Why Labour should back electoral reform

Keir Starmer and his wife arriving at Labour conference. Photo: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

I have changed my mind.

For more than 40 years I have argued against Britain using proportional representation to elect its MPs. I saw benefits in a system in which MPs answered to local constituents, and governments were chosen by voters on election day, not by politicians cobbling together coalitions in the weeks afterwards.

Those benefits remain (although the increasing prevalence of hung parliaments has weakened the choice-of-government argument). But for a range of reasons, the balance has tilted towards a different, more proportional, system. In the next few days, the Labour Party conference is likely to…