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The New Statesman

Hi, I'm Anouche, and on today's episode of The New Statesman Podcast, I'm delighted to be

joined by a special guest, Jess Garland, Director of Policy and Research at the Electoral Reform

Society, and we're going to be talking all things voter reform.

Yes, this is your treat in your Christmas break, but we know a lot of you are very interested in it,

and it is something that could potentially be around the corner if Labour get into power next.

So, does this feel like a time where things might be about to change, Jess?

Yeah, there's certainly a huge amount of momentum building, Labour's conference just in September

just gone, the grassroots voted massively in favour of emotion and support of PR, they won't

Labour to put it in the next manifesto, and that was supported also by the affiliated unions,

two of the big unions just recently changed their policy in favour of PR, and so there's a real

groundswell happening behind PR, and you know, for Labour, support in PR is a new thing, you know,

it's something Labour's history from Kihadi to Robin Cook, but this is something that's happening

right in the grassroots, and that is in a way reflecting a change in society as well,

just recently, the British Social Attitude Survey has shown us that the majority of the British

Public want to change as well, and that's significant because, in general, we quite like to stick with

this status quo, so there's definitely something happening out there. Yes, and that result in that

British Social Attitude Survey about that enthusiasm for electoral reform, that's the first time

that there's been a majority for it. That's absolutely the case, and they do ask the question

...