Balls accused of blocking electoral reform
Ed Balls has been accused of planning to use the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting tonight to support a group of MPs opposed to electoral reform of any kind.
Electoral Reform
Bracknell shows Conservatives are inconsistent on electoral reform
Iain Dale lost his campaign to become the Conservative party’s prospective parliamentary candidate on Saturday night. Instead, Dr Philip Lee won the vote. But the voting system used revealed a contradiction in Conservative policy.
Alternative Vote is “even less proportional” than status quo
Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced that there would be a commitment in the next Labour manifesto to hold a referendum on changing the electoral system for Westminster to one that uses the “Alternative Vote” method. But it is not a proportional system and can actually be less proportional than our current First Past the Post system.
Clegg: “Half Britain’s seats have not changed hands in my lifetime”
Nick Clegg’s speech at the Liberal Democrat conference yesterday contained a fascinating section on the unfairness of the British electoral system: “Nearly half of Britain’s constituencies have elected the same party in every election since I was born?”
Mandelson: “Electoral reform will be addressed in the coming months”
Lord Mandelson today confirmed that the Government was seriously contemplating holding a referendum on electoral reform.