electoral reform
AV: No BNP
Or 'How the Alternative Vote Referendum can be won'
"... All is not lost for the AV Referendum. What has been overlooked is the potential for AV to raise the barriers to extremism in British politics. Extremist parties like the BNP know that the first past the post system can potentially deliver a Westminster seat to the BNP with only a minority of voters supporting them. AV kills that opportunity. Labour cannot afford to give the Liberal Democrats free rein to campaign amongst part of its ethnic minority core vote on an AV: No BNP platform. Labour may be forced for moral and political reasons to support AV-and that could be a gamechanger ..."
AV: The Only Option for 21st Century Conservatives?
Building Conservative Parliamentary Majorities in the 21st Century is going to be a lot harder. Alan Riley discusses why the Tories may need electoral reform to prosper.
"...Too many Conservative commentators look back to the glory days of Baroness Thatcher and assume that all is required is a return to the eternal Thatcherite verities of sound money, low taxes, a strong defence, tough on Europe and tough on immigration to deliver a substantial Parliamentary majority.
This recipe did not work in 1997, 2001 and 2005, and only the more progressive message of David Cameron in 2010 delivered substantial gains, which despite being considerable left the Conservatives still short of an overall majority..."
AV in Australia: Lessons for the UK
Professor Matt Qvortrup, a 'World Authority on Referendums,' adds his voice to those urging Conservatives to seriously consider the merits of voting reform
"...Apart from a period in the 1980s, the Liberal Party (Australia's Conservatives) had a majority with the National Party from the Second World War to the early 1970 and again from the mid 1990s to 2007. In the latter period, the Government led by John Howard introduced quite radical reforms of economic and social legislation which were every bit as radical as what had been enacted in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The reason that this was possible was due to Howard successfully appealing not only to the National Party, the Liberals' traditional allies, but also to Australian Democrats, a now practically defunct party, which shared many of the characteristics of the Liberal Democrats..."
Not Quite PR... but still Worth the Fight
ResPublica Fellow Jules Peck is excited by the possibilities of a vote on AV
"...AV is not really that PR-ish. It’s more about voting for who you hate least than who you like the most. Maybe it’s a step in the right direction towards true PR?..."
Why the Conservatives should not fear AV
The possible consequences of voting for the Alternative Vote System
"...The existing First Past the Post (FPTP) system is creaking at the seams, it was defensible when the threshold for winning an election was around 45 per cent of the vote and the two parties that alternated in power could each rely on 40 per cent or more..."
What happened to Policy?
Have the LibDems forgotten the rest of their shopping list?
"...The LibDems should start talking about the other three items on their list before they hand over the keys to No 10..."
On the Shortcomings of Voting
Why electoral reform may well be necessary but certainly will not be sufficient
"...As long as vertical accountability measures are tied to the granting of authority, electoral choice will remain limited..."
A Psephological Quandry
A pragmatic view of the electoral reform debate
"...As though in riposte to our Great Debate on electoral reform, the Conservative poll lead fell to 2 per cent nationally over the weekend - a margin small enough that, were this a national election rather than an internet poll of roughly 2,000 adults, election experts would translate this outcome to a Labour victory, with a majority of seats no less. Politics being what it is, this, more than any argument, might be what it takes to reverse Tory opposition to a more proportional form of representation..."
