Introducing the new All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections

It was standing room only in Portcullis house for the inaugural meeting of the new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Elections. MPs from across the political spectrum assembled with secretariat support from Fair Vote to agree the focus of their work and elect officers. We are very happy that Lisa Smart, our new MP for Hazel Grove, stepped forward to become a Vice-Chair of this APPG.

An APPG is an informal cross-party group designed to bring together MPs from across parliament on a matter of shared interest. The APPG for Fair Elections has the goal to deliver clean and fair elections where all votes count and will apply a particular focus to three aspects of our democracy:

• Replacing First-Past-the-Post with a proportional system that makes seats match votes.
• Eliminating dark money and undemocratic influence from politics.
• Countering disinformation in public discourse.

The strong turnout at yesterday’s meeting is a sign of the times: more Liberal Democrats in the Commons, a bigger Green Party group and the most pro-PR Parliamentary Labour Party in history. This augurs well for the prospect of reform but there’s much to be done to seize this opportunity.

With 72 Liberal Democrat MPs in Parliament, we’re fortunate to have 72 advocates for electoral and broader democratic reform in the Commons. We look forward to working with Lisa and all Liberal Democrat members of the Group in the months ahead.

For more information and to keep abreast of the work of the APPG, whose formal launch is expected later this Autumn, please follow @FairElectionsUK on X and catch up with coverage on this inaugural meeting in the Byline Times.