Who else has come back to watch this after Reform UK got 17% of the vote and yet only 5 seats in the 2024 general election?

We need Proportional Representation

God I wish we had proportional representation

As an American I really hope we can all get our shit together.

I want to have proportional voting system in Hungary too. It should be a global movement.

If only the mainstream TV channels would show this.

Made 5 years ago and very, very true!

I'm Canadian and you have no idea how disappointed I was when our current government broke their campaign promise to end FPTP elections in Canada :/ We keep trying but the political parties that benefit the most from FPTP are the ones making the laws so I'm not sure how hopeful I am.

The Electoral Reform Society are also worth joining as they've been doing this for years. The more awareness the better.

Proportional Representation makes the most sense.

You could say it's a corrupt system

Nice one John 👍

We won't get PR while we still have Tory or Labour running the country, it's not in their interests to change things. We had a chance for PR in 2011 but the Tories watered down the vote to the useless AV one, knowing it wouldn't get through. We need PR!

Great to hear John's voice behind this - can remember the original! Would be great to achieve PR while he's still around. #MVM

It's MADNESS that we have to guess at the best tactical vote, by voting for our 2nd or 3rd choice, just to stop our 5th choice getting in. And we often guess wrong and get the exact opposite of what we intended. With trust in politicians at an all time low, it's time to restore some faith in democracy by Making Every Vote Matter, with PR.

One good thing about this video is that it speaks to everybody, using examples from the left and right of politics. And it's true. No matter what side you're on, PR will more accurately reflect your votes.

Like and support awesome British actor John Cleese support P.R. voting system to elect the 650 British MP's in the 2019 British general election.

Here in Canada, we've had several unsuccessful attempts to implement PR on a provincial level, and many of us are disappointed that our current Prime Minister broke his promise to implement it on the national level after being elected in 2015. My home province alone has had 3 unsuccessful attempts to replace electing our provincial parliament with some form of PR to replace FPTP. The latest one (as of posting this) was a mail-in referendum last year, making it as easy as possible for the demographics less likely to want change to participate. As such, more than 60% of the votes counted were in favour of maintaining our current system. I can certainly tell you that few frequent voters my hometown wanted to keep the status quo, and the results did show that. But, we found out the hard way that there were too many more willing to participate, who didn't want the change to happen. Really disappointing.

A good explanation of the need to get a direct connection between voters and representation

Very good. Makes it entertaining.

Here in Austria (a land with proportional representation), I am glad that we don't use FPTP for electing our representatives. I live in a region where the conservative People's Party of Austria won every election since WW2 and thus, I'd waste my vote if I don't vote the People's Party, because candidates of other parties wouldn't have any chance. That would make me very pissed off because I am center-left.

Great video. Why do people in this country put up with this unfair system in the UK? Join the Electoral Reform Society or write to your MP and find out who agrees with you. Either way, try to get rid of this undemocratic present system.

Canada here

I agree with this. Most countries in Europe use proportional representation. The UK is the odd one out in this regard.

Awesome. Excellent channel. Great video. P.R voting system is badly needed for Britain. The British House of Commons should elect all British 650 MP's under STV or P.R voting system like Ireland or Italy model for UK.

A petition to her Majesty the Queen signed by the majority of the British electorate would send a strong message that we would prefer a fairer voting system.

Works here in Australia

765 out of 769 (99.48%) voters like this video, which is an overwhelming majority.

Really clear.

I think the MMP system is brilliant. Those with the support of voters behind them get a seat at the table.

The bit where it says '57% of us have to put up with a government we didn't vote for' - this would be true, perhaps higher, under PR.

Genius

You know it makes sense.

We need to give the one third of the people who voted for proportional voting their preferred voting method. I'd gladly take that system in the US, however.

*I wish I could sign this petition but I'm a I wish I could sign this petition but I'm an Indian citizen & it still will take time for me to get British citizenship !!! So I guess I have to wait.*

In Australia we have preferential voting which is similar. Also voting is compulsory for Australian citizens, 18 years and above. I noticed that only about 60% of people voted in the election in UK. Obviously the other 40% don't care.

The AV referendum held a few years ago was won by the First-Past-the-Posters because the case for AV was so appallingly put together. It was truly dreadful and just succeeded in confusing everyone. Something like the Cleese approach would have been so much better.

Certainly Do need that system here in the U K , how can Reform get 4 Million votes and get 5 M Ps , yet Libdems get 3.5 Million & get 71 seats , & Labour get 30% of the votes and form a big majority in Parliament, we do need change before its to late , or is it already to late ? 😉 Reform should have Won . I agree with you 💯% and have signed the petition 👍

1:38 - UPDATE: In 2024, Labour got 63% of the seats with 34% of the vote.

NZ went from first past the post to proportional representation after we went neo liberal without it being put to the country .

A parliament that reflects its people - You're having a giraffe.

with PR reform would have undermined everything the majority government would try to do FPTP is needed when a country needs radical fixes

PR is the ethical voting system. Much more representative and fairer!

