19 February 2023
Hounslow Green party are supporting the national cross-party “Councils for PR” (Proportional Representation) campaign for a fairer voting system. Stephen Clark, the Hounslow organiser for Councils for PR, has approached all sixty-three London Borough of Hounslow councillors on three separate occasions to ask for their support.
Stephen Clark said: “Given the overwhelming support for PR at last year’s Labour Party conference, the Labour Party response is disgraceful. I am most disappointed with Councillor Katherine Dunne, the deputy leader of the council, who, despite speaking in favour of PR at a public meeting in Richmond in 2018, does not see any point in raising the issue with her colleagues. This isn’t good enough for a party that’s supposed to believe in fairness.”
“Only seven of the fifty-three Labour councillors bothered to respond. While one was committed to First Past the Post, the existing system which has led to massive over-representation of Labour in Hounslow, the other six appeared to broadly support change but are not prepared to even discuss the resolution in full council.”
“Only two Tories responded, one supporting the current arrangements, but the other was prepared to talk to colleagues. This is unsurprising from a party committed to the present system which has unfairly put them in office for seventy-five out of the past one hundred years.”
“Since May 2022 councillors from across the country have been approached to gain their support for a resolution to be passed by their Council calling on the government to change the voting for Westminster elections from a first past the post (FPTP) to a fairer PR system fairly reflecting voters’ wishes. So far twenty-one Councils have passed the resolution including those in nearby boroughs, Richmond and Kingston.”
Rashid Wahab, the Green Party’s candidate in the by-election for Heston West said “Our unfair voting system is one of the causes of our country’s many problems, and it is time we reformed it. Under a fairer voting system, smaller parties, like the Greens and Liberal Democrats would have voices both on Hounslow Council and in Westminster. It is time for change.”
Councils for PR is a single-issue campaign launched by Make Votes Matter (MVM) and Get PR Done with one objective: to encourage local councils in England and Wales to pass a motion supporting the growing cross-party demand for proportional representation (PR) to be used in elections to Westminster.
