Reasons for reform

The tumultuous times at Westminster at the moment are quite frightening – foreboding even. But as the saying goes, never waste a good crisis. We need to use this period for long-awaited constitutional reform. One thing we need to change is the voting system. It is not a panacea to solving all the problems in our democracy at the moment, but it is a necessary step.

At the moment, we have the ridiculous situation in which about 100,000 voters in a few marginal seats decide the outcome of an election. It also means that the whole of our political discourse has become dominated by a battle for the decisive centre ground. Back in 2003, about a million people marched in London to mark their opposition to the Iraq war, yet Britain's two main parties both supported the military action. What could better exemplify the lack of different voices in politics?

-Chuka Umunna, Labour PPC for Streatham