Labour must push for proportional representation

Labour must embrace proportional representation and learn to work with other parties among other radical changes, the leadership contender Clive Lewis has said, adding that the party “needs to modernise, or it will die”.

In a speech formally launching his campaign, the Norwich South MP said Labour needed to become less centralised and more collaborative, warning that debate was being stifled by “sectarianism and tribalism”.

“We must come out in favour of proportional representation – not only because it is the fairest way to elect a parliament, but also because it will put into practice our fundamental belief in the value of collaboration and cooperation,” he said.

He also called for the Lords to be replaced with an elected second chamber. “How can the public have faith in politics when people like Zac Goldsmith can lose their seat in a democratic election one week, get put in the House of Lords the week after, and be back in cabinet?”

There had been speculation Lewis would use the speech in Brixton, south London, to pull out of the leadership race, in which he is currently last among the six candidates in terms of the number of nominations from Labour MPs.

With 148 MPs having declared a choice, Lewis has secured just four nominations – one of them from himself – and will seemingly struggle to reach the threshold of at least 22 nominations by Monday to get to the next stage of the process. But the extracts of Lewis’s speech released in advance indicate he does not plan to quit immediately, with his team also saying he plans to release a full manifesto “in the coming days”.

Even if he fails to get the required support of 22 MPs, the shadow Treasury minister will hope to secure a more senior role under the new leader and help shape the party’s future.

Lewis, who this week made a deal to work with the Greens on a so-called green new deal for the economy if he does win, is one of Labour’s strongest senior voices on both electoral reform and the environment.

“We have to accept that democracy is in crisis, that we face a climate catastrophe, and epoch-defining possibilities and challenges from the tech revolution,” he said in the speech. “We can’t have more of the same. The Labour party needs to modernise, or it will die.”

Lewis said he was “fed up with the top-down style of politics, where real debate and discussion in our party is stifled because of sectarianism and tribalism”, adding: “We can’t grow as a party, if we’re afraid of having difficult discussions.” He called for a more collaborative, community-based approach to policy, citing as an example the form of new localism pioneered in Preston.

“We need to learn to collaborate with other parties and social movements. We need to realise and to admit that we don’t have the monopoly on all the answers, and that we are stronger if we can confidently work with others,” he said.

A commitment to electoral reform was “the litmus test of Labour’s survival”, Lewis said. “A winner-takes-all politics just doesn’t allow us to deal with the complexities of the world as it increasingly is,” he said.

According to the latest Labour figures, only Lewis and Emily Thornberry do not have the necessary level of support from MPs, with Thornberry having nine nominations.

Keir Starmer is out in front on 63, followed by Rebecca Long Bailey with 26, Lisa Nandy with 24 and Jess Phillips on 22.