Context and points to consider

Campaigns for Electoral Reform in the UK date back to the 1850s (see Constitution Society History). Keir Hardie was a member of the Independent Labour Party whose1913 conference decided by “a large majority” that:

“no system of election can be satisfactory which does not give opportunity to all parties to obtain representation in proportion to their voting strength”

Over 100 years later we are still campaigning to achieve this aim for the House of Commons. So we need to focus on victory and chose a system that is realistic to implement for Westminster in a reasonable timeframe

There are some key issues to grapple with in choosing a system:

What do we mean by a ‘constituency link’ in PR systems and how important is it?
How important is it that people can vote for candidates and not just parties?
Can we find a system that minimises tactical voting and wasted votes?
Can we transition easily to multi-member constituencies to achieve a proportional result? Can we do this and retain MPs’ accountability to local electors? The larger the area the more proportional the national result but large areas lose the connection to “locality”. What is the optimal number of MPs per region for the House of Commons? Are we prepared to sacrifice some proportionality to keep “the politics of place”?
Some systems like AMS create two types of MP: constituency and regional. Do we want this?
List Systems are common in Europe but some use Closed Lists (party choses the candidates who get seats and the order). Is this acceptable
Open List systems that offer choice of individual and party can have much longer ballot papers. Is this acceptable?
Systems where you get two votes (two-tiered) - most use FPTP for the first vote but they do not have to - could we be flexible and get a 2 tier system that works for the UK?
Another example of flexibility - where systems do not deliver high proportionality could we add another layer to correct this (Denmark do this)?
Do we need minimum thresholds before a party can gain representation?
What is the best way to “bring the public with us”
We need MPs to vote for change - what system will gain their support (remember there are still a large number of Labour MPs who are not supportive of PR)
Can we move to a PR system without totally abandoning existing constituency boundaries?