Proportional representation

And I just think this is a great opportunity for us to have that conversation.

So one of the other things which I very much welcome, but I'm sure will prove controversial with some, was that Andy Burnham, and I literally cheered the air when this was said, talked about the fact that we're going to see this this National Commission on changing the voting system from first-past-the-post to proportional representation.

Again, this was brave because he'd have said it, knowing full well that many in his party will agree.

And, in fact, Labour conference, the actual conference, the membership has, I think, twice before voted to support a change to PR, but some of his own MPs who feel that they'd lose their seats if that was brought in will obviously be in opposition to it.

that drives people up the wall.

I mean, that was the problem between 2010 and 2015, although it was not under, unusually, it wasn't under PR, it was very unusual under first past the post system.

The Lib Dems had to be kept happy.

If you look at the examples, what often happens is that the small parties, who may not be nice parties, have a veto.

Sounds like the most Polly McKenzie thing you could imagine.

Andy Burnham has not specified which of the exciting types of proportional representation he favours.

Polly, which one should we do? Or can we just pick five in a list? Because that's the whole point.

Obviously, what we should have is single transferable vote in multi-member constituencies.

They seem to have

gone off it.

So one question you have to ask about the electoral reform system is no question UKIP came into the system, and actually before that the BNP came into the system, because the European elections had proportional representation.

Yes.

I don't think I mentioned the exact conversation I, I had with Burnham at like 4:00, 4:30 in the morning on the dance floor when I, when a, you know, drunk friend dragged me over to meet him.

I said, "It's the first time I've been out on knocking on doors for any, for, for anybody since 1997," because I promised myself after 1992 I would never actively campaign for a party that didn't have proportional representation in the manifesto 'cause I couldn't bring myself to do it.

And in '97, Labour was committed to a referendum on PR and even though during the Corbyn, you know, during the Corbyn years, like I, I was a, a massive supporter and, you know, that was the brief window in my life I had a big professorial salary.

I was giving, I was donating loads of money to the campaign, and I was donating, I was doing all those donations where you could fund groups of people to go and do canvassing.

But I couldn't bring myself to do it, and I couldn't bring myself to do it because it...

No, I think, no, I think that's fair.

I think you're, you're probably slightly more enthusiastic than I am, but, but that's probably just temperament because I think you're right to draw attention to the way in which it says these things that have not been said before and what, and whether he means it or not, I think he does mean it, but whether he can deliver it or not matters because one of the things that rhetoric does is introduce vocabularies into politics or reintroduce vocabulary.

So the fact that after all this time in which the party membership's been very much in favor of PR but the leadership has resisted it, the fact that he said that creates opportunities and creates space for, for further poli- politicking around it.

Absolutely.

There's a big rabbit, do you call it a rabbit? Rabbit's more budget speech, isn't it? Maybe we'll get some rabbits in the budget, is PR and reform of the electoral system.

Again, in terms of that kind of...

I don't know what you call them, like liberal Democrat adjacent Labour supporters, you know, it was literally their wish list.

Europe, social care and PR.

What would the impact of PR be on our politics? It's often pitched by some progressives as a route to, you know, locking Nigel Farage out of, you know, Downing Street forever, and to which I always say, you never know.

Well, hey, I'm not sure that's a good principle for designing an electoral system.

But secondly, you know, sort of be careful of unintended consequences.