Davey wants to 'work with government' on electoral reform

"The Liberal Democrats have long backed electoral reform and support bringing in a form of proportional representation, which they feel would more fairly reflect people's votes. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer supported electoral reform during his bid to become Labour leader in 2020 but has since dropped his pledge and did not include it in the party's election manifesto last year."

"Speaking to Nick Robinson on the BBC's Political Thinking podcast, Sir Ed said he wanted to scrap first-past-the-post elections for the Parliament at Westminster. Under FPTP, the candidate that wins the most votes in a constituency becomes an MP, and the party with the most MPs forms a government. Under proportional representation, the number of MPs a party would get broadly reflects the number of votes they got across the country."

""Indeed I go so far as to say that I'm prepared to work with the government if they wake up," Sir Ed told Mr Robinson. "They've got this loveless landslide, they don't require a relatively small share of the vote with this huge majority they've got, so maybe they think they've a vested interest.""

Sir Ed Davey said the Liberal Democrats would work with the government to replace the UK's first-past-the-post electoral system with proportional representation, aiming for a fairer reflection of votes. He hopes the possibility of a Reform UK majority will prompt Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider abandoning reform commitments he made during his 2020 Labour leadership bid. The Liberal Democrats did not specify a preferred proportional system but reiterated commitment to change. Under FPTP, constituency winners form government, while proportional representation allocates MPs roughly in line with national vote shares. The Lib Dems won 72 MPs under the current system.

Read at www.bbc.com