Britain’s governing Labour Party is making sudden changes to the mayoral voting system in an attempt to stop Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party from winning a possible contest in Greater Manchester.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Britain’s governing Labour Party has expedited changes to the voting system for regional mayors, switching from first-past-the-post to the supplementary vote (SV) system—expected to benefit the leftist party in a potential Greater Manchester mayoral election. 📰 DETAIL: Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is standing for election in the Makerfield parliamentary by-election (special election) and will be forced to vacate his current post if he wins and enters Parliament, triggering a mayoral election. Local Government Minister Baroness Taylor insists the government has long supported supplementary voting for executive positions, but critics argue the timing of the planned change, with Reform strongly positioned to oust Labour under the current rules, is highly suspect. Taylor acknowledged a mayoral by-election could be required in Greater Manchester in the coming months and stressed the changes would be implemented at the earliest opportunity. A Greater Manchester mayoral by-election could cost nearly $6.8 million, though it would only be triggered if Burnham wins Makerfield, where polls suggest a close race between Labour and Reform. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “This order is an attempt to prevent Reform winning the possible Greater Manchester mayoralty by-election,” said Lord Hayward, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords and pollster. 🎯 IMPACT: The change could facilitate a coalition of left-leaning party supporters keeping out a Reform candidate by denying victory to the party with the most votes. The move has sparked accusations of electoral manipulation to secure Labour’s power in the region. 👀 FLASHBACK: The SV system was initially used for mayoral elections when first introduced in 2000 under former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, but was replaced by first-past-the-post in 2021 by former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson. |
Image by Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street.
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