Tag: Anas Sarwar

Labour conference votes in favour of Proportional Representation

By Richard Wood

Delegates at the UK Labour Party Conference in Liverpool have today voted in favour of a motion to put changing the UK’s electoral system to one of Proportional Representation (PR) in the next election manifesto.

The vote follows years of hard work from reform activists, notably the Labour for a New Democracy campaign which includes the likes of Make Votes Matter and the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform.

The successful vote also comes a year after a similar motion was defeated at the previous conference.

It’s worth highlighting that 60% of local Labour parties support PR. A total of 140 sent motions to this year’s conference in favour of reform.

Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar even made the case for PR at the Labour conference. The Scottish Parliament voting system may not be perfect but it does deliver broadly proportional outcomes so it’s great to see MSPs standing up for PR at Westminster too.

READ MORE: 12 reasons to support Proportional Representation

Analysis – what does this mean and what next for Labour?

This is a major step forwards on the road to Proportional Representation. The Labour Party now officially has a policy in favour of upgrading UK democracy with fair votes.

However, it does not guarantee the inclusion of PR at the next election. Reports suggest that the party leadership may opt to exclude a commitment to PR from its 2024 manifesto.

It remains to be seen how this will play out but one thing is certain, this is a significant moment.

Labour for a New Democracy will no doubt keep up the pressure within the Labour Party.

READ MORE: 3 alternatives to the Scottish Parliament’s AMS voting system

6 Scottish Labour manifesto pledges on improving democracy

By Richard Wood

Scottish Labour were the last of the main five parties in Scotland to launch their manifesto ahead of the election on 6 May 2021.

Here’s what they have pledge to support in the next parliament.

Party overview

Anas Sarwar’s party unveiled his party’s policy priorities on Thursday 23 April and are hoping to take second place from the Scottish Conservatives on 6 May.

The party has lost seats at every single Scottish election since 1999 so reversing this trend would be a positive step for the party, which went from being Scotland’s dominant party in the 2007 Scottish General Election (and the 2010 UK election) to battling it out with the Conservatives for second place in 2016 and 2021.

The party is now on its tenth permanent leader since devolution but polls suggest Anas Sarwar is cutting through. A significant win for Scottish Labour would be to take second place from Douglas Ross’ Scottish Conservatives.

READ MORE: Scottish Labour MSP says he’s “sympathetic” to electoral reform at Holyrood

Manifesto pledges on Scottish democracy

The party’s main proposals on Scottish democracy in 2021 are to:

  • Devolve further powers to Holyrood (borrowing and employment rights)
  • Introduce a Clean Up Holyrood Commission
  • Elect Holyrood committee conveners via the whole Scottish Parliament
  • Give Holyrood committees more powers
  • Further devolve powers to local government
  • Introduce a “Right to Space” to ensure communities have places to meet and funding to build the capacity to participate as active citizens
Source: Scottish Parliament (2017), CC BY 3.0

Manifesto

The full Scottish Labour manifesto for the 2021 Scottish Parliament election can be accessed here.

READ MORE: A comparison of the five main parties’ 2021 manifestos

Scottish Labour and electoral reform manifesto commitments in 2016