Well the long campaign has begun.... At long last, our country has the opportunity to vote on changing our electoral system and a chance to break the monopoly the Tories and Labour parties have had on our parliament for so many years for good. I must say I am not a fan of referendums, particularly because they encourage misrepresentation and hyperbole. For example I see the No campaign has already started to play the apocalypse card by basically saying that AV will lead to hundreds of millions being spent and naturally a subsequent collapse in public services; and I'm waiting for the Daily Mail to say: "It's all Europe's fault!" or "Damn the Human Rights Act! It's led to AV!" - I mean please. Lets keep things sensible. I hope the Yes campaign rises above such torrid drivel and plays the idealism card for a chance of real reform. They do have King George VI and Queen Elizabeth supporting AKA Colin Firth and Helen Bonam-Carter, so am sure things will be fine for the yes camp.
But on a serious note, it cannot be right that we maintain the first past the post system where 2 parties hold around 90% of the seats but gain less than 2/3s of the vote. How is that remotely democratic? That's not to say FPTP does not have advantages - it does, for example it is easy to understand and also creates a constituency link, which I think is important for regional identity but also to ensure that people feel they have a representative that was chosen by them and not as a result of a party list. I am not a Liberal who advocates full proportional representation for these reasons (party lists are too closed and remote). AV is also not ideal as there is no proportional element; but it's not the system that counts so much, more that finally we have woken up to reforming our politics as hopefully a yes vote will lead to much more reform further down the line. I hope their Lordships are ready to move out soon as they are surely next, although Herbert Asquith probably was thinking the same back in 1910 - still better late than never.
My preferred system for Westminster would be what they have in Scotland - the additional member system or perhaps we should look again at AV +, which Lord Jenkins envisaged back in 1998. These systems propose a happy compromise in my view. However I support AV because it is a step in the right direction and a move away from the past and I urge everyone to vote yes in the campaign! It's not about Nick Clegg and its not about the Coalition, it's about restoring trust in parliament and creating a new beginning.
VOTE YES!
