On targeting…

This is a campaign aimed at England and Wales. Local groups will develop their own demands as well as the central demands of PR and cross party cooperation. 

There is a balance to be struck between candidates backing change and those that can win.

The more candidates back change, the more support they get.

There will be more than one tactical vote recommendation site – what matters is that they are aligned.

On Proportional Representation…

We see Proportional Representation (PR) as being a necessary part of system change in how our democracy and politics work.

No one PR system is being advocated by #WinAsOne, instead we endorse the Good Systems Agreement that outlines the criteria for a good PR system.

We do not advocate a specific roadmap to implementing PR, the Win As One campaign focuses on the need to win a majority for progressive parties in Parliament.

No method of legislating for PR is being advocated, other than winning a necessary Commons majority for change. 

A note on boundary changes…

The next general election must be held by January 2025.

Boundary changes to our constituencies are expected to be implemented in summer 2023, which will take effect for any general election thereafter. There is still a small possibility of a general election in spring 2023 under the current boundaries.

We are working hard to bring you the information on how the voting at the 2019 general election would look on the new boundaries as soon as possible, and in any case by late summer 2019 at the latest.

Information can be found at the Boundary Commission for England, the Boundary Commission for Wales, the Boundary Commission for Scotland, the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland, and at Electoral Calculus’ summary (information are estimates only and may not be up to date).

Since boundary changes can cause confusion between Parties, We call on our Parties to make clear to activists what are their target seats under the boundary changes. Boundary changes are also an opportunity to open dialogue between parties to jointly understand the implications of changes and that we Win As One.

 

On strategy…

At the last General Election in 2019, the Conservatives won a majority of 87 MPs in Parliament with just 44% of the vote – due to our First Past The Post (FPTP) system plus a lack of cooperation between progressive parties.

There were an amazing 62 tragedy seats in England and Wales that were won by the Conservatives with less than the combined votes of the progressive parties. If just 44 of these had won by progressive parties through better cooperation, we could have overturned the Conservatives’ hold on Parliament and brought in a progressive majority government.

We don’t have to suffer at the hands of First Past The Post and the confrontational politics it creates. Now it’s time to take action to turn Tragedy Seats into Win As One Seats.

For information purposes, for each seat we show the results for the last General Election in 2019 and any subsequent by-elections. Research shows that many voters do not know or understand the results of a General Election, and some people are unaware which is their constituency.

  • These results are not tactical voting advice.
  • In some cases it is obvious which is the best-placed party to win the seat against the Conservatives.
  • However in some cases the best placed party to win the seat is not the one that came second last time.
  • These results are but one input to inform discussion at a local, regional and national level to ensure that we are not divided and that we Win As One.
  • We are highlighting the 62 Tragedy Seats across England and Wales since that is the focus of the #WinAsOne campaign. There are some marginal seats that our Parties will also be focusing on.

On pluralism…

Despite recent polls, it is still unlikely that Labour will win an outright majority in Parliament:

  • Labour need to gain around 120 seats to form a majority government
  • To do so, Labour need a swing of 11-14%, which is a lead of 10.5-16.6% !
  • This is more than the swing to Labour in 1997 (10%) and 1945 (11%), and at least five times more than in 2017 (2%).

However, in the case that Labour does have an overall majority in Parliament, significant progress has been made within the Party to implement PR through work by Labour Campaign For Electoral Reform, Labour For A New Democracy, and Make Votes Matter. At the Labour Party conference of autumn 2022, at least 80% of local parties and most the Unions voted for PR to be implemented by a future Labour government in its first parliament. We are working hard with these organisations to make the case for PR from within the Labour Party.

For those who would like to understand more:

Both Labour and Liberal Democrats Leaders are likely to shy away from necessary cooperation for fear of Conservative attacks on a ‘coalition of chaos’, so we must build support and make the case for a ‘coalition of coherence’ by demonstrating how to work together to win and govern.

Both Labour and the LibDems have ruled out standing aside for each other in the general election, even though they both did successfully for the independent Martin Bell in the Tatton constituency in 1997, that helped to highlight Conservative corruption and to reduce the Conservative vote nationally.

It is fairly clear where are the Labour and LibDem target seats in the current situation, and we hope there will be less contention between the two Parties’ than at the last general election. We call on both Parties to make clear to activists where to campaign so that we all Win As One.

In addition, the Green Party and their voters must be incentivised and rewarded in order to gain appropriate cooperation and tactical voting so that we can break free of First Past The Post and win.

Recent by-election successes create over-confidence in our parties – it is easier to ensure tactical voting in by-elections and voters are more inclined to register a protest vote or stay at home to send a message to the government of the day. We must prepare for a closer campaign in the next general election.

Closer to the general election, Compass may endorse tactical voting recommendations and vote swapping initiatives to Win As One and help gain an election victory under First Past The Post. There will be many tactical voting sites, and aggregators summarising the recommendations, that may not be aligned. We will work with other organisations to make them as aligned and transparent as possible.

 

Still not answered your question? Get in touch with us: info@compassonline.org.uk or see our Contact page for more media enquiries.