Just voted.
Labour and YES to AV.
I’m still young enough, and new enough to voting, to find voting exciting.
In 2010 Labour won only 10 seats in the east, south-east or south-west regions, despite winning more than 1.6m votes there. The Conservatives’ 1.3 million voters in the east returned 52 Conservative MPs. The 1.1 million Liberal Democrat voters in the south-east ended up with only four MPs.(Source)
And that’s why we need change. That’s why voting ‘Yes’ is needed.
Ok, it’s not perfect, but i don’t want to close the door on future reform. It’s a stepping stone, a compromise and, in my opinion, wholly necessary.
“The “No” campaigners are the worst offenders. It started with the adverts that pitched the purported cost of a new voting system against the needs of imperilled newborns. A photo of a delicate, salmon-pink baby was accompanied by the words “She needs a new cardiac facility – not an…
I’m voting yes to AV…
, mostly because Polly Toynbee told me to…
“Tory donors, unrevealed, have outgunned the yes campaign by many millions, buying voluminous local and national ads claiming babies and soldiers will die because of funds wasted on AV: the Treasury itself says AV costs no extra…
…Contrary to the lie put out by the no campaign – but plainly passionately believed by Tories guided as ever by “gut”, not evidence – AV will not make coalitions more likely. Had AV been used for the last 30 years, the only hung parliament would have been last year’s – which happened under good old “British” first past the post. With or without AV, there are likely to be more hung parliaments anyway as voters increasingly spread themselves between many more parties. That means less than a third of MPs secured a majority of votes last time.
An excellent report yesterday from the Institute for Public Policy Research spells out the shift. YouGov polling for the report shows that 20% of voters now vote tactically, unable to register their true vote for fear of letting in their worst choice. AV at least lets people express their first preference, though without proportional representation it may not turn those preferences into MPs. Small parties with wide appeal – such as the Greens – may gain, while narrow parties like the BNP – which have no appeal beyond their niche – will lose out, as Nick Griffin has realised. That’s why he supports no.”
In all honesty I have yet to truly engage with the debate on AV, but realising the problems of first-past-the-post, (and after reading a couple of articles full of heavily pro-AV rhetoric) I’m voting yes.
