Cameron prods Clegg towards voting referendum
Just when you thought the bizarre role reversals of coalition couldn’t go any further… I hear that, behind the scenes, David Cameron has found himself privately encouraging a nervous Nick Clegg that he really can win a referendum on AV in May 2011.
One of the biggest concerns for the Lib Dems is Labour. Does a new Labour leader use his or her fresh political capital to back Nick Clegg’s dream (the Miliband brothers back AV, as does Ed Balls) or hold back a little, keep it low-key?
The Lib Dems could really do with Labour support and it won’t ignite naturally. They have the carefully calculated advantage of combining the referendum with the elections that will bring out Scottish and Welsh voters to elect their parliament and assembly, and those voters are expected to be more at ease with changes to the voting system than the English. But with Tory opposition well-heeled and fired up, they’ll need help to get them over the line.
Early on, starting next week with announcements on a constitutional package that will include Lords reform, fixed-term parliaments and an outline of boundary reform timetables, Nick Clegg will have to define the referendum on his terms and start to convince voters that it’s not about a self-serving pay-back for Lib Dems but a chance for voters who like the idea of parties working together to say “actually, yes, I’d like a bit more of this.”
There are 11 comments on this post
I guess – as always – it depends where you sit on the political spectrum. I’m a supporter of voting reform and of coalition governement but so far I have not been impressed by the current example.
All that seems to have happened is that the tories have brought out the right of centre tendencies of the lib dems. To watch Vince Cable arguing the opposite of what he was saying before the election has been agonising.
And what has happened to the big hitters like Charles Kennedy and Paddy Ashdown. Are they driving around with bumper stickers saying ‘Don’t blame me, I didn’t want a coalition with the tories’?
Maybe the problem is that we are trying to force a predominantly three-party system into what should be a larger number of parties. Only then will proportional representation make rreal sense.
Saltaire will it make more sense to have more Scottish and Welsh Nationalists,more BNP , Greens ,all disagreeing .You would still get the crazy coalitions with either the Labour Party or Tories in overall control.I do not have a problem with 1st past the post, but i do believe the boundaries need changing so that constituencies all have a similar number of voters and maybe parliaments aught to be every four years , so we can rid ourselves of unpopular parliaments and MP’s.There is much that can be done within the system to make MPs more accountable and i would sooner go down that road.
I applaud looking at voting reform but concerned not looking at other voting systems. Both Iraq and Afghanistan have new voting systems and I would be interested to ascertain what sytems the West have implemented in these emerging democracies.
As for allowing politicians to vote on reform of the voting system is it just asking Turkeys to vote for Christmas, putting party before country rather than the other way around!!!!!??
Regards
Colin Rodden tmi for HR
“Come into my parlour…” Said the spider to the fly.
I’m still working out who the fly might be.
Be careful what you wish for. Any change in the voting system will produce results different from expectation, especially when an increased level of tactical voting takes place.
Adrian is right that a key priority should be to equalise constituencies – OK, it can never be perfect but it can easily be configured far better than it is – even I could do the job in two days with a Road Atlas and some population stats. The golden opportunity available in reducing numbers in the Commons must be seized to get this as fair as possible. The Labour Party will whinge because they gain the most from the current imbalance, but even the Chartists identified this step as vital more than 150 years ago, so let’s do it now.
Only once this is in place can we undertake a reasoned debate on different voting systems to overlay on the new distribution pattern.
However, that shouldn’t stop us banning all Postal & Proxy Votes now – the level of fraud and abuse is outrageous and growing, and an affront to democracy. Tough on the few genuinely disabled perhaps, but that’s a price worth paying to restore confidence.
So the genuinely disabled just don’t get a vote? Perhaps it would be better to try to tackle the fraud than disenfranchise anyone. In any case, what is your EVIDENCE for your statement about the level of frauf?
Lacplesis, on the subject of fraud:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8659864.stm
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-first-punch-came-landing-on-my-nose-sending-blood-down-my-face-1961464.html
Just google it. The evidence is widespread, and frankly, incontroverible.
The thing about the U.K. is we like to go left then right then left then right rather then steering a straight path.
We want someone to blame if things go wrong, Not good for U.K. but great for the two main parties.
I hate to say it but I think this is right. Do we vote a new government in, or do we vote the old one out? The latter I think.
I don’t agree that the Scots and the Welsh will be happy to support the referendum – because Scotland and Wales are where all the seats with the tiny electorates are. Most likely Plaid and the SNP will kick up a storm about needing ‘balance’ with a largely Tory England.
Labour will not support it – prepare yourself for the bigest U-turn of the century – Labour are certain that the Lib Dems will get a shoeing – check out Harman’s budget reaction speech and count the references to Nick Clegg’s Sheffield constituency – its a deliberate all out attack.
It’s probable that the impact of the rising unemployment and bankruptcies on support for the Conservative-led coalition will not be felt until late in 2011.
Because of that lag effect, the adverse effects on the Cameron reputation next May will be less, giving him a greater chance of defeating the ‘Yes 2 AV’ campaign for AV elections, and gaining from the constituency boundary changes he’s also wanting.
Delaying a referendum beyond next summer carries all sorts of electoral risks for Cameron. Clegg’s the mug!