Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Chris Rennard, has written a 'where we are' report on the passage of the Elections Bill through the Lords. We've of course been supporting our Lords' opposition to the bill - and there will be at least one more round of lobbying coming up in late April.
Following a thorough, motivating zoom meeting with Lord Newby, our Leader in the Lords, on March 15, the fight against the anti-democratic Elections Bill is still very much on!
This week, the Lords move to voting on the bill. - and there are two actions we should take:
Lord Newby has asked us to:
- between the key dates of April 4-7, write to as many of these peers as possible. This targetted list consists of cross bench and independent peers; all selected by our Lords team as the priority ones to lobby.
Our online Spring Conference saw two well-attended, information-filled fringe meetings.
On Saturday March 12, LDER President Wendy Chamberlain MP hosted "Linking PR to what really matters," with panellists Wera Hobhouse MP, London Assembly member Hina Bokhari and two of our target seat PPCs, Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) and Monica Harding (Esher and Walton). A recording will be available shortly, and we will contact you with details when it's ready to view.
Reminder! Join Lord Newby for an Elections Bill update tomorrow
The Government's Elections Bill threatens to undermine the independence of the Electoral Commission; to make it harder to vote through the introduction of voter ID; and to take us backwards not forwards when it comes to PR.
With the Bill currently in its Committee stage in the Lords, our Parliamentary Party is working hard to stop it.
Reforming the UK's electoral system: the view from Labour… and more at Conference!
Spring Conference kicks off this afternoon and we're looking forward to a rich lineup of events focused on political and constitutional reform.
In advance of the fringe meetingThe Route to Proportional RepresentationLaura Parker (Labour for a New Democracy) has written for Lib Dem Voice -"Reforming the UK's electoral system: the view from Labour". To hear more from Laura, join us - alongside our friends from Unlock Democracy - for Sunday's event.