FPTP is crap indeed. PR is also problematic. It leads to dysfunctional coalitions. Look at Israel.

The proportion of wasted votes under FPtP is on average 75%, under STV it would be about 15-20%.

MMP Proportional Representation works really well here in New Zealand. Half our MPs are local electorate MPs, half are list MPs to preserve the right proportion.

0:52 in other words a democracy

I think that proportional representation is a better voting method then first-past-the-post. However, you have to be careful of too many parties winning seats and leading to chaos.

You forgot to mention john cleese as fiona's dad in shrek!

Bravo.

In history class at school I learned that PR means that the government rarely has enough of a majority (there are too many differing views on everything with too much power), meaning that nothing ever gets achieved because there’s nobody in parliament powerful enough to veto a decision. I can’t say I agree or disagree but I’d like it if someone explained why this is correct or incorrect.

I feel so jealous. In America this isn’t even a discussion. It like we’re destined to be stuck with plurality voting forever.

With PR, how would you distribute the the seats? If a party got 25% of the vote and therefore 25% of the seats, who and how do you decide which seats?

I really don’t get first past the post. It’s just minority rule and it’s a poor democratic electoral choice

The UK had a chance to swap to a mixed-system called the Additional Member System. It combines the current system and proportional representation. Used in Scotland, there was a referendum to apply it nationwide in 2010. It failed. Only about 32% of citizens voted in favour.

But how would PR work in terms of who your local MP is or would we get rid of local MP’s?

As a boy i remember when i was doing history and we studied the weimar Republic and the ruse of the nazis and you know what really fucked the political systems in Germany and other countries like Italy.........proportional representation and continues to mess up there systems no matter what you have things will not be perfect acting like the grass will be greener on tbe other side has led humanity into some of its darkest times and even if we did switch people still would not be happy

I wonder if JC would stick by this comment after what just happened with Reform. I've seen him worm around a few political issues and this would probably be one of them.

I moved from Britain to NZ. We have PR here. It’s not perfect but it is definitely better than the Westminster model.

FPTP is a terrible system. Already signed up to this. The bit I don't get though is how many seats would we need in parliament? It would be good to have a more modern UK parliament that removes the oppositional pantomime. Also rules on filibustering should be introduced. Subscribed and followed thanks.

But there was a referendum about changing the FPTP system, I think in 2010/11. Proposal was rejected by almost 73%, yet it was implemented using the proposed PR method, which is extremely peculiar if you think about it. You legitimize you voting system using the up to then sub-optimal and as such dismissed method.

In the US, a Bill is introduced that would allow up to 5 House members to represent a single district and elected through single transferable vote. It's called the Fair Representation Act.

This sounds great but why do we not use this?

I want proportional democracy in the states. It may not be the best system but it'll be better than what wr have now.

I uses to think PR would be good but now I think it would lead to no decisions being able to be made, there are vested interests in not letting the people get what they want, common sense would never do. Somebody needs to ROCK THE BOAT.

Good video & explanation as I dont think most people understand what it means.How telling that the 3 countries with this system are almost the most wealthy .Trump wouldnt have won if they had PR. in germany they have a reasonable Green party representation because of PR.Problem is the 2 main parties which benefit from FPP arent likely to allow the change

I say we increase the number of seats from 650 to 666. Then, there can be 222 constituencies, with 3 seats each

hello i read the past. your teacher sent u this

PR is a great system, but if we’d had it in 2015 we’d have (and still have) a Conservative and UKIP coalition. So don’t just support it to believe that there would automatically be more left wing governments as that won’t always be the case.

That still doesnt explain PR. So im still none the wiser.🤔

Democracy is a marathon, not a sprint. The hostility, distrust and partisanship we see in Britain today is not indicative of a healthy democracy. Democracy is about finding common middle ground, recognising that nobody really has all the answers. Democracy is not winners and losers, that's just a form of tyranny. TLDR: PR > FPTP

While I'm not suggesting that anyone should (or does) move to areas because of its politics, apart from a few extreme examples (Brighton, Bristol). The examples given here for why the local representative model doesn't work doesn't quite scan. If your party in your area didn't win, then why should that party's votes be lumped together with diffuse votes from across the party? No, a socialist in a tory area won't feel represented, because they're a socialist in a tory area. As for the idea of encouraging lots of radically different parties all sharing more of the seats in parliament: how do expect parliament to vote? How do you make them all vote yes or no on policies? Or will it be yes, no and maybe. You then have to get analysts to work if it was a 'yes maybe' or a 'no maybe'. Or will it be like Europe, where smaller more radical parties are bullied into submission by the larger parties?

It makes total sense to me! But TPTB won't let it happen as it doesn't work in their favour! Unfortunately.

North-East Somerset was a Labour constituency until 2010; it contains several industrial areas and there's every chance that a socialist could find their vote counting there with a big enough national swing.

1:59 also consider that, in 2015, the Conservatives won the majority of their districts with only a plurality of the vote share. Even the places the Tories won didn't generally support them.

