Take Back Parliament (TBP) was an organisation campaigning for

democratic reform Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

in the United Kingdom. The group was formed immediately before the 2010 general election, with funding from the

Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust {{Use British English, date=January 2018 The four Rowntree Trusts are funded from the legacies of the Quaker chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformers Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree. The trusts are based in the Rowntrees' home c ...

, hoping that there would be opportunities to push for

electoral reform Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of: * Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...

after the election. It took a leading role in the 2011 referendum on the Alternative Vote, pushing AV as better than the existing

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

electoral system and potentially a step towards a

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

system. The group no longer exists.

Formation

Take Back Parliament was formed immediately prior to the 2010 general election, with funding from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust RRT It was run as the last project of

Power 2010 Power 2010 was a campaign to reform the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The campaign first aimed to identify five key reforms to the parliamentary system that the public most wanted to see enacted. The aim was then to ensure that every candidat ...

, a campaign group which grew out of the

Power Inquiry The POWER Inquiry was established in 2004 to explore how political participation and involvement can be increased and deepened in Britain. Its work is based on the primary belief that a healthy democracy requires the active participation of its ci ...

report on British democracy. It was launched in expectation that a hung parliament would open up political space for movement on electoral reform in the UK. Andrew Adonis documents the impact of the group in his book "5 Days in May", designed in his view to give the impression of 'spontaneous' protest. Adonis incorrectly describes the project as Labour led. The founders of Take Back Parliament said that it was a cross party group of activists, with the first meeting to form the campaign hosted by Power2010 and operational execution undertaken by staff of Power2010, with support from Unlock Democracy. Some limited support and advice was given by Compass and Labour Students. TBP presented itself as a coalition of groups campaigning for electoral reform, including the

Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

, the National Union of Students, and many others. The first action of Take Back Parliament was a demonstration in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

on 8 May 2010, two days after the general election, attended by 2,000 people, which ended up in Smith Square, where the Liberal Democrat party was discussing whether to join the Conservative Party in a coalition government. This was followed by other actions around the country, including a flashmob in London on May 10 to pressure the Liberal Democrats to only accept a coalition deal if included a commitment to proportional representation. It called a second national demonstration outside Parliament on 28 May 2010, which it claimed had an attendance of 2,500 people. This ended up outside Downing Street.

Petition for 'Fair Votes'

Take Back Parliament began collecting signatures on 6 May 2010 on a petition with the text "This Parliament does not represent us. We demand fair votes now. There must never again be an election under this broken system." As of 5 August 2011, the petition has 57,710 signatures.

2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum

Take Back Parliament took a leading role in the campaign for the Alternative Vote (AV) voting system during the 2011

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

. As AV, despite being a change to Britain's first-past-the-post voting system, was not a proportional system, the group held a consultation with those who signed its petition and its social media supporters. The result was that a majority supported either campaigning for AV as a step to proportional representation, or as an end in itself. TBP therefore announced it would be campaigning for the Alternative Vote in the referendum “as a stepping stone to PR, but only after other options are exhausted”.

The 'AV Bill'

During the passage of the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill, which, among other things, legislated for the referendum to take place, there was much controversy over the coalition government's decision to combine, in one Bill, both the referendum and the redrawing of Parliamentary constituencies. This led to accusations that the Bill was a "backroom deal", with the Alternative Vote favouring the Liberal Democrats and the boundary changes helping the Conservatives. However, the Independent newspaper also argued that there was nothing wrong with the principle of equalizing constituencies, and called on the opposition Labour party to constructively amend the Bill, rather than reject it outright. The row over the Bill also led to the infamous House of Lords filibuster. The controversy extended to TBP, with some, such as national co-ordinator Andy May, arguing that the Bill should be split into two separate pieces of legislation. In any event, the Bill was passed as composite legislation and was signed into law just before the deadline set by the Electoral Commission. The group supported moves by some MPs to amend the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill so that the electorate had a choice of a proportional voting system in the referendum. These amendments were unsuccessful.

Local groups

Most of TBP's existing local branches - for example, in North and South London, Birmingham and Edinburgh - became local groups of the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign, the officially designated Yes campaign in the referendum.

Aftermath

Following the rejection of AV by the electorate, Take Back Parliament returned to being an independent campaign group. It has now wound up, and its email list is held by

Unlock Democracy Unlock Democracy is a British pressure group, based in London. The organisation campaigns for a more participatory democracy in Britain, founded upon a written constitution. Unlock Democracy works to promote democratic reform across the politica ...

References

External links

{{Commons cat, Take Back Parliament demonstrations in 2010
Take Back Parliament websiteTake Back Parliament Twitter feed

Electoral reform - A vote of principle
''The Guardian''. 2010-07-03. Electoral reform in the United Kingdom Political campaigns in the United Kingdom Proportional representation electoral systems