An online lobby of one of many MPs has been staged in east London to get round lockdown restrictions as part of a nationwide campaign to change the way we send MPs to Westminster.

The first Equal Votes Lobby calling for proportional representation instead of first-past-the-post of “winner takes all” was staged to buttonhole Poplar and Limehouse MP Apsana Begum.

East London Advertiser: Online Zoom lobby of Poplar & Limehouse MP Apsana Begum (top right)Online Zoom lobby of Poplar & Limehouse MP Apsana Begum (top right) (Image: Zoom)

Activists took part in the video call from all over her Docklands constituency who had already been staging photoshoots against some of the East End’s iconic landmarks during Lockdown.

“All voices would be heard with proportional representation,” the campaign’s East London coordinator Mark Broadmore explained. “But first-past-the-post means being trampled with the ‘same old same old’ negative campaigning.”

East London Advertiser: Mark Broadman makes his point at the iconic Limehouse marinaMark Broadman makes his point at the iconic Limehouse marina (Image: Make Votes Matter campaign)

Time is right to push electoral reform with local and London elections finally confirmed to go ahead on May 6, say the lobbyists. Their cross-party strategy involving activists all over the UK aims to elect MPs similar to the polls for the London Assembly and mayor.

The campaign's “grassroots leader” Emma Knaggs said: “We lobbied 22 MPs who are now acutely aware of the strength of feeling among voters.”

East London Advertiser: Tomorrow's generation of voters start early campaign for election changeTomorrow's generation of voters start early campaign for election change (Image: Make Votes Matter campaign)

A petition calling on MPs to back proportional representation has also gone online to change the way Britain goes to the polls.