Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform
British political organisation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform (LCER) is an organisation formed of members and supporters of the British Labour Party, who are interested in issues of democratic renewal and electoral reform.
Abbreviation | LCER |
---|---|
Chair | Sandy Martin |
Website | Official website |
Formerly called | Labour Study Group for Electoral Reform |
LCER campaigns on a range of constitutional issues associated with accountability, democracy and governance; its flagship campaign is for proportional representation in the House of Commons, which it argues is a precondition for other democratic reforms to be effective.
LCER characterises the first-past-the-post voting system (FPTP) as "unfair and deeply flawed, leading to voter apathy, disaffection with politics, and parliaments which don't represent the people". It campaigns for FPTP to be replaced with an electoral system which is "broadly proportional, and in which all votes matter".[1]
The organisation works closely with other organisations promoting electoral reform in the UK, including Make Votes Matter, the Electoral Reform Society and Politics for the Many. LCER is distinct from these other organisations in that it focuses its efforts on promoting proportional representation within the Labour Party. This is driven by the belief that a change to the UK's voting system can only come about via Labour:
"We believe that the impetus for changing the voting system must come from the Labour Party. The Conservatives will never support PR, because First Past the Post gives them such a big electoral advantage. The smaller parties already support PR, but lack the influence to bring about change. Only Labour can drive the change."[1]
Since 2022, LCER has hosted the Labour for a New Democracy (L4ND) campaign.