‘FPTP: Bad for Tories, bad for Labour, bad for democracy’

When the results of yesterday’s local and mayoral elections have been fully analysed, no doubt there will be much talk of what the Labour Party and the Conservative Party have done, or not done, to lead them both to lose so much popular support.

As leader of a Labour council group, I am delighted that we won the contests we won, and am saddened by all those great Labour councillors and candidates who failed to get elected.

I recognise that there have been serious mis-steps by our party, such as the failure to remove the two-child cap. This has cost us public confidence, as yesterday’s votes made clear.

But the results are largely confirmation of what we already knew. The writing was on the wall on July 5^th, as we contemplated the 34 percent of the vote won by Labour in the general election.

READ MORE: Council by council Labour gains and losses – and its position in each mayor race

The Tory legislation that changed the electoral system for mayors from the Supplementary Vote to a straight First-Past-the-Post contest was pernicious and anti-democratic, and was rightly called out by Labour’s front bench.

By a whisker, Labour managed to win the West of England, North Tyneside and Doncaster but not with the support of a majority of the voters. In the West of England only 25% voted for the winning candidate.

In the contests they have won, the Farageists are now benefiting from the winner-takes-all first-past-the-post system at the expense of all the other parties, and they are likely to do so at the next general election as well. Our government must reverse that change before it gifts Farage additional wins at the mayoral contests next May.

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The arbitrary way that winning seats can be determined by such small numbers of votes using FPTP with five effective parties in the running has undoubtedly alienated a substantial number of voters, adding to their dislike of the two largest parties.

Interestingly, the turnout in council elections in Scotland, where they use the Single Transferrable Vote, is consistently higher than in England – in 2022 it was 44.8% as opposed to 34.1% in England.

But the most important lesson Labour must learn is that it cannot continue to assume voters will support it simply because we aren’t the Tories.  This was already evident last July. The stupendous win in Parliamentary seats was also the most disproportionate and fragile result for any government since the war, and only a tiny shift in public opinion was needed to burst that bubble.

That shift has now happened, and anyone who blithely imagines we will win an overall majority at the next general election simply by keeping calm and carrying on is not paying attention.

READ MORE: ‘Results so far say one thing: voters think change isn’t coming fast enough’

The truth is that the Labour Party does not have an inalienable right to govern this country, any more than the Tories did.  We need to give the voters good reasons for voting for us.

Even more than that, we need to rebuild the trust of the electorate, in our party and in democracy itself. A voting system that effectively bins three fifths of all the votes cast is leading to alienation and distrust, as was stated in the party programme agreed before the 2024 election.

Most voters do not cast their votes on the basis of a few facts – they have a gut instinct that one party is more trustworthy or more sympathetic to their needs, and if they vote at all it will be for that party.

Giving them a vote that will genuinely count – both in local and national elections – will show the voters that their voice is being heard.  And a party leadership that actually does what the overwhelming majority of its own members want it to do (over 80% of Labour members support PR in recent polls) will naturally start to appear more trustworthy.

Voters do not trust shifty canvassers, but a party whose members are confident of the rightness of its programme inspires confidence in the voters.

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Electoral reform is not a magic bullet.  Misinformation in the mainstream media and the creation of false realities on social media platforms need to be dealt with.  Funding for political parties and campaigns – particularly the Farageists – by billionaires and shadowy organisations is extremely worrying.

That is why the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Votes is calling for controls on dirty money and the manipulation of social media.

But it will be impossible to regain the trust of the British people without a fair electoral system that pays attention to the needs of all voters, not just those swing voters that Labour strategists revealingly referred to as “hero voters” at the last election.

A Tory/Farageist government in 2029 is a distinct possibility under First Past the Post.  Any gains that have been made by the current government could be wiped out.  Our net zero programme, our NHS, our education system – all would be in danger.

We cannot afford to let that happen. It is not too late, but time is running out.  The government must set up a National Commission this year, to design a better electoral system for a better democracy.

With the prospect of a government that genuinely represents a majority of the population, and progressive parties working together to achieve our shared goals, I believe there is every chance that the voters will want Labour to lead the next government, but with the best interests of the country in mind not just of the Party.

Read more on the 2025 local elections:

Results on the day

Analysis of the 2025 election results

• Starmer: ‘Labour must go further and faster to deliver after Runcorn defeat’
• Runcorn blame game begins – why did Labour lose?
• ‘Labour has lost in Runcorn – here are the eight things the party should do now‘
• MPs who could lose their seat on Runcorn by-election swing to Reform
• ‘Results so far say one thing: voters think change isn’t coming fast enough’
• Three ways to measure Labour’s success tonight
• ‘Uxbridgitis: If election results are grim, let’s not learn the wrong lessons again’
• Where’s Keir? PM barely features in Labour party election broadcasts for the locals
• The meme elections: Labour’s social media pivot to take fight to Farage

LabourList’s on-the-ground reports from the campaign

• Hull and East Yorkshire: Labour candidate spars with Reform’s boxing star in UK’s most disillusioned city
• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Nik Johnson on why he’s standing down and Anna Smith on knife-edge Labour-Tory fight to replace him
• West of England: Tory and Green threats, Dan Norris and low voter awareness
• Lancashire: Long shadow of Gaza looms over key battleground

Inside the Runcorn campaign

• Mood on the doorstep: Labour’s last push for Tory voters to keep out Reform
• At least 150 Labour MPs visit – but Keir Starmer ain’t one
• Karen Shore interview: Labour candidate on Reform, the NHS and closing asylum hotels
• Runcorn poll: One in ten Labour voters expected to back Reform

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