For the third time this century, America faces the prospect of having a President who lost the popular vote.

Whether or not this happens when the final votes are counted, even the possibility of this outcome is incompatible with a democracy in which all votes carry equal value. Worse still, by disenfranchising millions of voters, America’s system has bred a deep and toxic cynicism. Now, the democratic values that once held their constitution together can no longer be taken for granted.

This is the logical consequence of a hopelessly outdated electoral system: a system that denies voters a fair say, that pulls people apart instead of together, and that hands power to a government most people do not want.

Yet this describes our electoral system First Past the Post too. You yourself said that “millions of people vote in safe seats and they feel their voice doesn’t count”. The polarisation of our politics and society mirrors that of America. And we have a government most British people did not vote for; one with little regard for democratic norms.

We believe the UK can join the countries that are beginning to seriously address the challenges of our time: from the climate crisis, to Covid, to inequality. But we can only do so by following them in adopting an electoral system that is fit for the 21st century. We need Proportional Representation to make all votes matter equally and encourage politics that brings people together.

Please commit yourself and the Labour Party to electoral reform. Don’t let us end up like America.