Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is poised to urge Andy Burnham to introduce proportional representation before the next general election, warning that failure to act could render it “too late”.
Speaking at the Institute for Government on Tuesday, Sir Ed is expected to caution that Labour may find itself “powerless to do anything” to alter the voting system once the election has ended.
He will appeal directly to Mr Burnham to collaborate, asserting that if Mr Burnham is “serious about changing the way we do politics”, then his “door is open” for discussions.
Mr Burnham has previously spoken in favour of changing the voting system in parliamentary elections to more closely reflect the support parties receive across the country, and expressed support for replacing Britain’s first-past-the-post system with a form of proportional representation.
Asked about his opinion on electoral reform on during an Ask-Me-Anything event on social media site, Reddit, Burnham said: “I am a strong supporter of electoral reform, partly because I believe it will enable the change to a more collaborative politics, and one that is less about point-scoring and more about problem-solving.”
He added that he would seek to persuade his party of the need for a manifesto commitment to it in the next manifesto, which echoed the suggestion he made during his campaign in Makerfield.
Labour’s party conference voted to support moving towards a proportional representation voting system in 2022.
The party’s 2024 manifesto instead focused its electoral and constitutional changes on extending voting to 16 and 17-year-olds and House of Lords reform.
On Tuesday, Sir Ed will tell Mr Burnham to “be bold, be brave” in pushing for proportional representation, adding: “And do it now. Don’t wait until it is too late.
“Don’t wait until after the next election – when you might be powerless to do anything about it.”
Mr Burnham, who is set to replace Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street on July 20 after securing an overwhelming majority of nominations from Labour MPs, has pledged to “rewire” the British state and reach out to other parties to build “a more collaborative approach” to politics.
Sir Ed is expected to welcome that pledge in his speech, echoing Mr Burnham’s criticism of a “broken political system”.
He will say: “If Andy Burnham is serious about changing the way we do politics, about ending the performative hostility and instead working across Parliament to meet the challenges we face, if he is serious, then my door is open.”
