Bradshaw’s support for electoral reform welcome
Campaigners pressing for a vote on electoral reform have welcomed news from Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw that “it would be a missed opportunity not to have a referendum on Election Day.”
In an interview with the New Statesman the Bradshaw broke with the government’s stated policy of pushing talk of a referendum into the next parliament. Bradshaw said “if we’re serious about the voters as grown-ups, then let them decide, and I think they’d be perfectly capable of making a decision.”
The Vote for a Change campaign and the Electoral Reform Society, that have been leading calls for vote at the next election, have said “there’s all to play for.”
The campaign is towing a 10 foot effigy of Sir Peter Viggers Duck Island to the Commons terraces for Bonfire Night as a symbol of how little has changed in the struggle to bring real accountability to Westminster.
Dr Ken Ritchie from the Electoral Reform Society said:
Ben Bradshaw’s comments are welcome news for all those who’ve realised our politics had reached its sell by date. We are pleased to see a cabinet minister prepared to question both the timing and system on offer in Brown’s conference pledge.
Ben Bradshaw has recognised the Alternative Vote is a step back from Labour’s early pledges to transform our politics. We need this debate in government. It sends a strong message to all reformers that there’s all to play for.
Willie Sullivan from the Vote for a Change campaign said:
It seems nothing has really changed at Westminster, but by showing his willingness to act on reform on Election Day Brown can turn the page. Brown can swap words for decisive action. He can show he’s prepared to let the voters decide the future of their parliament when MPs gather for the Queen’s Speech on November 18th.
The Vote for a Change campaign will be towing a 10 foot DuckIsland to the Commons terraces today to underline how little has changed since MPs left for recess. The effigy will be burnt after dark.
From a press release
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Chris is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He is an aspiring journalist and reports stories for LC.
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Reader comments
There is a very simple, and cheap, way to get a fully representative parliament. Just select 500 people at random and compensate them for the disruption to their lives. This has three great advantages. It consigns the political class, Novyklatura, to the dustbin of history, it ensures a pretty accurate reflection of groups and minorities down to about 1%, it is very cheap to operate. It would probably have to be combined with a separate election for the executive but that would be no bad thing either. The only people who wouldn’t like this would be those with a vested interest in the status quo, or those who cannot understand the maths (it’s the binomial distribution!).
Yeah, let’s have a referendum on that. I’m not sure what to have for lunch – can we have a referendum on that. Also, my mum’s invited me for tea but i’m quite busy tomorrow night & Saturday and wouldn’t mind getting drunk – another referendum maybe. Is cheese better when a bit smelly or not? So many questions, so many plebicites – all gets a bit like hard work sometimes.
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