Between ambivalence and antipathy: the labour party and electoral reform1

Abstract

This article locates New Labour's apparent willingness to consider electoral reform for Westminster elections in historical context, drawing attention to the Labour Party's overall antipathy towards such reform during most of the twentieth century. The article then illustrates that with regard to the issue of electoral reform. New Labour is not actually that ‘new’, and that many in the party remain resistant to abandoning the first‐past‐the‐post method of election to the House of Commons. That alternative electoral systems have been permitted for the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, London Assembly, and elections to the European Parliament, has merely served to strengthen the resistance of those within the Blair governments who do not want to see electoral reform extended to Westminster. Labour's pro‐reformers, meanwhile, remain weakened by their own lack of agreement as to how the first‐past‐the‐post system should be reformed or replaced, and what precisely the objectives of electoral reform ought to be.