Strategy for Elections Debate
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Scott Arthur
Main Page: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)Department Debates - View all Scott Arthur's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Strategy for Elections
Scott Arthur Excerpts(1 day, 16 hours ago)
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Rushanara Ali
I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous answer. The Government have no plans to change the electoral system for UK parliamentary or local elections.
Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)
I welcome this announcement, and I can only speculate about why the Conservatives did not decide to clean up party funding when they were in Government. I want to echo some of the comments about proportional representation. Personally, I feel that it is at the heart of many of the problems the country has faced in recent times. I absolutely accept that proportional representation is not part of the Government’s proposals, but will the Minister keep an open mind and look at how other strong democracies around the world have been able to use PR to both strengthen their democracy and create a more collaborative political culture?
Rushanara Ali
I refer my hon. Friend to my previous answer on the Labour party’s position: the Government have no plans to change the electoral system. He is of course right that we should always learn from international experience. We are certainly doing that on a range of different agendas, including some of the themes of this strategy, and we will continue to do so.