Ed Miliband will today appeal to Labour voters to support the Alternative Vote system, as 200 of his own MPs and peers say they oppose it.
The Labour leader is expected to insist May's referendum on the AV system should not be reduced to a verdict on the deputy prime minister's "broken promises".
In a speech to the Labour Yes campaign in Westminster this evening, Miliband will say:
"Let's be honest. AV is no panacea. It isn't perfect.
"But it would help to restore the balance of power in favour of voters.
"So on May 5 ask yourselves one simple question - are you happy with the state of British politics?
"If the answer is no, then seize this opportunity for change."
He will add: "I want to take head-on the fear designed to appeal to Labour supporters: that a yes vote in this referendum will be seen as a vindication of Nick Clegg.
"I know this referendum is far harder to win because of Nick Clegg's broken promises.
"But we can't reduce the second referendum in British political history to a verdict on one man.
"The change to the alternative vote deserves our support because it is fairer and because it encourages a better politics."
However at the same time a "Labour no" campaign will be officially launched, using an advert in the Guardian to demonstrate that more than 200 of the party's MPs and peers will vote against the change from the first-past-the-post system.
Writing in the Independent, shadow health secretary John Healey outlines the reasons why many Labour MPs are opposed to the AV system.
He said: "AV is not a new dawn for democracy. It's a dreadful system for electing MPs and choosing a government.
"AV would hand power to Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems - the kingmakers in any hung Parliament."
Tony Lloyd, who chairs the Parliamentary Labour Party and is backing the No campaign, said: "Nick Clegg demanded this AV referendum as a fix to keep his party in government.
"The only party to benefit from AV would be the Lib Dems. I believe voters should keep the right to evict one government and choose another.
"We shouldn't be handing that power to Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats."
Article Comments
So, our current system allows us to 'evict one party and elect another?'
No it doesn't. It allows us to swing from red, to blue, to red, to blue, to red..... parties that are, essentially the same (e.g. the iraq war).
We're tired of all this swinging. We realise there are more than two political parties with good ideas. We want a system that is designed to work for more than two political behemoths. AV is such a system. We should embrace it wholeheartedly.
Josh Coppersmith Heaven
16th Mar 2011 at 11:21 am
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