Agenda item

Electoral System (2)

It was moved by Councillor Robert Murphy, seconded by Councillor Brian Webster, that this Council:-

(a)       notes the parliamentary majority achieved by the new Government on just 36.5% of the vote;

(b)       notes the large majority on Sheffield City Council maintained by the current Administration on just 41.1% of the vote;

(c)        notes the petition of nearly half a million signatories submitted to 10 Downing Street just 11 days after the General Election calling to 'Make seats match votes';

(d)       agrees with Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society, who said “This election delivered the least proportional result in history. That’s because our two-party electoral system cannot cope with the fact that people want to vote for a variety of parties. It’s time we had a fairer voting system that accurately translated votes into seats in Parliament.”;

(e)       believes that the First Past The Post electoral system is becoming increasingly out of date with the refusal of large sections of the public to support the two main parties;

(f)        believes the current system is no longer a representative democracy and effectively disenfranchises millions of voters and encourages millions more to believe their vote would be meaningless;

(g)       supports the campaign by the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy for a more proportional voting system in all UK elections; and

(h)       directs that a copy of this motion is sent to all Sheffield MPs and the leaders of the two largest parliamentary parties.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Geoff Smith, seconded by Councillor Jack Scott, as an amendment that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)       believes that the overriding principle is representative democracy and that there are various valid electoral systems for creating legitimate representatives and governments;

(b)       recognises that, following the 2015 general election, some reasonable concerns have been raised again about the current system; but further recognises that the choice of system should be based on the impact on various criteria over time rather than the outcome of one election; and

(c)        notes that when the British people, including the people of Sheffield, had the opportunity recently to make a change in the 2011 alternative vote referendum, they voted by a considerable margin to keep the current system.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

It was then moved by Councillor Sarah Jane Smalley, seconded by Councillor Aodan Marken, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the addition of a new paragraph (i) as follows:-

(i)         believes all political groups represented on Sheffield City Council deserve to be able to decide the first Motion for debate at a Full Council meeting at least once in a Municipal Year.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form, and carried:-

Resolved: that this Council:-

(a)       believes that the overriding principle is representative democracy and that there are various valid electoral systems for creating legitimate representatives and governments;

(b)       recognises that, following the 2015 general election, some reasonable concerns have been raised again about the current system; but further recognises that the choice of system should be based on the impact on various criteria over time rather than the outcome of one election; and

(c)        notes that when the British people, including the people of Sheffield, had the opportunity recently to make a change in the 2011 alternative vote referendum, they voted by a considerable margin to keep the current system.