Potholes and Politics

How Starmer could fix politics for the cost of two miles of tarmac

Nigel Farage put potholes at the centre of the recent local elections - and he had a point. Potholes are a pain. We’ve all felt it. That jolt as your car hits yet another hole in the tarmac. The grimmace that inevitably follows. It’s a tangible irritation, a daily reminder that things aren’t working as they should. And every bump further reduces your trust and confidence in those responsible for ensuring our roads are properly maintained.

But what about the deeper potholes in our national political system? The cracks in public trust, the crumbling foundations of fair representation, the growing sense that the whole system is failing the people it’s supposed to serve? If the local elections showed us anything, it is that our democratic system is not working as it should and that those responsible for maintaining it need to take urgent action to repair it.

The Good News: (Wait…there’s GOOD news?!)

The good news is that there is an ‘oven-ready’ (sorry…too soon?!) plan to start the repair job on our democracy and it would be surprisingly affordable. For the price of resurfacing about two miles of that pothole-ridden road you drive to work on (about £3 million), we could establish a National Commission on Electoral Reform (NCER) – an independent body that would get to the bottom of the deep problems in our politics and recommend lasting solutions.

Fixing the potholes in our crumbling highways is an uncontroversial idea. But fixing our political system so that it starts serving the needs of ordinary people again is even more pressing. The results of last week’s local elections - and of the 2024 General Election - laid bare the extent of the crisis.

Those results showed that the traditional two-party system has collapsed, with Labour and the Conservatives combined securing a record low share of the local election vote. Reform UK surged, capturing the widespread public discontent with present-day politics. As organisations like Open Britain and the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Elections have warned, the evidence is now clear and our democratic system needs fixing, fast.

Diagnosis: A Voting System Cracked and Crumbling

At the heart of the problem lies our First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system. Designed for a bygone era of two-party politics, it is now very obviously failing to cope with the realities of modern, multi-party Britain. It no longer meets the needs and expectations of voters who refuse to be coerced into voting for one of the two main parties.

The 2024 General Election provided the starkest evidence yet of this dysfunction, producing the most disproportionate result in our history. Labour won a landslide majority – nearly two-thirds of the seats in the Commons – with just over one-third of the vote. Think about that: a government with a MASSIVE majority formed without the positive backing of two out of every three voters.

Conversely, millions who voted for other parties saw their choices translate into virtually nothing. Reform UK secured around 14% of the national vote, over 4 million ballots, but gained only 5 seats (less than 1% of the total). The Green Party received nearly 2 million votes (almost 7%) and got just 4 seats (less than 1%). It took over 800,000 votes to elect each Reform MP, and nearly half a million for each Green MP, compared to just 24,000 for each Labour MP.

This isn't just abstract unfairness; it has real consequences for ordinary people like you and me. Under FPTP, the vast majority of votes are effectively wasted – either cast for a losing candidate or piled up uselessly in safe seats where the result is a foregone conclusion. In 2024, an astonishing 74% of the votes cast made no difference to the outcome of the election. Over half of voters (58%) ended up with an MP they didn't vote for. The dynamics within FPTP drive parties to focus relentlessly on a handful of swing voters in marginal seats, ignoring vast swathes of the country whose votes they know just won’t have any impact on the result. Is it any wonder that trust has collapsed when the system tells millions of people, election after election, that their voice doesn't matter? Now voters are (rightly) signalling they've had enough, refusing to be shoehorned into a two-party choice that doesn't reflect their views.

The Danger: Ignoring the Cracks Invites Collapse

Sticking with this broken system isn't just unfair; it's dangerous. The deep public disillusionment it fuels creates fertile ground for cynicism, extremism, and the kind of anti-democratic populism that thrives when people lose faith in mainstream politics. In an era where national security is a stated government priority, can we afford a political system that alienates so many and breeds potential for social instability?

If we do nothing, the 2029 General Election could be highly chaotic. With a fragmented vote, results could become little more than a lottery, dependent on tiny shifts in marginal seats. We could easily face a 'wrong winner' scenario, where the party with the most votes nationally fails to win the most seats – a recipe for a major crisis of legitimacy. We cannot simply hope the system holds; we need to proactively fix it while we still have time.

The Prescription: A National Commission for Electoral Reform

So, what's the answer? Some say do nothing, just hoping the problem goes away. Others demand an immediate switch to their preferred form of Proportional Representation (PR). Neither would be wise. The most pragmatic, sensible first step, recommended by the APPG for Fair Elections and others - including Open Britain - is to establish an independent National Commission on Electoral Reform (NCER).

Why a Commission? Because fundamental change needs careful thought and broad support. An independent NCER, drawing on expertise and crucially, involving the public through processes like citizens' assemblies, can:

• Build Trust and Consensus by providing an impartial, evidence-led space to examine the options and identify a solution that will command public confidence and serve our country’s needs into the future.

• Address the Crisis of Confidence in Politics by directly responding to the public's clear dissatisfaction with the current system's unfairness.

• Reflect Public Will by tapping into the consistent majority support for moving towards a fairer, more proportional system.

• Offer a Low-Risk Path Forward allowing the government to demonstrate leadership on democratic renewal without rushing to judgment on what should come next.

A National Commission on Electoral Reform wouldn’t just be some abstract talking shop; the revitalised politics it would herald would bring tangible benefits to everyone. For the country at large, there would be the promise of fairer representation and a route to more stable, consensus-driven policy-making from our governments. For Parliamentarians, an easing of the intense, distorting focus on marginal seats, and the opportunity to play a part in richer and better informed debates on the big issues that shape all our lives. And for the current Labour government, it would bring the chance to tackle the trust deficit head-on, to acknowledge the stated wishes of its own members (and unions) who back reform, to manage public discontent pro-actively and constructively, and to secure a lasting legacy as the administration that triggered the revitalisation of Britain's democracy. That’s not something that should be rejected out of hand, right?

The Roadmap: Affordable, Achievable Reform

This isn't some vague aspiration either; there's a clear roadmap to success. An NCER could easily be established before the end of 2025. It could carry out its public engagement through 2026 and report its findings early in 2027, allowing time to draft and pass enacting legislation in 2028. Doing so would ensure a reformed system was in place for the 2029 General Election, avoiding the chaos we’ve been warning about and providing the country with a firmer, fairer political platform from which to address the challenges of the 2030s and beyond.

And the cost? As I said, comparable to the cost of resurfacing just a couple of miles of road. Set against the potential costs of political instability, declining trust, and illegitimate government, investing circa £3 million in a proper review of our democratic infrastructure looks like indisputable common sense.

Conclusion

It’s clear from the results of recent elections that we don’t have any time to lose. The public have had enough and chaos looms. There IS still time to get this done…but soon there won’t be. The government should get on with it. Remember, this is not a call to implement any particular reform, just to kick-off the process of gaining a proper understanding of the problems and the options for fixing them. Why would any government argue against that?

At his glitzy local elections launch event in Birmingham, Nigel Farage showcased a new, modern JCB machine that he said was capable of fixing the nation’s potholes in an efficient and cost-effective way. The Labour government should now wheel-out a National Commission on Electoral Reform as it’s new, modern machine to fix the nation’s politics in an efficient and cost-effective way.

NOTE: If you’d like to add your weight to the hundreds of thousands of Open Britain supporters already behind the campaign to get the government to take this crucial, common-sense step, you can sign-up here, and/or sign our petition here. (Thanks in advance!)