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This petition was submitted during the 2015 to 2017 Parliament

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Closed Bring in a proportional representation system for UK general elections.

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The first past the post system is out of date now that there are far more than 2 parties in General Elections and the outcome of a PR system will reflect a fair democratic society rather than one that has a concerning amount of voters disillusioned with the UK Government's version of democracy.

34% of registered voters didn't vote in the last 2 UK General Elections.
In 2005 it was 38%. That's almost as many as the Labour and Conservative vote combined!
The UK's single-party governments are elected by less than a quarter of registered voters.
We need a PR system to give us better democracy to remedy the demoralised non voters as they feel there votes won't count in an undemocratic first past the post system.

Stats taken from http://www.votenone.org.uk/uk-unheard-third.html

17,459 signatures

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100,000

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  • Petition closed

  • Government responded to this petition

    This Government is committed to respecting the will of the British people as expressed in the 2011 referendum by keeping the First Past the Post system for elections to the House of Commons.

    Read the response in full

    A referendum on electoral reform took place in the last Parliament. In that referendum, electors voted strongly against changing the system, with more than two-thirds voting against switching to the ‘Alternative Vote’ (AV) system and in favour of retaining First Past the Post. As a result it would be hard to justify ignoring the democratic verdict in the referendum, and equally hard to make a case for a further referendum on a more ambitious reform such as PR when the more modest AV proposal was defeated so resoundingly.

    This Government’s manifesto committed to respecting the will of the British people as expressed in the 2011 referendum by keeping the First Past the Post system for elections to the House of Commons.

    The First Past the Post voting system is well established and understood by voters and the ballot paper is easy to complete with voters putting a cross (X) by a single candidate. In each constituency, the candidate for whom more people voted than for any of the alternatives is elected.

    First Past the Post provides a clear link between constituents and their representatives in Parliament. More often than not, it results in a government with a working majority in Parliament making decisive government possible. It allows the formation of a clear opposition that can provide an alternative to, and a check on, the government of the day.

    The Government, therefore, has no plans to change the voting system for elections to the House of Commons.

    Cabinet Office

  • Government will respond to this petition

    This petition got more than 10,000 signatures meaning that government will respond to it.

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 18 August 2016.