Petition · past parliament

Give Britain a referendum on proportional representation in general elections.

Rejected 12 signatures

What the petition asks

Despite MP's advice, 51% voted to leave and 49% to remain in the EU Referendum. How can the current or future governments effectively represent a population so divided if we use First Past the Post? Offer us Proportional Representation. The disconnect can only be healed by greater democracy.
General Elections use FPtP and regularly leave us with governments that are endorsed by less than 30% of the electorate. The current government is only backed by 24% of voters. Is this democracy?
Turnout at General Elections is regularly around 60%. Referenda, which use PR, have far higher turnout (EU 72%, Scottish Independence 85%) because the electorate feel their vote counts.
FPtP is a corrupt system that no other European democracy uses. We are in the company of Yemen, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

25 Jun 2016 Petition opened for signatures
30 Jun 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 12
Status Rejected
Rejected 30 Jun 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.