Wales needs to lead the conversation around Electoral Reform

Lewis Norton

If you’re anything like me, as you were filling in your Welsh election data spreadsheet during election night (because I’m sure we all have one!), you may have been digesting all the stats, thinking to yourself “something doesn’t feel right”.

This is because what we observed was among the most disproportionate election results in British history, with Labour achieving a huge majority on the back of just over a third of the popular vote.

Naturally, these events led to a great debate about electoral reform in the immediate aftermath of the election, a debate that has since simmered and faded to the background as the high-speed spectacle of politics goes on.

However, if we want real change to how we elect our MPs, we need to keep the momentum of that conversation going, as opposed to letting it fade away just to then reappear at the next election.

Gross disproportion

Here in Wales, we saw a result even more disproportionate than the mean, with Labour winning 27 of 32 seats (84.4%) with 37% of the vote, having secured over 50% of the vote in only 1 constituency (Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney); a feat they achieved in 9 of 40 seats in 2019.

Not to focus solely on the disproportion of Labour’s majority, the effects in Wales have been felt elsewhere, most significantly on the right.

While the Liberal Democrats’ (6.5%) and Plaid Cymru’s (14.8%) vote share saw them earn 1 and 4 Welsh seats respectively, the Conservatives and Reform UK with their 18.2% and 16.9% shares of the vote earned zero seats between them.

While the politics of the Conservatives and Reform may not be to everyone’s tastes, such a feeling should not cloud the injustice of these results, and the danger they pose of causing further disengagement and resentment towards politics.

The Electoral Reform Society’s conclusion that 59.7% of voters in Wales did not vote for their MP paints the picture of a Parliament where the majority of Welsh voters are not adequately represented.

How then, can Wales be the voice to lead the charge to better elections?

Wales’ Opportunity

In Wales, since the emergence of devolution, we have elected our representatives through the system of Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMPR), a meeting in the middle between PR and First Past The Post, and while it hasn’t been perfect, it’s been a big improvement on Westminster.

MMPR has delivered where First Past The Post would not; namely in 2016 where it granted UKIP 7 seats in the Senedd on the back of 13% of the regional list vote, while UKIP’s 13.6% of the Welsh vote in the 2015 General Election gave them zero seats.

MMPR has also generally delivered in its allocation of regional seats to the likes of Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives.

Since 2017, we’ve had control of the electoral system we use for the Senedd. From 2026, we will be moving to a more representative system, a Closed List system. Again, not perfect, and plenty has been said about the ‘closed’ nature of it, but it is still a big step in the right direction.

This puts Wales in the unique position in the UK to wave the flag high for Proportional Representation.

By showing how Proportional Representation provides for fairer outcomes, better choices for voters, and greater levels of engagement by politicians and voters alike, we can showcase the merits of a different system.

This crucially also requires, I believe, those in Welsh Labour who believe in electoral reform to speak up.

However, this would require speaking up against the Westminster leadership who have now turned their back on electoral reform (after all, the current system has just worked rather well for them).

What can we do?

We need to keep applying the pressure for change. At an individual level, there are plenty of things we can do to make our voices heard.

Make Votes Matter provides plenty of avenues for which to join the fight for change. From signing petitions, writing to your MP, or even getting involved in the grassroots campaign, there are plenty of ways to make sure this election is the last one contested under such a disproportionate system.

The fight for Proportional Representation does not just take place on a national level however. Gwynedd and Ceredigion Councils are in the process of undertaking public consultations on utilising a form of PR, the Single Transferable Vote, for local elections; with Powys also undertaking one in the future.

The more the public engages with these consultations positively, the better chance we have of impacting the decision making of these councils, and potentially others in the future.

We, most likely, have five years until the next general election; that’s five years to make the case for proportional representation. And where better than Cymru to bang the drum for change.

Lewis is a recent BA Politics graduate from the University of York and incoming MA Welsh Government and Politics student at Cardiff University