How you can help win a fairer voting system

I was over in East Putney earlier today to hear Anthony Barnett talk at a Liberal Democrat event on constitutional reform (and to win a raffle prize, woo!). We had a fun little exchange over how radical or not the 1832 Great Reform Act was – a subject which I’ll be returning to in January for a talk at the National Liberal Club as part of the Liberal Democrat History Group’s AGM. (My own view in brief – it was in many ways a modest step forward for democracy if you look at the rules and public participation, but it changed the dynamics of the political system in ways that made its overall impact much greater.)

As is very common at these Liberal Democrat events that I’ve been to, or spoken at, over the last few months the eagerness of people to get stuck into campaigning for a yes vote in next spring’s referendum is very evident – but so too is that the messages about how to help have not yet got out to everyone.

So a quick reminder about the two key organisations: Yes To Fairer Votes is the umbrella campaign group, bringing together the many supporters of electoral reform from across the political spectrum. One of the members of the Yes coalition is Take Back Parliament, which has many active groups around the country already. Do go visit their websites and sign up.