Leadership rivals back revolution in UK voting system

Wes Streeting is expected to throw his weight behind electoral reform as he looks to take the fight to Andy Burnham for the Labour leadership.

The former health secretary has yet to set out his position on overhauling the voting system in the UK, but The i Paper understands he is supportive of changing the first-past-the-post system.

It comes after Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor, signalled that he would support placing a commitment to introduce proportional representation into a future Labour election manifesto.

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Streeting has emerged as the likely main challenger to front runner Burnham in any Labour leadership contest and his backing for electoral reform is likely to increase the chances of the policy being delivered in the future dramatically.

Sources close to Streeting said he has yet to set out his position on voting reform, but highlighted his previous stance on the issue, including his decision to defy the Labour whip to vote in favour of the change in 2016.

At the time, he was one of 15 Labour MPs to go against Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and vote in favour of a backbench bill, put forward by the-then Green MP Caroline Lucas, to introduce proportional representation.

Labour support for the introduction of proportional representation is viewed by the Green Party as a prerequisite for any pact or deal between the two parties, and it has been long called for by the Liberal Democrats. Reform UK made a referendum on proportional representation an election pledge in their 2024 manifesto.

Burnham said he was “committed to proportional representation” in an interview with The Observer, adding: “I think it would change the political culture. I don’t see how first-past-the-post and the point-scoring inherent within it lifts Britain out of the doom loop it is in.”

Those close to the Greater Manchester Mayor have suggested he would launch a national commission in electoral reform to look at the best voting system for the country, should he succeed Sir Kier Starmer as prime minister.

Any pledge to change the voting system would then be included in the party’s manifesto ahead of the next election.

A previous attempt to change voting in the UK was rejected by the public in a referendum held in 2011, as a condition for the Lib Dems to enter a coalition with the Conservatives.

According to a poll by YouGov in December last year, adults in the UK are more likely to support proportional representation than the first-past-the-post system, with 45 per cent in favour and 25 per cent happy with the status quo.

Among Labour voters, the support is even higher with 56 per cent in favour of a change, compared with 24 per cent backing first-past-the-post.

Burnham and Streeting renewed their hostilities towards Starmer’s Government over the weekend, with the Greater Manchester Mayor claiming the “London set had run Labour for too long”.

In his attack, Streeting, who resigned as health secretary earlier this month, used a Sunday Times interview to criticise the Prime Minister’s lack of connection with the public.

“I don’t think people get him,” he said. “I don’t think they have any kind of emotional connection to him.

“And I don’t think they understand who he is or why he wants to be Prime Minister and what his vision for the country is.”

Downing Street declined to respond but pointed to Starmer’s comments in the previous few days, insisting that his Government had “the right plan” for the country.