I will certainly be voting yes for political reform on the 5th May. I don't know about you, but the shocking tactics and base argument from the reactionary No campaign and its Tory funders have made me more determined than ever to vote for a better system to elect our MPs.
Let me be clear: this election is not about Nick Clegg or even the Liberal Democrats, but is about something far greater. We have the once in a lifetime opportunity to send a message to the political elites that enough is enough and reform has to come, so that this country can seriously begin reforming its political institutions. AV in my view is the first step along that journey. Conservatives seem to think that everything can be preserved and that the British parliament can still go along as if it's still 1930. This is not a surprise. First Past the Post suits the Conservatives and they have a vested interest to preserve it. They do not want to open up our politics to greater choice and freedom. I am a Liberal because I believe in greater choice, transparency and freedom in all spheres of public life. My view is that AV will help with this. Why? Because if there is a yes vote, we will be able to rank the candidates in order of preference, which means candidates will have to work harder for our votes as only the candidate who gains at least 50% of the vote will win.
A helpful analogy was in the Independent today: If you send your friend for a bag of crisps and say you want salt and vinegar, but the shop has none left, you are reliant on your friend to choose a flavour for you. You only had one go at choosing the right flavour for you. However, if you had said to him/her: I would like prefer salt and vinegar, but failing that cheese and onion and failing that ready salted and they come back with cheese and onion, at least you have the best possible outcome for you. AV allows this: ranking candidates in order allows the most preferred candidate for a majority of people in a constituency to win. That is so much fairer than what we have presently, where a candidate with less than 50% support in a constituency can be the winner.
Things have to change, let's begin that pathway to reform, let's vote for AV!
