Putting PR centre-stage for Labour: a conversation with Laura Parker.

Monday, 15 February

Summary

Winning over Labour is key to getting proportional representation (PR). A prominent party activist gives us “her personal take” on how this campaign could succeed.

Description

Anyone who thinks for more than a millisecond about how to gain a proportional representation (PR) voting system for elections to Westminster quickly grasps one point: winning over Labour MUST BE the first step.

All of the smaller parties already support PR. And while the Tories show scant inclination to switch from the notoriously undemocratic first past the post voting system (FPTP) --- after all, notoriously undemocratic Belarus might then feel lonely as the final FPTP holdout in Europe --- signs of changing attitudes are evident in Labour. Surveys show 76% of Labour Party members support PR. As of 26 January, a total of 139 local Labour parties had passed motions supporting PR.

The question of hour is this: how to attach the red flag to the growing pro-PR movement? Indeed, how to have Labour, as the largest party, lead this movement in collaboration with other parties and forces?

To take another step in unpacking and unravelling these issues, GET PR DONE! is inviting prominent Labour Party activist Laura Parker to our February ZOOM session. (Laura is the third well-known Labour Party member to chat on ZOOM with us regarding PR. In November, we had MP Clive Lewis and, in December, we talked with academic Jeremy Gilbert.)

There are many obvious questions to ask in the run up to the planned Labour conference in September 2021 when PR will be on the agenda. What messages might be used to build further Labour support for PR? Is there a left/ right split in Labour over PR? Where do the unions stand on PR? What are the “fairness arguments” that might convince? Can Labour win the next election without making a manifesto commitment to PR?

In 2006/2017, Laura Parker was the private secretary to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Then from 2017 to 2019, she was the national coordinator of Momentum. She currently working for the 11-group alliance Labour for a New Democracy https://www.labourforanewdemocracy.org.uk/; GET PR DONE! is a member group. Laura will be speaking in personal capacity.

Here is the format for 15 Feb: Laura will first be interviewed by Alan Story, a former investigative journalist & law teacher and national coordinator of GET PR DONE! Then we will shift to a Q and A session with Laura.

GET PR DONE! is a cross party/ no party grassroots campaign that aims to win over Labour to support PR. We launched in January 2020. This is the link to our new website: http://getprdone.org.uk/