Labour plans election day poll on new ways of voting

[muriel_volestrangler]

Plans to hold a referendum on changes to the voting system on the day of the next general election are being considered in Downing Street as part of a ploy to expose David Cameron as a roadblock to sweeping constitutional reform.

The idea, backed by senior ministers, has come to light amid growing recriminations within the Labour party over poor campaign strategy and a lack of fresh ideas for attacking Cameron, following Labour's thumping loss in Thursday's Norwich North byelection.
...
As part of this, plans are being considered to hold a referendum on general election day in which people would be asked to support or reject a switch from the present first-past-the-post system to a new model, under which candidates would need to have the support of at least 50% of voters to be elected.

If a majority backed change, a new method of voting called Alternative Vote (AV) could then be introduced at the election after next. Critics say first-past-the-post is unfair as it does not reward smaller parties in relation to their share of the vote and ensures the two main parties hold a virtual duopoly on power.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/26/referendum-constitutional-reform-labour-elections

Personally, I don't think an AV system on its own is much better than FPTP. AV+, however, with the topup regional seats to introduce some proportionality, like AMS in the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and GLA, is a good solution, and what was originally recommended by the 1998 Jenkins Commission. I suspect advocating an AV system is a last desperate throw of the dice by some in Labour, hoping that they can jump on the 'anti-status quo' bandwagon about MPs' expenses. But if we could have a referendum on getting AV+ ... how sweet that would be.

Alternatively (:D), Neal Lawson thinks AV could still be a stepping stone to AV+:

Now before the proportional purists, like me, huff off in a sulk because AV doesn't better equate votes cast to seats gained, we should consider this. A referendum would not just seriously embarrass Cameron, but could help create the conditions for an anti-Tory alliance to form around those who wanted a new politics. At the very least, it would help stop anti-Labour tactical voting by Liberal Democrats and others. And it would tempt out some voters, unlikely to be Tories, who might otherwise have stayed at home.

What if the cumulative effect of all this was to shift the result from a narrow Tory majority to a hung parliament? Then the Liberal Democrats would have a hand on the wheel. We would have AV. It would not take much to add a proportional top-up to the AV system and, hey presto, we would have AV Plus; the voting system recommend by the late Roy Jenkins more than a decade ago to which Labour still has an outstanding manifesto commitment; and so yet another good reason for Brown to go for it. Can those who want proportionality be against such a referendum? It's another tough call.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/26/neal-lawson-electoral-reform

[TheBigotBasher]

1. The Lib Dems did an investigation in to this

and they will be more heavily penalised under AV than under FPTP. This is a stupid trap for LAboir that the Tories can get out of - "very nice PM why now and where is the referendum of LIsbon?".

If PR gets associated with the death knell of Labour it kills off the raison d'etre for the Lib Dems. They will reject this as not PR.

Which then just reveals Brown as a desperate PM.

[non sociopath skin]

2. Er ... is this a babelfish translation ....? ...

... or was the house chianti at Roberto's even better than I thought tonight? :crazy:

The Skin

[TheBigotBasher]

4. Too much sauce at mine.

One should never operate machinery when under the influence, including PCs

:beer: + computers = :argh:

This is a trap for the Liberal Democrats and it will have no effect on the Tory vote. Having followed Lib Dem discussion on this, (Brown has announced this before on numerous occasions), they will not fall in to the trap and are likely to campaign for a no vote.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. That's the difference between AV and AV+

AV is not PR - that's the point. But there's a chance of getting the additional members in, which would turn the voting system into a form of PR,on the basis of "if Scotland and Wales are allowed it, why isn't the whole of the United Kingdom?"

[T_i_B]

5. Totally opportunistic from Labour

They don't think they can win the next election, and they are obviously not too optimistic about elections after that so they want to change the system to their own advantage.

The most worrying thing of all here for me is that whenever people in new Labour try to come out with ideas for turning the parties fortunes around electoral "reform" always seems to be either top of the list or the only policy on the list! It's almost as if they have forgotten about any consideration of what's best for everyone else.

And I don't think that electoral "reform" is all that much of a vote-winner anyway. The Liberals have been banging on about it for decades and it's never got them anywhere.

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