The NPF consultation proves PR is one of the core demands of the membership

With the dust settling on Labour’s national policy forum (NPF) consultation, it’s clear that electoral reform is one of the core demands of the party membership. After last year’s overwhelming conference vote, it’s no surprise that there’s huge support for proportional representation (PR) for general elections, but the sheer scale of the consultation response will hopefully be all the evidence the NPF needs about how important it is that Labour includes PR in its package of democratic reforms.

The ‘safe and secure communities’ consultation document asked for views on constitutional reform – as well as on policing, crime, justice, equalities and antisocial behaviour. Analysis by Labour for a New Democracy shows that a massive two-thirds of all branches and Constituency Labour Parties that responded to the consultation called for Labour to back PR for the House of Commons. Across all six commissions – which between them cover every policy area there is – 44% of all the responses submitted called for PR. Such levels of support for one single policy are fairly unprecedented.

Backing for electoral reform spans the party – left and right, member and affiliate, old and young – but in my role organising Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform’s youth wing, I know young members are playing an increasingly active role in campaigning for a fair voting system. Too often, we hear that young people don’t care about politics. It’s not that young people don’t care, it’s that they can see the political system doesn’t work for them.

According to the IPPR, 18- to 24-year-olds are the least likely of all age groups to say democracy has served them well. 55% say democracy has served them badly. We should all find this deeply worrying, but it’s also easy to understand. Many of the issues young people are most passionate about – like climate change, housing and inequality – are those that our broken political system seems least able to address.

Like other demographics that tend to vote Labour, young voters are disproportionately clustered together in Labour-supporting urban areas. This is a positive in the sense that we’re more likely to have a Labour MP who reflects our views – but it means we’re never seen as target voters. Our interests are often ignored in favour of those in the more marginal constituencies needed to win. Our electoral importance is diminished by the fact our votes either pile high in these safe seats that Labour was always going to win or are thinly dispersed across rural and suburban constituencies. Under first past the post, that inevitably means young votes get ignored and neglected – by all parties.

I was ten years old when the last Labour government left office. People of my generation have known nothing but unrepresentative, right-wing governments created by a Westminster system that doesn’t seem to care about us. It’s hugely welcome that Keir Starmer has made democratic reform and ‘pushing power out of Westminster’ one of his key priorities, but more devolution or a new upper chamber alone won’t make central government care about young people if the heart of our democracy remains so fundamentally broken. Of course, the Labour government that is on its way will massively improve things for the current generation – but why should we risk allowing future generations to grow up under callous Tory rule when most of the country consistently votes for parties to the left of the Conservatives?

This experience of young members is what motivates us to get involved in the campaign for PR and wider democratic reform. In late 2022, LCER Youth relaunched as an active, ambitious wing of the campaign – organising and making the case for electoral reform across Young Labour, Labour Students and beyond. This includes holding events that bring young members together, but it also means getting speakers out to university Labour clubs and explaining the difference a fair voting system would make – and how it would work alongside the many other reforms we want, like votes at 16, scrapping voter ID and replacing the House of Lords.

LCER Youth will keep playing our part in the campaign for a Labour commitment to PR – but we need members of all ages to keep pushing for its inclusion in the party programme. Labour in government will repair the damage to public services and living conditions inflicted by the Tories. If we also take the opportunity to make parliament fairly reflect the voters, we can restore trust in our political system and ensure the country is never again left at the mercy of an extreme government elected on a minority of the vote.