Saturday, January 16, 2010

Labour Voting Reform Worthless

The Torygraph are jumping over themselves when a source close to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said of Labour's voting reforms:

"They are worthless and don't go nearly far enough."


The Torygraph go on to conclude:

"The force of his reaction has strengthened the belief that he is much more inclined to prop up a minority Conservative administration than a Labour one."

Err....not necessarily. The Tories are more than happy with the status quo on voting systems. They want First Past the Post (FPTP), indeed some of their MSPs who actually owe their presence in Holyrood to proportional representation (PR) have actually said they'd prefer FPTP. They argue it is easier to understand, but of course for the majority of voters it often comes down to voting for what you actually believe in, or the party most likely to win that isn't as bad as the other at the top. Therefore the current system is not a easy way to understand the people's intentions or preferences.

A prime example of this may well be the fact that although the SNP are riding high in the polls their raison d'etre independence does less well when polled. They are seen by many as merely the lesser worse option than Labour.

So what does Nick want if Labour's Alternative vote system on the current boundaries does not go far enough. The answer is obvious along with reducing the number of MPs, electing the Lords, we'll be calling for multi-member constituencies by STV. Then the everyone of the people's vote will count as it was intended, as it is preferred, not merely as the voter things is the less bad option with a winning chance.

2 comments:

Jock Coats said...

I'm not sure that's the logic of their argument.

We think Labour's proposals are crap, therefore they are not a good reason for us to prop up Labour.

Anonymous said...

I think if Clegg doesn't join with Labour if there is a hung parliament he will make it impossible for us to achieve half of the policies that we want to in our fairness manifesto. We have far more chance of getting more reform under a Labour partnership than a Tory one.

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