04.06.15
London Assembly calls on Boris to support a debate on electoral reform
The London Assembly (LA) has called on the mayor of London to support a debate on electoral reform for elections to the House of Commons.
The LA proposed a motion, which was agreed with 11 votes in favour and five against, after it was claimed that Boris Johnson made an ‘inaccurate’ statement on LBC in May saying that “we have had a referendum on proportional representation (PR)”.
Darren Johnson AM, who proposed the motion, said: “The mayor was wrong to dismiss proportional systems out of hand, and need only look to the LA to show that PR can work.
“In the recent general election one in seven Londoners voted for a party that got no representation in our city. There’s a clear appetite for debating the system we use to elect politicians in London.”
During his interview on LBC last month, posed by a caller, Johnson said: “One way to make the system a bit fairer is to go for boundary reform. We had a referendum on PR in very recent memory and it was overturned, it was not successful. It is quite a big thing to have another change to the constitution.”
He added that all systems of electing representatives have “some defect or other”.
However, last week, the Electoral Reform Society claimed that this year’s general election was the most ‘disproportionate’ in history.
The full LA motion text reads: “This Assembly notes the recent general election results in London and the ensuing debate about electoral reform. This Assembly believes that electoral reform for the House of Commons should be debated.
“This Assembly notes the mayor’s inaccurate statement on LBC on the 12th May that ‘we have had a referendum on PR’, and calls on him to support a full debate on electoral reform.”
PSE has contacted the mayor’s office for comment, but at the time of publication had received no reply.
(Image: c. Dominic Lipinski)
Tell us what you think – have your say below or email [email protected]