Campaigners in Wanstead took to the streets to demand a change to the voting system so that every vote counts.
On Saturday, December 12 Wanstead Make Votes Matter supporters joined a nationwide day of action and came together to send Christmas cards to their MP demanding equal votes.
Members of the group, part of the UK cross-party movement advocating to change the First Past The Post voting system to Proportional Representation, posted their Christmas cards one year since the 2019 general election where they say seven out of 10 votes cast by the UK population didn’t matter.
Wanstead supporter Joe Sousek, who is also co-CEO of Make Votes Matter, said: "Our First Past the Post voting system means that Parliament doesn't reflect the balance of opinion among the British public.
"The Conservatives got less than 44pc of the votes in 2019, yet they got a landslide majority and the power to do whatever they wish. The only other country in Europe to use this system for general elections is Belarus.
“It's time we caught up with most modern democracies and adopted a form of Proportional Representation. I hope all our politicians will take seriously the need to make every vote matter."
As part of the Christmas Card Day of Action people have taken pictures of themselves posting their Christmas cards to their MPs.
Emma Knaggs, grassroots leader at Make Votes Matter, said that the extreme polarisation that is happening within our communities is due to the current voting system where a significant number of people feel they're not being represented properly.
She said: "Creating a better society for British people, in which genuinely representative, informed and deliberative democracy can thrive, is at the heart of the campaign to win Proportional Representation.
"This is all too obvious in the UK's response to the pandemic and it's beyond urgent that change comes soon.”
The organisation is co-ordinating a giant Christmas card to be sent to Labour leader Keir Starmer to call on his party to support Proportional Representation, as all the other opposition parties already support it.
For more information visit: https://www.makevotesmatter.org.uk/xmas-card-to-starmer
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here