Just a political point. Not any party alliance. (Debate)

Wed 12 Jun, 07:52 (last edited on Wed 12 Jun, 07:53)

Well: you asked for a discussion on proportional representation. 

So let's see what happens:

1. Proportional Representation (PR) is almost universal. Practically every Western democracy (apart from the UK and US) uses it, to some extent, to elect its national legislature. It's used heavily in regional elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - and, till recently in England's Mayoral elections (for city regions like London and Greater Manchester). Extending it to other English elections was the subject of a referendum in 2011 (though PR advocates claim the device referendum-ed wasn't "real" PR). Just 42% of the electorate voted - and 67% of those voting voted against. 
2. For most of the past 50 years, the parties most in favour of PR have been leftish-leaning advocates of systemic change - like the Liberals/LibDems, Greens and the British Isles' regional nationalists, like Plaid Cymru, the SNP and Sinn Fein.
3. They're now joined by a more right-leaning advocate of a different kind of change: Britain's (or possibly just England's) Reform Party. And it's interesting that widespread support for PR among media commentators has suddenly gone all quiet since the UK looks certain to return a Labour-dominated government under our First Past the Post (FPTP) system, and that's coinciding with a strong rightwards shift in the current round of elections elsewhere in (PR-voting) Europe.
4. The Labour Party's 2022 Congress - when the party was struggling in opinion polls - passed a motion supporting PR for future UK elections. That's mostly gone quiet now Labour's got itself an almost North Korean-style polling lead. And - however much the Labour candidate in this (Banbury) constituency claims he still supports PR - he also voted against joining an anti-Tory coalition in the Cherwell District Council, at a time this (Oxfordshire) county and this (West Oxfordshire) district are run by anti-Tory coalitions. Clearly, some Labour party members' approach to PR or coalitions mirrors the world view of St Augustine: "let's have PR, but not yet: let's limit it to times it clearly benefits our Party's tribal and insular interests"

Of course, we can collectively debate Labour's attitude to listening to other people's point of view at Charlbury's June 21 hustings in the Memorial Hall. It'll certainly be a change from endlessly attacking the Tories' haplessness, both in national office and in the current (Witney) MP's lamentable invisibility in Charlbury. 

But I'd like to hear from PR advocates how they'd feel about the boost PR would offer to the Reform Party and whatever offspring its CEO creates in the future.