About us
Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform (LDER) is the campaign hub for Liberal Democrats who want a fair voting system which delivers maximum, equal power to the voter; and representative bodies which proportionately reflect the way people voted.
LDER is an official 'affiliated organisation' of the Liberal Democrats.
While you have to become a member of the Liberal Democrats to join LDER, we proactively work across reform organisations and other parties to achieve reform; so non-LD members are most welcome to sign up for our regular newsletters.
We work to:
- Inform all party members about the arguments for electoral reform
- Motivate members to campaign actively for reform
- Ensure electoral reform is a policy priority by working closely with party leadership.
- Cooperate with others outside the party to build the campaign necessary to achieve reform
- Support other political and constitutional reforms needed for the UK to have a democracy fit for the 21st century
Our objectives*
1. We favour an electoral system that reflects the fundamental Liberal Democrat values of liberty, equality and community and helps to deliver a just and representative system of government.
2. We believe that to meet these values, an electoral system should deliver maximum power to the voter, enabling all voters to support representatives of their choice without fear of wasting their vote, and should result in elected members that are genuinely accountable to their electors and a representative body that proportionately reflects the opinions of the electorate.
3. We support the use of the Single Transferable Vote for all public elections, and for all internal party elections, as the system that best achieves these objectives.. We support other changes to democratic arrangements that will advance our values.
4. We seek to promote these values and objectives within the Liberal Democrats through influencing party policy, engaging with the party leadership and informng all party members on the benefits of these proposals. We seek to promote the Liberal Democrats externally as being at the forefront of the wider democratic reform movement and to work with other political and non-political organisations to promote our aims.
*These objectives were approved at the LDER AGM 2021, held on November 2, 2021.
Our 2021-24 goals
1. A commitment to implement PR for Westminster and for English local authority elections in the first King's Speech after the next General Election.
2. Make cross-party and non-party collaboration a reality in order to achieve PR, as shown by our party's being a signatory to the Make Votes Matter (MVM) Good Systems Agreement.
Our 2021-24 plan
1. Maximise the number of party members campaigning for reform. The prime focus for this effort is non-party/all-party ally campaigns, notably the MVM Action Days.
2. As a party affilated organisation, we cannot contact all members directly, but we will use conferences, virtual meetings and other party communications, such as the e-newsletter and LD Voice to maximise contact and involvement.
3. We are creating campaigning materials for local Liberal Democrat parties, to make PR relevant to the voter - to show the connection between how we vote and how we live our everyday lives.
4. We actively support steps towards PR, such as in Wales, where there is potential for the adoption of single transferable vote in local elections.
5. We recognise PR is not the answer on its own to our democratic deficit. We support broader political reforms, including devolved powers, a written constitution, votes at 16, House of Lords reform. But we campaign actively on electoral reform to focus our resources and because it is the indispensable prerequisite for progressive democratic change.
