Southwark Labour Councillors Defy Membership to Vote Against Proportional Representation

At the Southwark council assembly last night, Labour councillors voted against a motion calling for proportional representation, despite Labour membership supporting it.

The Southwark Liberal Democrat group brought forward a motion calling on the council to write to the government to demand a proportionally representative electoral system.

The motion was backed by campaign group Councils for PR, who reached out to Southwark Labour members asking them to vote in favour.

At the Labour Party Conference in September, the Labour membership voted overwhelmingly to support proportional representation and include electoral reform in their next manifesto.

Despite this, Southwark Labour chose to amend the Lib Dem motion to remove any mention of proportional representation.

Commenting Cllr David Watson, who proposed the motion, said: “The UK’s electoral system is broken. The Lib Dems know it, and the Labour membership knows it too. That’s why we’re shocked and disappointed that Southwark Labour councillors have turned down their chance to back real democratic change, and reflect the desires of their membership, by backing proportional representation.”