Democracy minister Rushanara Ali has confirmed the Government has no plans to change the voting system at general elections.

It comes after one Labour MP said ministers must be “bold” and establish a national commission to help reform the “unrepresentative” voting system used for UK parliamentary elections.

Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley), who supports proportional representation, said the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is “not working” and is “desperately in need of an upgrade”.

He said a national commission for electoral reform would act as a “first step” to finding a consensus on the system to be used in future, amid concerns that 85 per cent of MPs were elected by less than 50% of the voters who turned out in 2024.

Under the existing FPTP system, voters select their preferred candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins.

Alternatives include the single transferable vote system in which voters rank candidates in order of preference.

Opening a debate on proportional representation for general elections, Sobel told the Commons: “I want to encourage the Government to be bold and to be honest about how unrepresentative British general elections have become.”

Labour MP Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall and Camberwell Green), intervening, noted turnout at last year’s general election dropped below 60 per cent, adding: “That means two in every five people didn’t even participate. Does this not show that actually we need to change that so more people engage in our democratic system?”

Sobel said voter turnout and engagement should be a “matter of concern” for everyone, adding: “The truth is first-past-the-post is failing on its terms; it’s becoming less and less representative and producing more and more random results, more outliers, more MPs elected on less than 30 per cent of their constituency votes.”

The MP for Leeds Central and Headingley, who secured 50.2 per cent of the vote at the last election, said “record levels of distrust in politics” are being fed by people feeling that they “don’t have a fair say over who speaks for them or how they are governed”.

He said: “That should worry all of us. The Government has a responsibility to face up to those problems and address them before the next general election, starting with the launch of the national commission for electoral reform.”

Addressing last year’s election, Sobel said: “We’re now at an unprecedented situation where 554 MPs, 85 per cent of us here, were elected with less than 50 per cent of the voters who turned out.”

He added: “And 266 MPs, 41 per cent, were elected with less than 40 per cent. There are even a few colleagues who were elected on less than 30 per cent of the vote.

“When most people can see their representation in Parliament doesn’t reflect how they voted, it feeds the all too pervasive sense that Westminster is a distant, unresponsive institution, one that voters have no real voice in.”

Sobel highlighted opinion polls that showed support for proportional representation, adding: “The Prime Minister has made clear that restoring trust in politics is a key priority, calling the fight for trust the battle that defines our age.

“If the Government is to win the battle, it must address our flawed voting system. A voting system it knows is driving distrust and alienation in our politics, a voting system that means millions of people’s votes don’t count, a voting system that most people don’t want to continue with.

“That’s why I urge the Government to take this first step by establishing a national commission for electoral reform, as recommended by the APPG (all-party parliamentary group) for fair elections, which I chair.”

Ali told the Commons: “This Government has no plans to change the voting system for elections to the House of Commons. I’m getting unlikely cheers, I’m not used to having cheers from the main opposition party.

“The first-past-the-post system, while not perfect, provides for – as has been pointed out – a direct relationship between members of Parliament and their local constituency, and such a change would require a national conversation and a referendum.”

Ali had earlier said: “Whichever side of the argument members are in, it’s vital that we work tirelessly to protect our democracy that does face different kinds of threats in the current climate.”

She continued: “How we select our representatives in Parliament is of fundamental importance and members quite rightly have strong views. The choice of voting systems is central to that concern, as we’ve heard in the many speeches that have been made today.

“And how those votes are cast goes to the heart of our democracy.”