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We need a new movement as much as a new voting system
There are strong arguments in favour of proportional representation, argues NICK WRIGHT, but any left-wing government relies on a committed set of MPs and a mass movement in support of change outside of Parliament above all else
The lessons of history are that Labour has a chance of forming a radically reforming government only when the working class and its allies are mobilised and united — and when the mass popular mood acts as a brake on the tendency of the right to side with the class enemy

THE letters page of the Morning Star features an interesting exchange between proponents of a proportional representation (PR) system for elections and those who favour continuing with Britain’s first-past-the-post (FPTP) system.

A politically respectable argument for FPTP is that it provides the best chance for a majority Labour government.

Its supporters argue that PR leads to coalition government with the progressive tendency always at the mercy of its least progressive component.

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