Weald of Kent Labour’s Call for Fairer Voting in Mayoral Elections Backed by SE Conference

The Weald of Kent’s call for a fairer voting system for future mayoral elections was supported at Labour’s South East Regional Conference in Portsmouth on 1-2 March. A motion on devolution passed overwhelmingly and called on the Labour Government to consider the voting system with a possible return to the supplementary vote used until last year in previous mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections.

Speaking in favour of the motion, the Weald of Kent Labour delegate David Ward explained that in 2022 “the Tories forced a change in voting system to ‘first-past-the-post’ in a blatant attempt to gain party advantage. This change gave the Tories between 4 and 12 extra wins as 19 of their 20 winning candidates were elected with a minority of the vote”.  Recognizing that trust in public life has been weakened, David argued that the supplementary (SV) system  – which allows voters to express a second preference – “will ensure candidates obtain broader support in their communities in order to win. This is vital to ensure that our future mayor has a strong mandate to represent all the people and communities of Kent”.