Cross-party group gathers at the Lickey Hills to demand democracy
Local residents from across the political spectrum gathered at the Lickey Hills on Saturday 22nd August for a socially distanced rally to demand democracy.
The attendees, comprised of me mbers of the Lib Dem, Labour, and Green parties were campaigning for proportional representation, a fairer voting system that makes each vote count equally and putting an end to parties ruling with a majority of MPs where they don't receive a majority of votes.
Proportional representation is used in elections all over the world and the UK is one of the three out of 43 countries in Europe that does not use PR.
Local resident and Lib Dem campaigner Sam Evans spoke in front of the socially distanced crowd. He said: "We're gathering to demand democracy. At the last general election over 22 million votes that were cast were ignored as either they went to non-winning candidates or were surplus votes for winning candidates."
Sam added: "No party has ever won more than 50% of the vote at a general election since the National Government did in 1935. We need to put an end to parties winning a majority of MPs without a majority of votes from the public. By introducing a fairer voting system we can have more collaborative politics. I'm sure that most people agree we need to see more politicians working together where there is common ground rather than the constant back and forth of the Conservatives and Labour."
He expressed that he hopes local MP Sajid Javid will respond to the calls and back a fairer voting system.
The event organiser and Lib Dem member Dr David Nicholl promoted the socially distanced rally on BBC Hereford and Worcester saying: "proportional representation leads to greater voter engagement and all votes are equal. Rather than voting tactically you vote for the person you want, rather than voting to not get someone else elected."
Campaigners across the country took part in the event led by Make Votes Matter, by sharing photos and videos explaining why the current first past the post voting system needs replacing.