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A leading Labour mayor has challenged Keir Starmer to radically overhaul the House of Lords and introduce proportional representation, as the Prime Minister offers a King’s Speech that is thin on political reform.
Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, branded the current constitutional setup an “outrage” in a pro-PR event on the eve of the King’s Speech, setting out Labour’s plans.
Burnham, often touted as a future Labour leader, insisted the unelected chamber must better represent the UK, not just the South East, and called for a complete “rewiring” of British democracy, including a shake-up of the voting system and more power for the regions.
His comments came as the new Labour Government treads carefully on issues like Lords reform. The PM is scrapping the remaining 90-odd hereditary peers as a “first phase” of reform. Tony Blair said he was doing two stages of Lords reform when he became Prime Minister, but implemented just one – scrapping most hereditary peers.
Starmer may be wary of picking a major constitutional battle so early in his time in office, but Burnham seems determined to push the party towards bolder action.
He told the Labour for a New Democracy event: “All regions and nations of the UK are not represented equally in our national parliament, which is an outrage. It can’t be right to have a chamber largely drawn from within the M25 being our national parliament.
“Lords reform is urgent, and it would bring proportional representation to parliament before the Commons.”
Burnham backed Starmer’s English Devolution Bill, saying that it is “tilting the country in a direction it’s never gone before. We should enthusiastically get behind it”, and the idea of a “council of the nations and regions”.
But he argued: “The Lords should be that. It should proportionally represent all constituent parts of the UK.”
On proportional representation, Burnham has been a staunch advocate in recent years for scrapping Westminster’s winner-takes-all system, despite fears it could boost the far-right.
He told the 250 or so attendees online: “I remember feeling uncomfortable in 2015 about the UKIP vote. They polled well but got one seat. It’s not healthy for a party to get four million votes and only one seat.”
In this election, “people didn’t necessarily vote straight for the party of their first choice. There was probably more tactical voting than we’ve seen before” he added.
“The positive is that the British public have voted for change. They’ve given a strong position to a Government to make change, but they’ve also put them on notice. It’s not a 1997 moment. It’s very different, but could be a better moment for Labour.”
Asked if he would be pressing Starmer for a change to the voting system, Burnham said: “I can see myself making the argument [for PR] to Keir, but I think it’s a journey rather than something done all at once.
“I’d suggest devolution, a council of nations and regions, preferences for mayors, PR for a Senate of nations and regions to replace the Lords, and then maybe PR for Commons. Rewiring Britain is a journey, not an event.”
Burnham expressed concern that first-past-the-post voting is “going to take us to a more fractured society if we don’t change it now – even if [PR] occasionally gives the Right of politics a temporary period of success”.
The last Government scrapped voters’ ability to cast a second preference for mayoral and crime commissioner votes in England and Wales. Burnham said: “We should reverse the loss of a preferential system for electing mayors. A mayor should be place-first rather than party-first.”
And in comments likely to go down less well in party HQ, Burham called for an end to the party whipping system, where MPs have to vote with their party’s instructions: “I’d encourage the parties to rethink the whip system. MPs hand inordinate power to an unaccountable state that sits on top of injustices and doesn’t correct them.”
Caroline Osborne, Trade Union and Political Officer for Labour for a New Democracy, said: “Andy Burnham made a really compelling case for democratic reform – including the need for a voting system which gives everyone a vote that counts. We know from talking to thousands of Labour members, trade unionists and voters that this matters.”