Government Eyes High-Profile Figure To Lead Electoral Reform Commission
2 min read
The government is set to launch the new national commission on electoral reform in the next few months, potentially before Christmas, as part of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's vision to enact the biggest constitutional change in decades.
Burnham's pledge to look at replacing first-past-the-post (FPTP) with a more proportional system was a headline announcement in his Labour Party conference speech in September.
There has been relatively little mention of the commission since then.
However, The House magazine can reveal that the Labour government has started work on assembling the commission, with insiders saying it could be launched as soon as this year, but adding that it could get pushed into early 2027.
As reported in a wider piece by The House this weekend, the government is looking for a prestigious chair who can handle the significant media attention that would come with the role, likely someone akin to Alan Milburn, the former health secretary who is leading a highly anticipated review into the NEETs crisis.
One name floated among campaigners is leading pollster Professor John Curtice. Speaking to The House, however, Curtice denied the speculation, saying he had “not heard a dicky bird”.
In addition, the government wants the national commission – including its chair – to be as non-partisan as possible, to help encourage cross-party buy-in. There is a feeling that commissioners cannot be seen to have been supporters of a particular voting system in the past, as it could be used to discredit the commission's work.
It is also understood that a move away from FPTP will not be predetermined, with the government keen for the commission to hear arguments in favour of the voting system currently used in Westminster elections. Parliamentarians who are not convinced by the need for change will be able to make the case to the commission that FPTP is in fact robust.
One of the concerns cited by Labour MPs who oppose electoral reform is the potential loss of a constituency link under a more proportional alternative.
The House understands that the government wants the commission's terms of reference to state the importance of maintaining some sort of constituency link.
The national commission is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), with No 10 closely involved. MHCLG secretary Angela Rayner described herself as a “first-past-the-post girl” in 2022, but it is now believed by some to be coming around to the idea.
Read the piece in full.
