15 Labour MP defy the party whip to back proportional representation for House of Commons
Thanks so much to all those who campaigned & voted for my #FairVotes Bill – gutted we lost 81 to 74 but support IS growing – we'll do it!
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) July 20, 2016
Who voted for and against @CarolineLucas’ motion today? Results here https://t.co/siJEVTYWYB pic.twitter.com/V6ZHlLeetD
— Electoral Reform Soc (@electoralreform) July 20, 2016
The 15 Labour MPs who voted for @CarolineLucas's Proportional Rep'n Bill. The whipped party line was to abstain pic.twitter.com/4jmh0lzLzh
— John Harris (@johnharris1969) July 21, 2016
Two thoughts come to mind when looking at that result.
First, how electoral reform shows that there is scope for cross-party cooperation, or even realignment, beyond simply a reaction to the European referendum.
Second, how weak the grassroots campaign infrastructure is in favour of electoral reform. I know several people who work for organisations that support PR and they and their colleagues are certainly hard-working, but it is fair to also point out how small scale such efforts are. There is no mass-membership organisation regularly pushing for electoral and other political reform. Hence the relatively low key efforts to mobilise public support ahead of the vote.
That is something you can of course help remedy by supporting Unlock Democracy or the Electoral Reform Society.
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