The question is...
These are the words of the 5th May 2011 referendum question:
"Do you want the United Kingdom to adopt the 'alternative vote' system instead of the current 'first past the post' system for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons?"A 10-year-old asked me this morning what AV would have meant in Cornwall if it had been used for the general election earlier this year. Perhaps foolishly, I replied that it was impossible to know, but theoretically, following re-distributed votes, it might have increased the chances of the party which had come second. Quick as a flash the child, who I suspect had been put up to it by his parents, said "So instead of Conservative and Liberal Democrats, we could have had Liberal Democrats and Conservatives!"
Meanwhile a Labour bid to split into two parts the AV referendum and the constituency boundaries proposals in the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill was defeated earlier today by just 14 votes in the House of Lords.
I'm ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Devon’s Graham Smith, blogging on news, views and some fresh insights into West Country life, particularly the way government works locally and nationally.
Comment number 1.
At 16th Nov 2010, Andrew Jacks wrote:The libs have sacrificed so much for this AV, is there any evidence that the general public want such a complicated system which will offer parties like the BNP the chance of gaining representation?
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Comment number 2.
At 16th Nov 2010, backofanenvelope wrote:In British Columbia they had a citizen's assembly with people chosen by lot. They reviewed all the alternative voting systems and recommended one. This was then put to a referendum.
In this country the last people likely to be asked are the voters.
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Comment number 3.
At 17th Nov 2010, Peter Tregantle wrote:I thought this was a good read
Conclusion: AV is a marginal improvement on FPTP – but only extremely marginal, and they’re both pretty rubbish.
Tactical voting is the big problem with AV
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Comment number 4.
At 17th Nov 2010, P_Trembath wrote:Peter Tregantle wrote:-
"Conclusion: AV is a marginal improvement on FPTP – but only extremely marginal, and they’re both pretty rubbish.
Tactical voting is the big problem with AV"
I agree with you, neither system is all that good, and the proposed AV system favours the "Big 3" almost as much as FPTP. With the added problem that most voters will probably find actually voting in an AV election overly complicated for the first few times.
However, I would argue that tactical voting is a problem in FPTP, as can be seen with the reaction to the government we have now, with many making the claim that it is not the government that anyone voted for.
I would suggest, for what it's worth, that what is needed is a thorough and completely independent investigation into all possible voting systems, including public consultation, with a referendum offering the public a number of systems to choose from.
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Comment number 5.
At 17th Nov 2010, AccurateChronometer wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 6.
At 17th Nov 2010, AccurateChronometer wrote:You're overeagerly and presumptively jumping the gun again, Mr Smith.
The Bill in question hasn't even been debated for amendment by the Lords Whole House Committee yet.
Instead of
'These are the words of the 5th May 2011 referendum question:'
your opening line should read:
'These are the proposed words of the proposed 5th May 2011 referendum question:'
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