#yes2pr

May 5th is the day of the Alternative Vote referendum, game on. Having previously supporting calls for a referendum on proportional representation but the coalition agreement failed on that hurdle and so I support the Alternative Vote as a means of progressing to PR. I openly supported the Liberal Democrats at the last election and while I knew they would never win, my disappointment began with the coalition agreement: the abstention clauses and the lack of proportional representation featuring. 

In 2010 the Liberal Democrats obtained 23% of the votes, while this was an increase on 2005, they lost seats and this resulted in only 8% of the seats in the commons, they were always going to be the smaller party of any coalition, but this is obviously unfair. If their number of MPs was more closely aligned to their number of votes the coalition agreement wouldn't have been so piss poor, and instead of a concession for AV referendum, we'd probably be looking at a referendum on PR (as well as other things). 

While AV is no PR, it is more representative than FPTP and for this reason I differ from those who want AV to fail so that the PR movement can come stronger, citing that if AV were to succeed PR further reform will be kicked into the long grass for a long time. I think that a no vote will prevent any electoral reform for a generation, at least, as the Conservatives (who are set to benefit from boundary changes) will say the people have spoken and they like FPTP, Lib Dems are going to be a joke if the coalition survives the full term of parliament and their manifesto will openly be mocked on all counts and I can't see much to help recoup the haemorrhage support, this leaves Labour. It would be foolish to try and guess at what their policy will be, they are all over the place on AV, and didn't do any reform in the last 14 years, I doubt they will force AV or anything else after a no vote (its clearly unpopular the benches would howl), so a no vote kills reform. However, a yes vote will bolster it! If AV wins, and polls show it will be close, the next election will be slightly more representative, I still suspect the Lib Dems will lose seats, the Greens might benefit (pro-PR), Cons wont be able to revert back to FPTP without another referendum (they protested the costs laughs the benches) so will be fine, Labour (who I suspect will do well after 5 years of cuts and unemployment increase) however will be best placed to further political reform as clearly it is on the public agenda and would be better placed for movements to wards PR. Should a coalition occur again, it would be probably easier for it to be openly favourable to change. Further, we might have a coalition where one party isn’t as laughably playing a minority role, allowing for a coalition agreement to be, well, more agreeable.

Big C made a speech against AV today, I'd like to address some things said in them: He disputes that AV will end safe seats as 1 in 3 seats are held with true majorities (greater than 50% vote), this shows that on both local and national level, the votes of the majority of people are disregarded for a minority. I have no issue with the 225 MPs in these 'safe' seats, they are clearly supported in those areas, its no surprise certain areas have certain political leanings, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that area being represented by someone who got over 50% of the vote. However in the other 2 thirds the MP doesn't have the support of the majority of the constituency, their views are rarely represented properly, by ensuring a candidate requires broad support allows them to better represent their constituents and allow them to be more accessible.

Then there is the bullshit about electronic ballots, I don't know where the No vote campaign got this, Australia does without so there is no reason why we should adopt them. There is also the argument on cost of the referendum in a time of austerity, the no vote figures are misleading as the cost of the referendum (ie will be incurred whether yes or no) has been lumped in with the subsequent changes required, so while yes it will cost money, not as much as they claim. And if we're on about austerity, why are committees trailing the use of iPads when nurses/whatever are being made redundant.

"When it comes to our democracy, Britain shouldn't have to settle for anyone's second choice." Says Cameron, my current MP would have been around 5th in this constituency, I'd have settled happily for the first 3, 4th was an oddball, then Greg Hands before the crazies.

"But the crazies will get seats!" Yes, they might, the BNP would benefit from PR, part of me sees this as both a terrible thing and as something that might actually work to the benefit of society. People in this country clearly think UKIP and BNP have a point, and while its very easy to dismiss them as the fringes and crazies, but their anti-EU and racist ideology shouldn't be as ignored as it is currently, them winning a seat would show them as terrible politicians (BNP councillors are a joke) and prompt society to address a problem in certain areas.

I've previously mentioned that Mr Hands is one of the 225, he is also PPS so essentially Osborne's whipping boy and forbidden from any independent thought, and he would be my MP under AV or FPTP. AV will not make my vote count as much as I want, but it has my support as a stepping stone to more proportionality, and giving me greater voting power to choose a party that will be able to forward the cause.

Apparently I have access to some journals which cover electoral stuff, and will look into it more to properly show that we should definitely embrace the reform and further that a yes vote will further the electoral reform movement more than a no vote. If you care about electoral reform, I suggest donating or becoming a member of the Electoral Reform Society, if some of you dislike AV and don't want to contribute to its campaign, maybe wait until after the referendum, afterwards I can see it not being on the agenda of any of the big 3 parties. Also, remember to register to vote, it is very rare to be able to voice your opinion on something this specific which will effect our future politics.

Further reading:

Johann Hari on the Lords and the church today.