Thread by @Labour4PR

The Brown review is rightly scathing about the failings of our political system but there’s a huge hole in its response.

Here's why we won't renew trust in our democracy without PR 🧵☕️

The report mentions the electoral system only once…

(1/24)

It says:

"We recognise that a well-functioning electoral system is vital to the health and defence of our democracy".

Now, you might think a report literally about the health and defence of our democracy would actually examine how well our electoral system functions.

(2/24)

But you'd be wrong.

Gordon Brown said at the policy launch that electoral reform was beyond the scope of his commission.

And in the whole report there is no other mention of this most central feature of the UK democratic system.

(3/24)

https://twitter.com/Labour4PR/status/1599831693287780352

The report suggests this is because, unlike other proposed measures, electoral reform would take more than a single term to deliver.

The electoral system, it says, is the most obvious example of an "issue that would have to span more than one electoral cycle".

(4/24)

This is nonsense.

A Government that wants to can deliver electoral reform within a single term.

We know this - because it's precisely what the Labour government in Wales is doing in its current term!

(5/24) bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-…

In any case, the result is a package of reforms which - by their proposers’ own admission - ignore an issue which is "vital" to the health of our democracy.

This is a major omission, as so many of the problems Brown sets out are a direct result of First Past the Post.

(6/24)

The report acknowledges that "cutting off communities" and "shutting people out" are "not just flaws in the way the system is operated: they are in the nature of the system itself"

And it rightly deplores that "people everywhere in the UK feel invisible to politicians"

(7/24)

It finds most voters "believe it doesn't matter who you vote for, nothing will ever really change".

And that national politicians "are today the least trusted people in Britain".

Dig into the report's tables and the data is even more damning.

(8/24)

Trust in MPs is nearly as abysmal as trust in the Lords - says the review's own polling.

In England
22% trust Lords
24% trust MPs

In Wales
12% trust Lords
22% trust MPs

In Scotland
3% trust Lords
7% trust MPs

There's a crisis of trust in BOTH houses of Parliament

(9/24)

This is why - as we set out earlier this year - Labour's democratic reforms will fail to renew trust in our politics if they deal with 'Everything but the Commons'.

All the evidence shows PR for general elections is key to a healthy democracy.

(10/24)
labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk/news/everythin…

Satisfaction with democracy has fallen in most democratic countries in recent decades.

But *every* comparable country where satisfaction with democracy is high and rising uses a proportional system for its general elections.

(11/24)

Meanwhile, *every* country with a winner-takes-all system (like First Past the Post) has seen soaring dissatisfaction with democracy.

This includes the whole anglosphere - with the exception of New Zealand, where they use PR.

Source: @BennettInst

(12/24)

This is in keeping with the academic consensus which finds that:

"Satisfaction with democracy is lower in 'winner-takes-all' systems than in proportionally representative democracies."

(13/24)

bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/publications/g…

Of course not all countries with PR are happy with their democracy

But *every* democracy that has high & rising satisfaction does use PR

And there are NO examples of comparable countries renewing trust in democracy, as Labour hopes to, by retaining FPTP-type systems

(14/24)

It's no surprise people are more satisfied with democracy under PR than our current system.

As @Keir_Starmer said "millions of people vote in safe seats and they feel their voice doesn’t count."

This ‘feeling’ is a correct reflection of reality
(15/24)
labourlist.org/2020/02/exclus…

Unless you live in a handful of marginal seats, no political party will prioritise your views or your vote.

Comparing FPTP vs PR elections in the UK’s devolved nations shows how much more representative proportional systems are of voters.

(16/24)

The evidence is clear: First Past the Post is not the "well-functioning electoral system" the Brown review says is "vital to the health and defence of our democracy".

It is itself a major cause of dissatisfaction and distrust in our democracy.

(17/24)

The Brown report fails to recognise PR as a key means of restoring trust - but maybe the reforms it does propose could restore trust instead?

Unfortunately, that seems very unlikely.

(18/24)

Take devolution.

While devolution has increased satisfaction with Scottish & Welsh democracy, both nations are now *less* satisfied with UK-wide democracy than areas with no devolution.

(19/24)

And the Brown report’s own polling finds, Welsh voters have twice as much trust in Senedd members than they do in Westminster MPs.

Scottish voters have 3x as much trust in MSPs as MPs.

More devolution may improve trust in devolved politics, but not in UK politics.

(20/24)

Comparable countries with federalism - the most advanced form of devolution - sometimes have healthy satisfaction with democracy.

But ONLY when they also use PR for general elections.

Those which combine maximal devolution with winner-takes-all systems do not.

(21/24)

Devolution has not resulted in renewed trust in politics anywhere where there is not also PR for general elections.

The evidence shows the same for elected senates - another of Brown's key recommendations...

(22/24)

Australia and the US both combine an elected senate with winner-takes-all general elections.

Both countries perform just as badly as the UK when it comes to satisfaction with democracy.

(23/24)

Brown’s review is welcome recognition that democracy must be central to Labour’s plans and many of the proposals are important.

But without change to the Commons - our supreme seat of power - these reforms will not succeed in restoring trust in our political system.

(24/24)