Electoral reform or a convenient political fix?

You report (Council plans for district elections, February 18) the coming referendum on the proposal to change the voting system from first-past-the-post to proportional representation (PR).
By The Newsroom
Published 18th Mar 2011, 08:00 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 21:28 BST

If only that were true! Unfortunately all we are being offered is the Alternative Vote system (AV) where you rank candidates in order of preference.

As the Electoral Reform Society puts it: “The Alternative Vote is a minimalist form of electoral reform which does not alter the current pattern of single member constituencies”. And that is a tyranny that must stop.

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But the referendum doesn’t stand by itself. The legislation also provides for the redrawing of constituency boundaries, and, crucially, a reduction in the number of MPs. This is destructive to PR which is the only prospect for genuine representation.

Under PR you are able to return more than one MP per constituency. The fewer MPs there are the less chance for a genuine spread of representation.

The oft-repeated claim that AV is a first step to PR is nonsense. The political colours of the country are not going to change any time soon, and we are being pushed down a path for the sake of political expediency.

The truth is the referendum with its anaemic AV option and, indeed, the whole “reform” package, was a political fix for the purposes of securing a Coalition agreement.

Stephen Jackson

Second Avenue

Related topics:MPs