MMP now

Subject: Cherished World Champion voting system I propose the following voting system as a much fairer alternative to our present one, Its name refers to the hope that Britain should set a good example to the rest of the world in its democratic practice, to help shame the dictatorships and biased systems of the world into putting their people's needs first before their own pathetic and malevolent selfishness. My late father's initials were C.W.C. Clarence Wilson Clough and he strongly believed in fairness. At the next Election....... Firstly a citizen's manifesto should be compiled as a result of unbiased questions suggested and approved by the public and parliament.This could be filled in on-line or even at the polling stations during elections (refreshments being greatfully provided to the willing participants for their voluntary effort!) When it comes to voting the only change would be that the voting paper would have an empty box at the bottom in which the voter could put a number. The number would refer to a name on display in the polling station,and perhaps as many as 50 candidates would be standing as national representatives with their numbers next to them,(a bit like dishes are printed out in a Chinese takeaway restaurant.) These representatives would represent a constituency of opinion, and in picking one, the voter would automatically abstain from being able to vote for their local choice. Every Vote Will Count! When the votes are counted there will be four kinds of representation One : The person with the most votes will be the local M.P. Two : The unsuccessful local candidates will be able to vote on behalf of the voters who chose them in each debate in the House of Commons.(This would be via an internet connection to the speaker).They would enjoy this privilege no matter how few voted for them,they would not however be allowed to speak or act as an M.P.(unless perhaps the legitimate M.P.hired them as a locum, in the case of ill health e.t.c.) Three: Any individual will be able to vote on their own behalf if they register with the speaker via the speakers office (as opposed to picking a representative.) Four: The national representatives will be able to vote on behalf of everyone who voted for them and take part in the life of the House of Commons (just like the M.P.'s). Finally,votes will be proportional with support i.e.(If 6 million people vote for a national candidate they would have a vote 100 times greater than a local M.P. who only got 60,000 votes.) These votes would be individually recognised by a kind of credit card voting system on the floor of the commons.(A graphic display of the vote could also be exhibited to interest children and adults with learning difficulties.) The speaker would vote for or against any motion according to the electronic poll her or his computer would register, (as a result of the contact of the unsuccessful local candidates) and individual (one vote voters). I hope you are interested in my system, I would be very happy to discuss it with you or see it surpassed by a better or fairer idea Yours Sincerely Elton S.P.Clough

It's time, that Westminster caught up with the world... Except the USA...

I know you from the old Compaq ads....

In Germany we have a system of both and Proportional Representation has the problem of people in the Parliament that completly depend on the lists of the partys and so have the most loyalty to the party, not the people.... all has pros and cons...

Where is the petition to sign. I will do it NOW

Nobody explains how the 650 constituencies get carved up using PR. I can’t find a video explaining it.

You'll never get it

But let’s just say 51% of every constituency voted conservative, every elected official would be conservative, with 49% of votes going to other parties, so who would fill that 49% of seats ? The other parties yes but who would decide who sits in those seats and which of the winning conservatives would be excluded ?

Welcome to Trump's America!

But muh districts ! (Even tho I vote on party ideas not to persons)

0 Tories have watched this yet :-) AV SYSTEM *NOW!*

Hi Make Votes Matter! Can I use a clip of this for my upcoming film?

ARE YOU COMING TO TOMMYS RALLY ON 27TH JULY TRAFALGAR SQUARE? THOUGHT TO BE 50,000 STRONG THIS TIME..GRANDMAS, KIDS, BLACKS, SIHKS, YOUNG OLD, PATRIOTS OF EVERY ETHNICITY GOING..JOIN THIS MOVEMENT JOHN, OR CAN YOU COVER IT ON YR CHANNEL AS MAINSTREAM MEDIA ARE CALLING IT FAR RIGHT AS USUAL X

3 of the people displayed at 2:14 are no longer leaders of their respective parties, also a bit odd how you haven't mentioned that the devolved administrations use a form of PR

Americans are approaching it from another angle, found at www.unrig.net/action-plan-phase-ii/ and think UNRig would work much better than bothering their head about PR. Concentrate upon what you are aiming to achieve, not on the means of doing so. UNrig is a destination, while PR is the means..

Nothing on how PR would work.

Where is the petition?

this wouldn't have happened under saddam.

Why's there one seat missing to left?

My gran once said that politics isn't about cooperating with other parties and listening their views; it's about upsetting the least amount of people as possible. This was after I told her about how a minority voted for the conservatives and yet they recieved a majority of seats

How is this actually going to work?

I have just today been reading that countries voters are much happier when they have proportional representation but England, Australia and the United States persist with first past the post. JUST what are our Westminster, Australian and American governments so worried about that they are so against PR?

Hey Guys, can I use some of this for my upcoming short film? It advocates for changing our current political system to use proportional voting! Let me know please!

Is it not called Simple Majority and not FPTP? All electoral systems are first past the Post - it just depends where the post is. Using some PR systems the "post" is set by the Droop Quota.