Make Votes Matter street stall in London (photo: MVM).

Make Votes Matter’s first meeting in Hastings

Make Votes Matter, the campaigning body for proportional representation, is holding a public meeting in Hastings on Thursday 16 November with the aim of establishing a local group. Nick Terdre reports.

The meeting, the first to be convened by Make Votes Matter in Hastings, will be addressed by Klina Jordan, one of the founders of the movement, and is aimed at kickstarting an active local group. Meetings are also being held this week in north London, Chippenham, Truro and Stroud.

“Make votes matter (MVM) is a national campaign movement dedicated to electoral reform in the UK. Over the past few years local groups have sprung up all over the country , bringing together those interested in democracy,” local organiser Surrinder Chera tells HOT.

“The local meetings offer a space for people to become involved through educating themselves and others about these issues, and planning local activities that will help raise awareness. Groups have arranged debates, street stalls and a range of creative events to help put this firmly on the policy agenda for all political parties.”

Make Votes Matter is a cross-party movement born out of widespread frustration with the first-past-the-post electoral system for Parliament, which results in seats won by each party being quite out of proportion to the votes cast, with some parties being favoured and some disadvantaged.

In the general election of 2015, the Conservatives polled 37% of votes but gained just over 50% of seats in the House of Commons, while Labour received just over 30% of the votes but took over 35% of the seats. Meanwhile a combined 24% of votes went to the Liberal Democrats, Ukip and the Green Party, which ended up with 10 seats between them, equivalent to 1.5%.

“The 2015 General Election was the most disproportionate in British history and is a shocking example of how our voting system misrepresents the will of the people,” says MVM on its website.

After that election half a million people signed petitions calling for proportional representation (PR), it says.

Make Votes Matter Public Meeting Friends Meeting House, 5 South Terrace, Hastings TN34 1SA, 630pm.

MVM website.

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