Your editorial (The Guardian view on Britain’s multiparty politics: the Westminster voting system needs to catch up, 6 May) summarises the position perfectly. But what about a solution?
Fortunately, this has been thought of by the all-party parliamentary group for fair elections. This has been Westminster’s largest APPG since its formation a few months after the 2024 general election. More than half of its 159 members are Labour MPs, but it also includes Liberal Democrats, Greens, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, an independent and a Conservative vice-chair.
The APPG is calling for the government to urgently set up a national commission on electoral reform, with a ready-made terms of reference setting out how to go about it. Expectations are that the commission could report as soon as 15 months after a decision to appoint it.
It is vital that the commission should consult widely with voting system experts and with a forum of voters – not just with politicians, who regrettably tend to have vested interests in electoral arrangements that will benefit their party above others. This time, we need a voting system that serves citizens, first and foremost. This is now within our grasp, and we need it more than anything else in politics.
Michael Bursill
Reigate, Surrey
