VOTING system campaigners took their protest to High Town, Hereford, today.

Demonstrating with placards and banners, they were calling for a shake-up in they way politicians are elected.

The socially-distanced demo was part of Make Votes Matter, a national cross-party campaign seeking proportional representation (PR) for House of Commons elections.

Supporter Richard Jones said: “Our present system means that most constituencies never change hands, and parties with significant numbers of votes never get a seat in Parliament.

"So much has moved on since the referendum on this issue some years ago and we have learned more about why the present system undermines trust in democracy.” 

Emma Knaggs, who is a grassroots leader for Make Votes Matter, said: “Our first-past-the-post voting system means Parliament does not reflect how the UK voted.

"The Government has a landslide majority of seats, but this is despite the Conservatives receiving less than 44 per cent of the votes.

“We need to change to a system of proportional representation so votes count equally, and so governments represent the diversity of people and views in our communities and society.

It’s absolutely critical to people’s participation and faith in democracy."

“The response to our Make Votes Matter Day of Action campaign has been fantastic, with people overcoming the current Covid-19 restrictions safely by picking up placards and taking pictures at local landmarks across the UK.

"The interest in our campaign shows the growing appetite for change among the electorate.”

According to the Electoral Reform Society, proportional representation is the idea that seats in Parliament should be allocated so that they are in proportion to the votes cast.

There is a petition here calling for MPs to support proportional representation.