Proportional representation is not the only answer to voter disengagement, argues JOHN CUNNISON. Compulsory voting, party primaries and a new parliament should also be part of a radically re-worked political system. ...
Electoral Reform: An Alternative that Avoids the PR Pitfalls
The Westminster electoral system is deeply flawed but PR is full of risks for the progressive left, says CHRIS WILSON. Could AV be the answer?...
Labour’s Election & the Left
Labour’s landslide victory is cause for celebration but serious challenges lie ahead for the party, the government and UK politics, says WILL BROWN....
Labour’s Manifesto: Policies & Prospects
If opinion polls are to be believed, Labour is on course for a significant election victory. But what should the left make of its policy offer and its prospects for government? WILL BROWN casts his eye over the party’s pledges....
Enough is Enough
Abuse of female politicians is a threat to democracy as well as gender equality. MARY HULL sifts the depressing evidence and looks at some of the campaigns against it....
It’s My Party … and I’ll Cry if I Want To
Various Labour leaders have been and gone since she first joined the party more than 40 years ago, but come election time MARY HULL has always been an enthusiastic, door-knocking campaigner. This time is different. Here she explains why the Starmer leadership has tested her loyalty to the limit....
Beyond PR: Why Voting Reform Won’t Save the Left
As a lukewarm supporter of proportional representation, BEN SALTONSTALL is unimpressed by the left’s current enthusiasm for voting reform. PR matters as one part of a broader push for economic, social and democratic change, not because it will save the left....
Compass Calls on Labour to Cease Faction Fighting
Campaign group Compass has called on the Labour Party’s central office to stop the “spurious and factional dismissal of talent and breadth” in its current round of candidate selections, a process that’s seen “favoured candidates of the leadership waved through” while others are blocked or penalised....
In the Shadow of the Mine
LEWIS MATES reviews a new book that charts the decline of former mining communities in Durham and south Wales, and explores the political and cultural consequences of their demise....
Why Socialists Should Support PR
It’s no secret that support for proportional representation has been growing within the Labour Party, not least on the Labour left. JACQUELINE TAYLOR puts the socialist case for a proportional voting system for UK general elections and addresses some of the common arguments against it....
Meet the New Boss: Scotland’s New Green Deal
VINCE MILLS surveys the state of Scottish politics after May’s Holyrood elections and finds a new political partnership singing the same old tunes on independence. Scottish Labour needs to spell out a radical alternative....
After McCluskey: Unite at a Crossroads
As Len McCluskey retires, the ballot to elect the next general secretary of Unite opens on Monday 5 July. For the union, Labour and the left, there’s a lot at stake. GERRY LAVERY assesses the field....