Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, If he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of introducing a system of proportional representation for Parliamentary elections.

The Government strongly believes that it would be a profound mistake to abandon the British system of voting and move to a system more favoured on the European continent of so-called ‘proportional representation’. The Government was elected on a manifesto which included a commitment to continue to support the use of the First Past the Post voting system which “allows voters to kick out politicians who don’t deliver, both locally and nationally”.

The Government believes the First Past the Post system is a robust and secure way of electing MPs and provides for direct local accountability. It ensures a clear link between elected representatives and their electors in a manner that other voting systems do not

There was a significant vote in favour of retaining First Past the Post for Parliamentary elections at 2011 Referendum while the proposal to introduce an Alternative Vote was rejected by a significant majority (67.9%) of voters. This Government strongly believes in respecting the results of referendums.

Experience of countries across the world with so-called proportional representation (PR) voting systems show that those with that voting system risk fragmented political parties, not grounded in local accountability. PR systems can create Governments which are less stable and more fragile, where inter-party ‘back room’ deals determine policy, and where minority and arguably fringe political parties can hold the balance of power. PR can also mean that political parties’ central establishments are strengthened versus local political parties.

First Past the Post is part of the voting system of the world’s oldest, biggest and greatest democracies including in the United Kingdom, India, and the United States.