‘Burnham’s vision needs a new voting system’

Andy Burnham’s vision for Britain is both hopeful and radical. Rejecting a broken economic model and the broken Westminster system that got us here, he’s promised to reindustrialise every region and reimagine our towns. There’s even talk of a British renaissance. 

He knows that delivering this depends on reforming the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system. Burnham’s right about this for three reasons: electoral reform is needed to change politics, to change Britain, and to enable long-term stability.

Changing politics

“I am committed to Proportional Representation. I think it would change the political culture. I don’t see how First Past the Post and the point-scoring inherent within it lifts Britain out of the doom loop it is in.” – Andy Burnham, May 2026

Bringing the aggro-Hogwarts of Westminster into the 21st century is a good thing in itself, but Burnham understands that real change in the country cannot happen without fixing our politics. Last week, he promised “a more collaborative politics in Westminster” and to “reach out to other political parties to find as much common ground as we can, promising “Problem-solving, not point-scoring; long-term, not short-term“.

To do that, the voting system must change. PR never guarantees political harmony – far from it.  But it allows more voices to be heard and the possibility of collaboration and compromise, where FPTP incentivises the point scoring, polarisation, and short-termism that has gripped politics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Changing Britain

“Our rotten political system must change – inequality has been hard-wired into our country by First Past the Post” – Andy Burnham, June 2022

Electoral reform is also necessary for the economic and social change Burnham says he wants. Labour for a New Democracy published a report responding to Gordon Brown’s 2022 constitutional commission. It warned that without addressing FPTP, Labour’s plans for devolution cannot deliver their aims of a more democratic and economically equal Britain.

The report examined the real-world impact of federalism – the most extensive form of devolution – when combined with different electoral systems. Comparative analysis demonstrates that all similar countries combining winner-takes-all general elections with advanced devolution – like Canada, Australia and the US – have experienced the same long-term collapse in public satisfaction with their democracy as Britain. While there are examples of federal countries in which satisfaction with democracy is high and rising, every one of these combines devolution with PR general elections.

Burnham isn’t the first politician to say devolution can reverse regional inequality and drive regeneration. But the truth is, other countries that have maximal devolution but retain winner-takes–all general elections have not had this experience. Instead, like the UK, they are economically unequal societies.

The radical devolution established unevenly across Britain by the last Labour government has set up a thirty-year natural experiment. This settlement has had many great benefits, but it has not addressed regional inequality within the devolved jurisdictions. Many of the most deprived areas of the UK are, for example, in the Welsh valleys or cities of Northern Ireland, despite the presence of powerful devolved governments.

When setting out a “mission to strive for equivalent living conditions in all parts of Britain”, Burnham says he’s “borrowing from” Germany’s Basic Law. Being of East German heritage, I know it’s not just the aim but the means that must be emulated. Germany made huge progress levelling up living standards and productivity in the East since reunification. Its devolved, federal structure has been crucial to this – but so too have proportional general elections. It’s these that made the long-term political consensus possible which has allowed €2 trillion of spending to address regional inequality between 1990 and 2014. A similarly ambitious, sustained approach is now needed in Britain – and history shows it is simply impossible to maintain anything approaching this under FPTP.

Long-term stability

“It is dangerous to continue with an electoral system that can elect a majority government on a minority of the votes” – Andy Burnham, September 2025

Burnham noted in his speech that Westminster is “a more fragmented, disjointed place” than it was a decade ago. So too is the country.

We are in an unprecedented era of fragmented, multi-party politics. Labour and the Conservatives struggle to reach a combined 40% in the polls. Five parties are consistently polling above 10%. Reform UK lead the polls on less than 30%. 

Under FPTP, this can only mean chaos, instability, and danger. As 50 leading academics warned recently, we now risk truly unrepresentative and random results. Worse still, the far right could now win a majority of seats on a tiny vote share. This is no foundation on which to build a 10 year project of renewal.

Burnham must act

“I’m here to endorse the call of Labour for a New Democracy for a National Commission to be set up in this parliament – and a manifesto commitment to a system of Proportional Representation to be introduced into Westminster elections in the next parliament.” – Andy Burnham, September 2025

The success of the Burnham project will depend on changing our politics, bringing good growth to all of Britain, and delivering this as a long-term project with time enough to succeed. FPTP, if retained, threatens to scupper these conditions.

Burnham has already committed to a National Commission on Electoral Reform to choose the best voting system for Britain. He should launch this in his first hundred days – to show he is serious about reaching out across Parliament, changing politics, and breaking free of the “doom loop” of FPTP.

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