Take Back Parliament

Twitter Fall

About this Campaign

Who are we?

With a nod to history this is a purple-coloured movement. Purple is the historic colour of democracy and the franchise in this country - the colour used by suffragettes in their campaign for the vote.

One hundred years on, in the wake of a shamefully biased election result, we must join together in a new fight for democracy and political equality.

The purple index finger in our logo is a symbol of the movement. The simple act of holding up a purple index finger (using ink, marker etc) is an immediate action that people do to show that although they voted, this Parliament doesn't represent them and that they demand a new system. Upload your photo now: here

We're also urging those who support us to show their participation by wearing purple-- a tie to work, use purple on Facebook and Twitter.

We are demanding a fair voting system so that we have a Parliament which properly represents the British people.

What's the deal?

Take Back Parliament brings together a coalition of different groups and organisations in the call for fair votes. They include Unlock Democracy. Electoral Reform Society, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, NUS, Ekkelsia and others

Take Back Parliament is not aligned to any political party - instead it seeks a fair voting system so that all parties have representation in Parliament according to the number of votes they receive.

Andy May, national co-ordinator of Take Back Parliament, can be contacted at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Why are we doing this?

Our "winner takes all" system of First-Past-The-Post is bust beyond repair. It produces unfair and undemocratic results, like the one we've just seen, which don't reflect the wishes of the British people. It empowers a few thousand voters in "marginal" seats who decide elections, while those in "safe" seats, where the MP has a large majority, are ignored. And it hands huge power to the ruling party based on a tiny proportion of the vote.

It is time for the UK to move to a system that ties a party's share of seats to its share of votes across the country.

We believe the best system is a proportional one. It would ensure everyone's vote counts; it would offer voters more choice and it would produce a government and Parliament that represents the British people.

We also believe that the Alternative Vote would be a much improved system to the current one and we are campaigning for a 'Yes' Vote in the May 2011 referendum.

But any change in our voting system must be led by the people, not politicians. We are calling for a Citizens Convention to be convened to decide on future political reforms, including a decision on whether we the country should move to proportional system in the future.