What is proportional representation and could it be coming to the UK?
Andy Burnham announces national commission on electoral reform
Andy Burnham has announced a national commission on electoral reform, which could see Britain restyle its first-past-the-post voting system.
Listen to this article
The Prime Minister said in his conference speech that he will champion electoral change at the next general election, and that he is currently looking at options.
Mr Burnham has acknowledged the limitations of the current system, which saw Labour sweep to power under Sir Keir Starmer in 2024 and secure a massive majority but only receive 34% of the vote.
He told members: "We will all have failed in our public duties if we carry on as we are and open the door of No 10 to a divisive government on less than 30% of the vote or less.
"We can't succeed in the eyes of the world if we continue with the levels of political turbulence we have seen in recent times."
Conservative and Labour governments have been reluctant to change the voting model as the system has benefitted them in the past, but Mr Burnham has suggested things could change - even if there are lots of voting models up for consideration.
Read also: Could the UK ever rejoin the EU? Burnham says referendum is 'possible' under future Labour manifesto
What voting system does the UK have?
The UK operates a first-past-the-post system for its general elections, which means there is only one round of voting, and the person with the most votes is elected.
This is the case for all 650 UK constituencies, from which one MP is elected, and the leader of the party with the most MPs then forms a government.
Proponents of the system consider it to be easily understood and also allow voters to hold their MPs to account. It can produce governmental upheavals and the ability for voters to get rid of unpopular governments - with the swings in the 1997 and 2024 elections being examples.
Detractors consider that the system is unfair, as it can lead to parties that are popular across the board but not the most popular in any one constituency being barely represented in the House of Commons.
For example, in the 2024 election, the Liberal Democrats won 64 seats from a 12% vote share and Reform won five seats from a 14% vote share.
Labour and Conservative parties both have established support centres and safe seats which has seen their governments able to ignore calls from the Lib Dems, Greens and other parties to bring about electoral reform.
Other voting systems have sometimes been used in the UK, with the supplementary voting system most recently awarding Sadiq Khan as the Mayor of London in 2021 before the system was changed.
For European Parliament elections, the UK used the D'Hondt method up to the most recent vote in 2019 prior to Brexit.
What is proportional representation?
Proportional representation (PR) is any system where the overall vote share corresponds with the number of politicians elected. Various kinds of vote method can bring proportional representation, and three examples are:
- Party list system: A voter states which party they wish to vote for, and at the end of the vote, they are awarded seats based on the percentage of their vote,
- Single transferable vote: Voters rank their named candidates from one, two, three, in order of preference. The first round of voting will, typically but not always, see only the candidates ranked first counted, and a candidate who achieves over 50% they are elected. If no candidate achieves 50%, the votes are then topped up by the second (or potentially third, fourth etc) choices, until one candidate wins,
- Mixed-member proportional representation: Used in Scotland, this system sees choices made for more than one tier of government, with second-choice votes used to top up other candidates' numbers to see them progress to the next stage.
Could PR be coming to the UK?
Andy Burnham told Labour members last year that "PR's time has come," although he has been less explicit about how the UK could adopt such a system.
It would be after the next general election, which will happen no later than 2029.
The Conservative Party is likely to vote against such a move, but Lib Dem, Reform and Green parties might back the idea if it would, historically, bring a greater chance of election victory.
What was the Alternative Vote (AV) referendum?
The last time the UK voted on a change to the voting mechanics was in 2011, when 67% of voters said no to introducing Alternative Vote.
AV had been championed by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, and the referendum was part of the package he had agreed upon entering the coalition with the Conservatives.
The AV method would give voters the option of ranking candidates in order of preference, with second choices coming into play if no candidate received more than 50% of the first-round vote. There was no obligation for voters to add a second or third choice preference.
There has not been a public vote on the matter in the UK since.