New electoral system ‘opens door to racist, bigoted, eccentric’ candidates, Chancellor warns

Chancellor John Healey has warned that changing the electoral system could give fringe parties more influence in government. His past criticism has resurfaced after Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a national commission to examine reform, and renewed calls for proportional representation.

Healey argued in 2011 that the alternative vote could prompt major parties to seek support from candidates he described as “racist, bigoted, eccentric and single-issue”. The article also cites analysis suggesting proportional representation could have left Britain without a majority government for much of the post-war period: under the single transferable vote, Labour would have been 99 seats short of a majority in 2024, while the Conservatives would have been 18 short in 2019.