Why the climate needs PR

October 24, 2025

Blogs, Grassroots-cat

Over the past few hundred years, our society and democracy have developed and changed beyond recognition. However, our voting system has failed to keep pace. We believe that First Past the Post has no place in a modern democracy, and should be replaced by a system of Proportional Representation. If you agree, sign the petition. If you want to know why, read on:

Minority rule

The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against our most basic ideas about democracy. But with First Past the Post, it's the norm. For about 90% of the time since 1935 we've had single-party 'majority' governments, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn't vote for and don't agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like.

Proportional Representation means majority rule, not minority rule. With PR, any government must have a majority of votes behind it - so in order to govern, a party needs to either work collaboratively with other parties, or persuade most of us to vote for it.

Demand Real Democracy

The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against our most basic ideas about democracy. But with First Past the Post, it’s the norm. For about 90% of the time since 1935 we’ve had single-party ‘majority’ governments, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn’t vote for and don’t agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like.The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against our most basic ideas about democracy. But with First Past the Post, it’s the norm. For about 90% of the time since 1935 we’ve had single-party ‘majority’ governments, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn’t vote for and don’t agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like.The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against our most basic ideas about democracy. But with First Past the Post, it’s the norm. For about 90% of the time since 1935 we’ve had single-party ‘majority’ governments, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn’t vote for and don’t agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like.The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against our most basic ideas about democracy. But with First Past the Post, it’s the norm. For about 90% of the time since 1935 we’ve had single-party ‘majority’ governments, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn’t vote for and don’t agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like.The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against our most basic ideas about democracy. But with First Past the Post, it’s the norm. For about 90% of the time since 1935 we’ve had single-party ‘majority’ governments, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn’t vote for and don’t agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like.The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against our most basic ideas about democracy. But with First Past the Post, it’s the norm. For about 90% of the time since 1935 we’ve had single-party ‘majority’ governments, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. The Conservatives currently hold a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share. Almost since the first general election, politicians who most of us didn’t vote for and don’t agree with have had the power to govern the UK however they like.

This blog is written by Livvy Gibbs, Young Make Votes Matter Coordinator, and reflects her personal views.

I have campaigned for climate action in all kinds of spaces: on social media and on the doorstep, at rallies and strategy calls, and even in meetings with people who supposedly hold the power to make change. I have seen the dedication and creativity of our movement, but I have also seen how fragile that work can be. In the UK, a government can claim total power with barely 34 percent of the vote, and in a single term undo years of environmental progress. That is not only a sign of democratic ill-health, but is consequentially catastrophic for the climate.

Climate change does not bend to electoral cycles. Net zero by 2050 requires decisions now that may carry immediate costs but will only pay off decades later. It demands political stability and policy continuity, the kind that can carry plans across successive governments and protect them from being dismantled for short-term advantage. Our current system does not create those conditions.

Supporters of First Past the Post often claim it delivers stability. In practice, the opposite is true, as shown not only by the fact that the country has cycled through six Prime Ministers in a decade. Power is concentrated in single-party governments, with coalitions the exception rather than the rule. A change in governing party can bring wholesale reversals of policy almost overnight. Without the need to negotiate or compromise, long-term plans are easily abandoned if they conflict with the winning party’s short-term agenda. In our system, you either hold all the power or you are locked out entirely.

Major parties are also incentivised to chase a handful of undecided voters in swing seats rather than consider the views of the population as a whole. Climate policies may enjoy broad popularity, but they can still be discarded if they do not appeal to the “right” voters. In 2023, the government delayed the petrol and diesel car ban, scrapped landlord energy-efficiency targets, and weakened policies to phase out fossil fuel boilers, all despite overwhelming public support for clean energy. Millions of votes are wasted or forced into tactical compromises, hollowing out the mandate for action.

Proportional Representation changes the rules. It fosters coalition governments and multi-party agreements, exactly the kind of consensus needed for long-term planning and a just transition. PR is system change in practice. It does not merely redistribute seats; it reshapes the incentives. It builds coalitions, locks in progress across terms, and obliges governments to plan for the future rather than chase tomorrow’s headlines. In countries such as Denmark and Germany, coalitions have kept ambitious climate targets on track even as leadership has changed. PR is also a safeguard against backsliding. In First Past the Post systems, a radical climate-denying party can seize total power on a minority of the vote and instantly reverse decades of progress. A 2022 study by economist Ben Lockwood found that PR systems are far better protected against far-right reversals of climate policy than winner-take-all systems outside the EU.

In the words of Seth Piper, NGO consultant and activist based in Oslo:

“Norway has a proportional voting system, and has become the world leader in electric car adoption thanks to broad consensus building on climate policies at the Parliament. The political culture is more collaborative, with multiple parties able to find coalition partners in individual votes and policy debates. Oslo became European Green Capital thanks to eight years of a Labour-Left-Green council coalition.”

This is why we often say system change, not climate change. The problem is not simply one or two bad policies. It is a political system that rewards short-termism, concentrates power, and silences millions of voices. Unless we change that foundation, every climate win risks being undone at the stroke of a pen.

As Caroline Lucas put it:

“We must work to transform… with an urgent replacement of our closed-shop electoral system that allows just two parties to control… political decision-making.” The Guardian, 2024)

We speak often about system change in the climate movement: energy systems, transport systems, food systems. Yet there is one system that we rarely mention, even though it underpins them all. The voting system decides who holds power, whose voices count, and whether progress lasts. If we leave that system untouched, every other struggle for change becomes harder to win.

The numbers are firmly on our side. Support for renewables has remained above 80 percent across technologies for years. The Climate Change Committee estimates that delivering net zero will cost around 1.3 percent of GDP in 2050, a modest investment compared to the benefits: cleaner air, lower bills, good jobs, and energy security. Comparative studies show that PR countries tend to achieve more consistent and ambitious emissions reductions than majoritarian systems.

PR would also correct one of the starkest distortions we face. At the 2024 general election, it took over 480,000 votes to elect a single Green MP, compared to fewer than 24,000 for one Labour MP. That twenty-to-one disparity suppresses environmental representation in Parliament. Yet this is not only a Green Party cause. It is a shared demand for anyone in the Liberal Democrats, ‘Your Party’, Labour or beyond who recognises that democracy and climate justice are inseparable. We may disagree on the details of climate policy, but if the rules are not fair, the policies we win can be swept away in an instant.

If you care about planetary health, you must care about democratic health. Proportional Representation is the foundation for a just transition: the tool that locks in progress, shields it from reversal, and gives every climate-conscious voter a meaningful voice in politics. Without system change, there is no climate future we can rely on.

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Why the climate needs PR

Minority rule

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