government have also claimed that this change will give the local electorate an “increased voice” and will
“better support the democratic mandate of people elected to such positions”.
Given the flawed nature of first past the post, will the Minister consider also reviewing the system for elections to this place?
Rushanara Ali
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his work with the APPG. He is aware of the policy of the Labour party and this Government on first past the post. I refer him to my previous answer on that question.