Londoners are in line to have their right to cast both first and second preference votes for Mayor restored under provisions of the government’s newly-published English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.
The Conservatives did away with second preference votes as part of their Election Act (2022), using clauses inserted at the committee stage of the parliamentary process to abolish the use of the Supplementary Vote (SV) system that had been used since the very first mayoral election in 2000 and replace it with the single vote First Past The Post (FPTP).
Guidance published with the Bill (page 61) states that it “makes provision for the use of the supplementary vote system in elections of mayors and police and crime commissioners (PCCs)”, a change that will apply to all of England,
The Conservative government’s change was widely interpreted as a ploy for improving the chances of Tories winning mayoral and PCC elections, as the support of centre and Left-leaning electors was more likely to be split between Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat candidates.
The late Bob Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, wrote at the time that it was “hard to see any other reason for them doing this other than perceived electoral advantage” and the Electoral Reform Society has calculated that the switch to FPTP could have enabled as many as 12 PCC elections to be won by Tories that candidates from different parties would have won under SV.
The SV system in London means that second preference votes cast for either of the two candidates with the most first preference votes are added to those candidates’ totals, meaning the eventual winner has a significantly larger mandate than under FPTP.
Green Party London Assembly member Caroline Russell described the Labour government’s move to bring back SV as “a vital step in restoring democratic legitimacy” which would allow Londoners to “express real choice” and encourage candidates to “appeal to a broader base”.
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