October 2024
September was busy…October will be too.

Dear John,

This month, I have the privilege of writing the first edition of Open Britain’s brand new monthly newsletter.

With our movement growing, our new Substack channel taking off, and our work in Parliament ramping up, we’ll use this newsletter to keep you updated on everything we are working on – and how you can get involved.

September was an eventful month both for the country and for us as an organisation. The new government, nearing the hundredth day of its term, has already taken some major blows to its popularity.

Keir Starmer is already in a tight spot following a series of “freebie” and lobbying scandals which have fed a febrile media hungry to put the new man under early pressure. According to some opinion polls, Starmer is already less popular than Rishi Sunak was in the dog days of his sorry regime.

It’s no secret that Starmer has a monumental task ahead of him: repairing Britain and restoring trust in politics. For us in the democracy sector, we need to get him to understand the stakes. We want the government to make actual “tough decisions,” taking bold action to replace the democratic safeguards we’ve lost over the years.

That is why we set up the new All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections with our close partners at Fair Vote UK. That APPG has already attracted scores of MPs and Peers dedicated to delivering clean and fair elections where every vote counts. Open Britain and Fair Vote are now working hard with partners elsewhere in the democracy sector to ensure there is co-ordination between the APPG’s work inside Parliament and that of the myriad organisations campaigning outside. Doing so will ensure that our mass movement continues to grow in size and influence.

With the Conservatives out, and Labour apparently less sympathetic to our cause than we might have hoped, we are preparing for the hard fight ahead.

There is now little doubt that the next few years will determine the future of the United Kingdom for decades to come. Whether we have a free and fair electoral system that brings us out of our national decline, or we stagnate and sink further into the empty populism pushed by figures like Nigel Farage.

Open Britain will continue doing what we do best: keeping our supporters informed of key developments, making our case powerfully inside Parliament, and ramping up the pressure on Starmer’s government to do what must be done to ensure a fair and prosperous future for Britain.

Latest Developments

  • Our All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fair Elections has launched its social media page – please give it a follow and check-in for updates!


  • We’ll shortly be announcing a public launch event for the APPG – stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s what MPs have been saying about it:


    • “It was an honour to join and be elected vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections Today” – Lisa Smart MP (Lib-Dem)


    • “Delighted to have joined this APPG. During the campaign I advocated for a change to our voting system to make it fairer and more representative” – Jessica Toale MP (Labour)


    • “We must replace Britain’s clearly unfair voting system with a modern, proportional one that means everybody has a vote that counts.” – Alex Sobel MP (Labour, APPG Chair)

  • At Labour Party conference, Labour for a New Democracy hosted a fringe event on fair elections – centred on the idea of Proportional Representation as a tool for “Change that Lasts.”


    • Anna Louise Dixon MP spoke out eloquently on the principles that have moved the Labour membership towards PR;


    • Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham called for a “review of the voting system in the House of Commons”


    • Labour members spoke up: "The Parliamentary Labour Party is now more pro-PR than ever before. Support amongst MPs - like the Labour movement at large - has grown and grown"

  • AND our PR petition to Keir Starmer is now sitting at nearly 57,000 signatures! If you haven’t signed it yet, help us get it past 60k. With just   12 days until Starmer reaches his hundredth day in office, the more signatures we can get on there, the better.

What We’ve Been Writing About:

  • Our CEO, Mark Kieran, explained clearly on “X” why we think Proportional Representation won’t be a boon to Nigel Farage – in fact, it will only put him under more scrutiny.


  • In a previous OB email, I analysed Starmer’s conference speech, and questioned why he’s so far refused to put his money where his mouth is.


  • Earlier this month, my colleague Rose Battey explained on our Substack why electoral reform is so important to young Britons today.

⏱️ And Finally, This Month’s ‘60 Seconds’ Survey…

Thanks for reading this new monthly newsletter. Let us know what you think.

Remember, all the work detailed above (and much more!) is only possible because of the generous donations made by you, our loyal supporters. If you value what we’re doing and you can spare a few pounds, please do click on the button below to support our work. Every penny adds power to our elbow.

All the best,


Matt Gallagher
Communications Officer
Open Britain