All Equal, All Included: Why democracy and diversity are two sides of the same coin
On 12th October 2021 Liberal Democrats for Electoral Reform held a panel event about why equal votes and diversity go hand-in-hand. The online event featured Cllr Hina Bokhari AM and Lord Paul Tyler (bios below). It included a discussion on key questions like "will equal votes be likely to improve the diversity of representation in Parliament?", "what can we do as equal votes campaigners to reach out to new, diverse communities?" and "where next for the campaign?".
*Cllr Hina Bokhari AM is a Liberal Democrat, is the first Muslim woman to be elected as a councillor in Merton and one of the first Muslim women to be elected to the London Assembly in 2021. She is a long-time supporter of PR, has campaigned actively with Make Votes Matter and is now an MVM alliance partner.*
*Lord Paul Tyler is the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Constitutional and Political Reform in the House of Lords and has been actively involved with the campaign for equal votes for many years, including introducing a Constitutional Renewal Bill in the House of Lords in 2009 and convening a cross-party group from within the Joint Committee on the Draft House of Lords Reform Bill to secure majority support for reform.*