Andy Burnham’s government is facing warnings from senior Labour ministers that proposed electoral reforms could make it harder for the party to secure an outright majority at a future general election.
The Prime Minister has announced a national commission to examine possible changes to the voting system, inviting all political parties to participate in its work.
The initiative is likely to be welcomed by almost 100 Labour MPs who have backed calls for a commission to reconsider Britain’s electoral rules. But the proposal has exposed tensions within the government, with several Cabinet ministers concerned that changes to the voting system could ultimately weaken Labour’s prospects of winning a majority.
Mr Burnham told Cabinet colleagues that the reforms were likely to prove controversial but argued that the political system needed to change.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “In an era of five party politics can we really watch a party with less than 30 per cent walk into Downing Street? Is that what we’re really about? We have had a decade of turbulence in our politics.
“That has stopped Britain moving forward. If we look to the next decade we need to show the markets, the world and everybody that we can have a better politics, more about problem-solving than point-scoring. That would come I think if we had a different approach to the voting system.”
Burnham’s intervention comes as Britain’s traditional two-party political system faces greater pressure from the rise of smaller parties and increasingly fragmented voting patterns.
Under the current first-past-the-post system, parties can win a parliamentary majority without securing a majority of the national vote. Supporters of reform argue that proportional systems would more closely translate votes into parliamentary representation, while opponents have raised concerns about coalition governments and the stability of executive power.
Alex Burghart, the Conservative shadow Cabinet Office minister, accused Mr Burnham of having already decided what the commission should recommend.
“Sounds like he’s rather prejudged the outcome of the Commission. Burnham wants to remove voters’ power to sack their MP.
“It’s a bad idea that Labour would need to win a referendum on and couldn’t implement before 2034. In the meantime: no plan to reduce unemployment, no plan for growth, no plan to defend the country, no plan at all.”
The timetable for any changes is likely to become a central political issue. Burghart said reforms would require a referendum and could not be implemented before 2034, potentially leaving the government facing years of debate before any new electoral system took effect.
The commission’s work is therefore likely to test not only Labour’s appetite for institutional reform but also its willingness to accept changes that could alter the electoral incentives from which governing parties have traditionally benefited.
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