AV is Labour’s best chance of ousting Conservative-led government says Dr Matt Qvortrup
Dr Matt Qvortrup, an academic described as “the world’s leading expert on referendums”, has published a report for the Labour Campaign for a Yes vote in the 2011 Referendum on voting reform which argues:
- In every election since 1997 the Labour Party would have gained more seats under the Alternative Vote (AV) than under the current First Past The Post voting system.
- By opposing AV, the Labour Party is likely to deprive itself of a chance to gain seats, and even of unseating the Tory-led Government at the next election.
- The Supplementary vote (a variant of the Alternative Vote) has – contrary to many myths – benefited the Labour Party in the London Mayoral Election. Had Ken Livingstone won second preferences from 0.04% of voters he would have beaten Boris Johnson.
- The Tories fear that the introduction of AV would strengthen Labour which is why they are campaigning against it.
In the report, ‘The Last Chance Saloon’, Dr Matt Qvortrup a leading academic from Cranfield University, writes
“AV is Labour’s best chance of ousting the Conservative-led government and for appealing to disgruntled Liberal Democrat voters who regret that their parties opted for an alliance with David Cameron rather than a partnership with the Labour Party.”
Labour’s campaign to support a Yes vote in next year’s referendum has been strengthened by Labour Leader Ed Miliband’s commitment to fight for the Alternative Vote. In his monthly press conference on 13th December he reiterated his support for AV saying that “voting reform is part of the change we need in our politics.”
The Labour Party was committed to holding a Referendum on the Alternative Vote in its manifesto in 2010. As yet, the Party has no official position on whether it will campaign for a Yes or No vote in next year’s Referendum. In the Labour leadership contest, Ed Miliband committed himself to campaigning for a Yes vote in the AV Referendum saying:
“I’m in favour of the AV voting system for the House of Commons and will campaign in favour of AV in the referendum. I believe that changing our electoral system so that every MP has the support of more than half of their constituents is one way in which we can begin to restore trust in politics.”[i]
The Labour Yes campaign was launched in early December with support from 8 Shadow Cabinet Ministers and over 50 senior Labour Party figures including Peter Mandelson, Tony Benn, Chris Mullin, Baroness Oona King, Ken Livingstone and Neil and Glenys Kinnock. To see the full list click here.
The full article is available here The Last Chance Saloon Labour and AV.
[i] http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/ed-miliband/labour-leadership-candidates-on-future-of-britain-ed-miliband
As a Labour Party member and long time supporter of PR, I support the yes campaign for AV as it is step along the road to a fair electoral system. The available evidence is that AV would be an advanrtage to Labour at a time when the Con-Dem’s proposals to redraw the electoral boundaries is likely to result in fewer labour seats in Parliament.It’s crucial that Labour supports AV if we want to maximise our chances at the next general election.New Labour missed its chance at electoral reform under Blair it would be crazy to miss another opportunity.
“Had Livingstone only secured second preferences from 00.4 percent of the voters (11,182) he would have beaten Boris Johnson.” from Dr Matt Qvortrup’s report.
This looks like an error since Johnson won by about 140,000. Perhaps if full AV was used (not the Supplementary Vote) then third and further preferences would have led to a closer result. Is that the point Dr Qvortrup is trying to make?
Labour’s best chance of ousting Conservative-led government is by creating policies that people will want to vote for NOT creating a system this is based purely on party economics.
I am not the “the world’s leading expert on referendums” but its not rocket science to work out if you give people a reason to vote for you they will.
[...] The full report can be viewed here [...]
He appears to have told the Tories the opposite?
http://s.coop/electoralreform