A lot of people have approached me with regards to the AV referendum in May and what it means to them. I cannot overemphasise how important this referendum is to us all and how we can finally change a broken electoral system in the UK. The First Past the Post (FPTP) set up encourages a system of 'jobs for life' by allowing far too many MPs the luxury of a safe seat, secure in the knowledge that a minority of total votes will keep them in power. Under AV this will change – we will be able to demand that MPs sit up and work for their communities because if they don't, it will be far easier to replace them!
AV means that we get more choice. No longer would we have to pin our colours to one specific mast. Our politicians will have to work for all of us rather than 'special interest' groups. This can only be a good thing because it means that our local representative can only govern if the majority of people from a community support them! Under the present system we can end up with people making decisions for us whom most of us don't want.
It's important to note that AV is a simple, tried and tested system. It only requires that voters are able to count and it is used by many countries successfully. FPTP has left the United Kingdom with hung parliaments many times over the last century. AV doesn't fix this but it also doesn't make it any more likely. Australia, which uses AV, has returned its first hung parliament in 38 elections. Canada, which like the UK uses FPTP, has permanent hung parliaments. This shows that the 'No' campaign's charge of creating backroom politics is baseless. If we vote 'Yes' in this election, we will have more control over who we want to be in charge.
I hope that as a nation we can get behind the proposed changes. As a country we are moving away from the traditional two-party system as the last general election showed. The Liberal Democrats achieved 23% of the vote, the Greens achieved their first ever seat in Brighton and over 3 million people voted away from the traditional parties. We cannot disenfranchise this many people by supporting a system that keeps new voices silenced. AV is not proportional representation (which I think we do need), but it is a step in the right direction to making politics local, representative and accessible.
AV means that we get more choice. No longer would we have to pin our colours to one specific mast. Our politicians will have to work for all of us rather than 'special interest' groups. This can only be a good thing because it means that our local representative can only govern if the majority of people from a community support them! Under the present system we can end up with people making decisions for us whom most of us don't want.
It's important to note that AV is a simple, tried and tested system. It only requires that voters are able to count and it is used by many countries successfully. FPTP has left the United Kingdom with hung parliaments many times over the last century. AV doesn't fix this but it also doesn't make it any more likely. Australia, which uses AV, has returned its first hung parliament in 38 elections. Canada, which like the UK uses FPTP, has permanent hung parliaments. This shows that the 'No' campaign's charge of creating backroom politics is baseless. If we vote 'Yes' in this election, we will have more control over who we want to be in charge.
I hope that as a nation we can get behind the proposed changes. As a country we are moving away from the traditional two-party system as the last general election showed. The Liberal Democrats achieved 23% of the vote, the Greens achieved their first ever seat in Brighton and over 3 million people voted away from the traditional parties. We cannot disenfranchise this many people by supporting a system that keeps new voices silenced. AV is not proportional representation (which I think we do need), but it is a step in the right direction to making politics local, representative and accessible.
Pete Williams
Liberal Democrat Welsh Assembly Candidate for Alyn & Deeside
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