Thursday 6 January 2011

If you really want to punish Nick Clegg, say Yes to AV

I've said most of this already in a previous blog entry on the Lib Dems. But I've found away to say it again in a less long-winded manner. So here goes

If you really want to hurt Nick Clegg, and it's quite understandable if you do, then say Yes to AV.

AV gives voters the power to reward and punish any MPs of any party without getting too tied up in party politics. If you say No to AV that'll mean keeping First Past the Post and giving Lib Dems the same seats based on tactical votes that they won this time around. Remember under the current system it's really just a choice between Labour and Tories in most places, and sometimes the Lib Dems get a look in.
So if we hang onto that system our only alternative to the Labour government who let us down is either the Conservatives who came up with the decisions that have made the Lib Dems so unpopular, or the Lib Dems themselves who went along with them.
You wouldn't be doing anywhere near as much damage as you think. 
If we have AV for the next general election it's quite conceivable that Greens or UKIP could overtake the Lib Dems as the 3rd party. Everyone will be free to put their real first choice first and you never know what might happen.

This would also have a knock on effect with the other parties. The Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems would all have to work that much harder to stay ahead of the game. In 20 years time when Clegg's retired and all the parties are doing things differently from how they are at present we might even want to give a revived Lib Dem party a chance which we'd also be able to do under AV. But only if we wanted to.

The point is AV gives voters more control. You can punish bad MPs and reward good ones and you're not left having to vote tactically or having to go with one of the big parties out of limited choice. You can do so much more with AV and you can hurt clegg without hurting yourselves if that's what you want to do. Don't cut off your noses, it wouldn't bring tuition fees down. It'd just mean that the Tories would take all the blame themselves next time.

Do we really want to be condemned to having to have either a Labour or a Tory government, occasionally changing between the two when we get really fed up with who's in at the time, enough to forget the harm the other lot did? Do we want the only alternative to that being bringing in the Lib Dems and seeing how they get on with one or the other two, especially when they're in such a small number they don't get enough influence to stick to their principles except by walking out of the government altogether?

We need electoral reform so that this kind of thing never happens again. Say Yes to AV for the good of every voter.

No comments:

Post a Comment