The Supervote Project has compiled a “Top 10” of County Councils with the most undemocratic local election results in 2025, and Lancashire’s are the 4th worst! Their findings reveal just how broken our voting system is — and how urgently it needs reform.
On May 1st, on Lancashire County Council:
- ⚪️Reform UK won 63% of seats – 53 out of 84 …with just 36% of the vote – over one and a half times their fair share!
- 🔵The Conservatives was underrepresented taking only 10% of the seats with 21% of the vote – about half their fair share
- 🔴The Labour Party was underrepresented, having only 6% of the seats to show for their 19% of the vote – about a third of their fair share
- 🟢Greens took 5% of the seats with 8% of the vote – 🟡 Libdems took 6% of seats with 9% of the vote – both underrepresented with about 2 thirds of a fair share
- 🟣 Independents and 🟤other small parties were overrepresented
- 10 of 84 councillors were elected with an outright majority of the vote – the rest enjoyed only minority support. Our local Greens were 3 of the 10 with Gina Dowding receiving 57.2%, Hamish Mills 50.4%, and Paul Stubbins 54%.
- a majority of those who voted did not support Reform
- 58% of votes elected no one at all.
- Two-thirds of voters didn’t even vote.
(figures rounded – see chart below for accurate figures)
Votes for the Parties in Lancashire County’s 2025 Elections % Votes Won % Seats Taken ⚪️Reform UK 35.69% 63.09% 🔵Conservative 21.15% 9.52% 🔴Labour 18.92% 5.95% 🟡Liberal Democrat 9.01% 5.95% 🟢Green 8.38% 4.76% 🟣Independent 5.46% 8.34% 🟤Other Parties 1.39% 2.39% What sort of democracy do the County’s residents have, when two thirds of the electorate didn’t think it was worth bothering to vote, and of those who did, the composition of their County Council does not reflect how they voted? Maybe more people would vote if they knew their vote would count.
The outcome is even more distorted when you consider that many people will already have chosen not to vote for the party or candidate that they really preferred, and instead voted ‘tactically’ for the one they thought had the best chance of winning against the candidate they most wanted to lose!
Clearly there is something very wrong with a voting system that has the ability to award nearly two thirds of the seats to a party that has only won just over one third of the vote, while denying 58% of those who voted representation of their choice.
This isn’t democracy. This is the failure of first-past-the-post — an outdated, undemocratic, winner takes all system that distorts results, locks out smaller parties, and leaves millions of voices unheard.
Lancashire needs to have a system of proportional representation, or ‘PR’ – a type of voting system which shares out seats in proportion to votes cast. So, if a party were to poll 6 out of 10 votes, they would be awarded 6 out of 10 seats.
We should also have this fairer system to elect MPs to the House of Commons in Westminster.
Of the 43 countries most often considered to be within Europe, 40 use some form of proportional rep to elect their MPs. The UK stands almost alone in Europe in using a ‘one-person-takes-all’ disproportionate voting system. There is only the authoritarian state of Belarus which also uses ‘first past the post’. Plus, France uses a different kind of ‘one-person-takes-all’ system but with 2 rounds of voting.
Scottish and Welsh parliaments, and Northern Ireland and London Assemblies all use forms of proportional representation. England and the UK as a whole also deserve a fairer voting system.
The Green Party is different. We’re fighting for a truly fair voting system where every vote counts.
We support the @SupervoteUK campaign and demand proportional representation in both local and national elections.
It’s time for real democracy.
More info on the case for voting reform can be found at: www.supervote.org.uk
If you feel strongly that this voting system is unfair and needs to be changed – write to the Right Hon Angela Rayner MP, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF and ask for legislation to be introduced so that voters in Lancashire and beyond can use a fairer voting system for local elections in future.