LIVERPOOL, England, (Reuters) – Prime Minister Andy Burnham said today the Labour Party will contest the next election ​with a manifesto commitment to change the electoral system, ‌after he announced he was establishing a national commission to look at reform.

Burnham has long supported Britain ditching its first-past-the-post system, which requires a party to ​win at least 326 seats out of 650 to ​secure a majority in parliament, in favour of proportional ⁠representation.

“We will contest the next election with a manifesto commitment ​to change the electoral system,” he told the annual Labour Party ​conference.

The next election is due in 2029 and Burnham said he would invite all political parties to take part in the commission’s work and seek cross-party backing ​for reforms.

Criticising the country’s recent turbulent politics — he is the ​seventh prime minister in 10 years — he said the current system was ‌divisive ⁠because it meant a party could find themselves in government with 30% of the vote or less.

“I want to underpin our plan for Britain with a new politics,” he said, adding that ​while the changes ​would be ⁠difficult and not universally liked, they were needed.

Local elections in May underlined the fracturing of Britain’s traditional ​two-party system, with the once-dominant Labour and Conservative ​parties losing ⁠votes to right-wing Reform UK, the left-wing Green Party and nationalists in Scotland and Wales.

In a 2011 referendum in Britain, a proposal ⁠to ​bring in a preferential voting system, ​known as alternative vote, was rejected.