Council backs voting reform

A Green councillor has been successful in his second attempt to get Torridge District Council to support voting reform.

Cllr Huw Thomas (Bideford East) presented a motion stating that future local elections in England should use proportional representation (PR).

This means the makeup of councils would correspond closely with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party. For example, if a party gained 40 per cent of the votes, a perfectly proportional system would allow them to gain four out of 10 seats.

Under the first-past-the-post system used in general elections, the person with the most votes in each area becomes the MP or councillor.

The system is used around the world. Among the countries that elect their governments using proportional representation are Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Spain, and Switzerland.

Cllr Thomas’ motion also called on the government to support the system for national elections.

Last year, his motion was voted down, but this time, Torridge councillors voted in favour, with 10 against.

Cllr Thomas drew attention to last year’s general election, when Labour won 412 out of 650 seats in the House of Commons, despite receiving fewer than 34 per cent of the votes.

He said: “The Tories got 23.7 per cent of the vote but only 121 seats, while Reform had 14.3 per cent but only five seats, and the Greens got 6.7 per cent and four seats.

“We need stability in government, but is it really wise that one party should get such a huge majority when barely one in five registered voters supported them?

“We need PR, and if we really believe in democracy, we should apply the same principles to local as well as national elections.”

Torridge joins North Devon, Mid Devon district councils, and Exeter City Council in backing a switch from the current first-past-the-post system.

Cllr Thomas claimed that Labour’s massive majority is taking a chainsaw to local democracy with its plans for local government reorganisation, which will see district councils abolished in favour of larger unitary ones.

“They’re pretending that what’s going on with getting rid of lots of local councils is about devolution, but that’s a complete con.

“It’s a power grab that will take decision-making away from people, not empower them, and make it even harder to hold our elected representatives to account.”

Torridge Labour councillor David Brenton (Lab, Bideford South) said he couldn’t support the whole motion as he didn’t believe PR worked in national government but agreed that local government reorganisation presents a chance to look at PR for local elections.

“We need a change. We need to deliver what is best for the county, while at the same time allowing everyone to have their say. I think there is an opportunity for us to look at PR to represent a broad spectrum of local government.”