Archive

Who does our political system benefit?

30 Sep 2023

  • Venue
    Quarry
  • Running time
    1 hr 30 mins
  • Content Advisories

Recent years have seen our political landscape dogged by questions of integrity – but are our leaders the ones to blame, or is it the systems in which they operate?

“It doesn’t matter who you vote for, nothing will ever really change in Britain.” According to the Labour Party’s Commission on the UK’s Future, this is the belief held by more than 50% of UK adults today.

Amid this dreary political mood, can we ever hope to rebuild trust in politics without a major overhaul of our current governing frameworks?

Recent years have seen our political landscape dogged by questions of integrity – but are our leaders the ones to blame, or is it the systems in which they operate?

We remain one of just two countries in Europe to use the first-past-the-post voting system, and the House of Lords – our unelected second chamber – is second in size only to the National Peoples’ Congress in China.

Is now the time to say enough is enough? Time, perhaps, to move away from our Whitehall and Westminster centric model and redistribute powers more fairly? This isn’t about party politics, this is about reform, voting systems, constituency boundaries and more.

Who's on the panel?

Jon Sopel

Host

Tom Brake

Speaker

Magid Magid

Speaker

Amber Rudd

Speaker

Scarlett Westbrook

Speaker

  • MAJOR FUNDERS

    Arts Council
  • Leeds City Council
  • LTB Foundation
  • Principal Partner

    Caddick Group
  • Principal Access Partner

    Irwin Mitchell