Last week at the Labour Party conference, it seems Andy Burnham told his audience what they want to hear – a return to 1970s-style tax and spend policies, a devolution agenda and changing the electoral system from first past the post to proportional representation.

It’s easy to say the grass is greener, and politics is far from perfect as are many of our elected representatives, but I would urge caution before we change a system which isn’t broken.

First Past The Post gives voters a direct link to the person they elect. Whether you are voting for your MP or your local councillor, you know who represents your community and, crucially, who is responsible for the decisions that are made. You have a named individual representing you and you also have the opportunity to remove them at the next election if they don’t do a good enough job.

Under proportional representation, that clear relationship becomes much weaker. Instead of voters choosing an individual representative who is directly accountable to them, we risk creating a system where party lists, coalition negotiations and deals between political parties determine who governs.

The result could be a recipe for chaotic minority or coalition government, making smaller fringe parties the kingmakers, holding disproportionate power and demanding concessions in return for their support. This could give minority groups like Plaid Cymru, the SNP, the Greens or Reform undue power and the opportunity to push extreme and toxic policies. Mainstream parties would be forced to co-operate with hardline groups, including those whose objective is to cause division or break-up our country.

We now have a fully proportional system for Senedd elections and it’s given us six MSs all representing the exact same geographical area, creating unnecessary duplication and removing accountability because the parties effectively decided who got elected by drawing up their list of candidates. We more or less knew who was going to be elected before residents had cast a single vote. That’s not democracy.

First Past The Post is not perfect. No electoral system is. But it generally produces clear outcomes and allows governments with a mandate to get on with the job. We use First Past The Post to elect councillors and next May voters will go to the polls to decide who their local councillor(s) will be and who will run Monmouthshire County Council. Local democracy really matters and a direct line of accountability is vital.