During the Makerfield by-election campaign, Andy Burnham made a pledge: “I am committed to proportional representation.” It was a restatement of the position that the incoming Labour leader has held for many years. But how quickly after he becomes prime minister will he move to introduce it?
A sizable chunk of the Parliamentary Labour Party think that the government should at least consider changing the UK’s first-past-the-post system. In May of this year, Alex Sobel, the Labour MP and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Election, brought an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill calling for a national commission on electoral reform. It garnered the support of more than a quarter of Labour MPs (96), and the signatures of just under 200 parliamentarians from across all parties.
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