Winner Takes All: Why Economic Justice Now Rests on Democratic Justice
Over the last few years, costs have rocketed and wages have stagnated while wealth for a few has ballooned, leaving finances for the majority enfeebled and brittle. People are struggling to feed themselves and their families, to heat their homes, to afford the basics of life.
There are many reasons for this. But this shocking inequality is, in part, because Westminster is one of the few parliaments in the world that uses a majoritarian system of voting; nine of the ten most equal countries in the world use some form of proportional representation. The hoarding of power in Westminster and the structural bias against genuinely progressive policies has helped contribute to a situation where the richest 1% of households possess more wealth than the bottom 80% of the population. FPTP gives the dominant right wing media, corporate lobbyists, rich donors and swing voters a veto over policies for greater fairness and equality. This must change.
Winner Takes All, a new report from Compass, explores how our voting system acts as a roadblock for redistributive policies – and what we can do to change it.
Compass is partnering with The Equality Trust, Tax Justice UK, The 99% Organisation, Nick Dearden of Global Justice Now, Professor Danny Dorling, Professor Ruth Lister, Professor Kate E. Pickett, Professor Richard Wilkinson to call on our Government’s ministers for Health and Social Care, Levelling Up, and Work & Pensions to endorse a change in our voting system as the cornerstone of a new approach to tackling poverty and inequality.
