A ‘Misstep' not a 'Step Change'

A ‘Misstep' not a 'Step Change'

Liberal Democrat Opposition leader in Sefton, John Pugh has expressed disappointment that Labour has prevented Andy Burnham's return to parliament. 

Pugh whose parliamentary career overlapped with Burnham’s - both entering the Commons in 2001 and retiring from it in 2017- believes that a huge opportunity has been missed. 

Andy Burnham is one of the leading Labour advocates for changing our voting system to a properly proportional one that mirrrors people’s preferences  

In the last general election in 2024 Labour got 33% of the votes but won 63% of the seats in the Commons under the current 'first past the post’ voting system. It is one of the many examples in recent history of the composition of parliament not reflecting the balance of opinion in the country- the voters not getting what they voted for.

“Andy Burnham understands that although our current system can do big favours to parties, it's high risk and cannot prevent ideologically extreme parties and individuals from grabbing all the levers of power. You don’t need majority democratic support to end up top dog in the UK. 

A system where the different views of voters are properly represented in parliament would deny power to loud, vocal minorities and would mean that politicians would have to talk sensibly with each other rather than spend time shouting at each other. A Burnham-led Labour Party could have delivered a reformed voting system and ensured that the next General Election was not the usual lottery. It might also have disbursed real power from Whitehall to regions like the North West and ended the long running farce of government ministers travelling north, donning hard hats and delivering virtually nothing”.

Cllr.Pugh points out that even at municipal  level there is the recognition that politics can and should be done differently, “ On Sefton we have had significant debates recently led by thoughtful individuals like Cllr. Neary and Cllr. Harvey arguing for kinder, more rational politics, but, to use a cliche from the Blair days,  we need "a step change” in our politics , and what we have seen in the blocking of Andy Burnham is a clear “misstep” by the Labour Party.