Actor Steve Coogan and presenter Carol Vorderman have backed Liberal Democrat pledges to reform how the UK’s general elections are run.

  • Jfc, the fact that anyone still believes we can vote our problems away is beyond depressing…

    Voting for the third and smaller of the puppets is still voting for a puppet. They all still serve capitalism, not people, they all still want to maintain the status quo, not bring actual change. The illusion of choice is just another distraction by those in power to keep themselves there.

    Continuing to play within the rules written by and in defence of the system will only ever result in us staying under the boot that is said system, that’s a fact that is never going to change, the sooner people realise this, the sooner we can move towards actual change (where society is designed by and for all of its members, not by and for the rich).

    • You do realise that PR works and produce a much wider parliament in other countries? Look at Scandinavian countries? Would you call them capitalist hell-holes with their free healthcare, free schooling, generous pensions and social care?

    • Yeah I know but I’m still going to vote for them. Greens stand no chance and Starmer is a prick whose Labour stance is barely even diet Tory any more he’s sucked so much conservative dick. At least the LibDems aren’t transphobic and want to rejoin the EU.

      And yes, I am a millenial who was sorely disappointed by voting for them back in the day, but I’ve been far, far more disappointed by Labour in recent years since they fucked over Corbyn.

      I don’t expect anything to change by voting, the world is still irreparably fucked and climate collapse is imminent, but it’s nice to have the illusion of choice.

  • I didn’t think I’d love long enough to see the UK leave the EU but it happened… I’ll be long dead before the king maker here (Labour) supports PR. They’re the issue here, Tories were never going to agree Labour might have had a chance to push it through with support from Greens and LD but they choose to support the Tory policy instead. 🥹

    •  frog 🐸   ( @frog@beehaw.org ) 
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      151 year ago

      I would. I live in the south west, where the Lib Dems have traditionally been strong and Labour typically won’t even acknowledge that we exist. There’s a perception here that Labour only care about the cities and the Red Wall. The Lib Dems, for all their faults, have an active presence and a much deeper awareness of the issues that affect the south west, and are therefore a much more viable option to vote for if we want to oust a Tory.

      • Same here, although I grew up in Cheshire & now live in London… Even within the cities, Labours local policies seem very copy paste when what people want in (eg.) Westminster is going to be different to what they want in Hounslow, which will be different to what people want in Dagenham.

        Lib Dems seem to have a far better understanding of their constituencies/local areas than either of the major two parties (there are some good Labour MPs and slightly fewer good Tory MPs, but as a percentage they’re way lower), eg what Tim Farron is up to now in parliament, every speech is standing up for his constituency rather than hiding away in a large party letting the frontbenchers do the talking.

        • I think this is why the Lib Dems do so well in by-elections but struggle at general elections. When they’re only fighting one election, they can put all that local knowledge to good use and make a really tailored campaign that resonates with the electorate in that constituency. But in a general election, it’s much harder to put across a broad, national-level campaign, but that’s what general election campaigning has to be, because you have to speak to the whole country not just a small subset of it.

          It’s a shame, because I actually think they’re a very under-appreciated option. They’ve struggled with their branding after the coalition, and I think to an extent it was unfair given that they were very much the junior partner in the coalition and didn’t have as much power as people think they did.

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Actor Steve Coogan and presenter Carol Vorderman have backed Liberal Democrat pledges to reform how the UK’s general elections are run.

    The Lib Dems have long called for first past the post (FPTP) to be replaced with proportional representation (PR).

    By contrast, PR is the idea that parties’ seats in parliament should be allocated so that they are in proportion to the number of votes cast.

    Versions of proportional representation are already used to elect representatives in the regional legislatures of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

    Coogan, who in the past has supported Labour and appeared in the party’s election material, said he plans to vote for Lib Dem candidate in Lewes, James MacCleary in a bid to oust Conservative MP Maria Caulfield.

    And when they finally decide to call time on so many years of shambles and sleaze, the Liberal Democrats will be ready," he said.


    The original article contains 403 words, the summary contains 147 words. Saved 64%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!