Campaigners highlighting wasted votes in general election in Wigan

The Make Votes Matter campaign is launching a regional effort to talk up the benefits of proportional representation to ensure more people get their voices heard when they go to the ballot box.

The campaign has suggested that at the last general election in 2019 some 36 per cent of votes in the Wigan constituency were wasted.

In Makerfield some 31 per cent of votes did not matter as Yvonne Fovargue retained her seat for Labour.

However, in Leigh the close race between the Conservatives’ victorious candidate James Grundy and Labour’s Jo Platt meant only 18 per cent of votes did not influence the outcome.

Make Votes Matter says the current first-past-the-post system means millions of votes across the country are wasted as people act tactically at the ballot box or otherwise provide a distortion of their real political views.

The campaign has swung into action after home secretary Priti Patel unveiled plans to scrap the forms of proportional representation used for mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections.

The campaign says this would be a backward step and PR should actually be extended to more elections, not cut back.

Abbie Jones, a Manchester resident who is taking part in Make Votes Matter, said: “It’s time our voices were heard. Nearly half a million votes cast in Greater Manchester at the last general election did not count towards the outcome because people voted for smaller parties or provided votes for the winner well beyond what was needed.

“It’s worse in some areas than others - in Wigan, 36 per cent of votes were ‘wasted’ in this way, including thousands of the votes cast for the winning candidate, Lisa Nandy.

“It baffles me that the worth of my vote depends on my postcode, and I am tired of having to vote tactically to make my vote matter at all. It’s so disempowering.

“Countries around the world use proportional representation systems every day, we deserve a 21st century voting system.”

Make Votes Matter will hold a street stall in Manchester city centre on Saturday which is also a national day of protest action for PR campaigners.

The group says the picture across Greater Manchester for how many votes prove signification varies wildly.

At the last general election, for example, it classed just eight per cent of the votes cast in Bury North as wasted.

In Manchester Gorton, by contrast, a staggering 81 per cent of votes did not matter or materially affect the outcome, the group says.

Emma Knaggs, grassroots director at Make Votes Matter, said: “First Past the Post means seven out of 10 of us are muted at the ballot box, effectively with no voice.

“The Make Votes Matter campaign for equal votes has always been about making our voices heard.

“We are asking people in Manchester and across the UK to sign our petition ‘Less First Past the Post, not more’ and send a clear message to the Government not to impose this archaic system on future mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections.

“This would be a backward step for our democracy and leave millions more voters without a voice in politics, being governed by officials they simply didn’t vote for.”

Find out more at www.makevotesmatter.org.uk/petition-less-fptp-not-more?rq=petition

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