PROPORTIONAL representation could create space for a new left politics inside and outside of Labour, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said yesterday.

In an opening address to the Public and Commercial Services Union conference, Mr Serwotka said figures across the labour movement were supporting demands for voting reform in increased numbers since the Tory victory earlier this month.

“It is clear our political system is failing to reflect people’s views. Now is the time to step up the campaign for proportional representation,” he said.

“By the day more and more people in the labour movement are coming to the conclusion that we need PR to have a fair electoral system but also so we can genuinely see anti-austerity politics take a foothold in Britain.”

He revealed that TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady had told him that she had been converted to the cause.

Asked if he thought a Syriza-style alternative to Labour could emerge in a proportional system, he said he thought PR would “open a space for more left politics” both outside the Labour Party and inside.

He said he did not believe that political conditions in Britain were sufficiently different to prove an obstacle to a new party emerging.

He said that the first-past-the-post system led to a focus on marginal constituencies and “talk about the centre ground and the aspiration nation,” pointing to the rise of Ukip in traditional Labour heartlands in Wales and the north of England as proof of a need to broaden the debate.

He said the union movement would have to carefully consider its political strategy in the coming months.

“A lot of people in the movement, and I wasn’t one of them, put a lot of eggs in the basket of Labour winning. If that’s been your take for the past two years then you’ve got some analysing to do.”

He said he would campaign jointly with others calling for reform in spite of political differences but would stop short of working with Ukip.

“They’ve clearly used racism to garner votes,” he said.

PCS president Janice Godrich warned that Ukip was “pulling politics across the board towards prejudice and discrimination.”