Anthony Butcher

Imagine for a moment you are Gordon Brown. Looking at the local election results, he can see that he would potentially lose the Labour majority in the Commons in the next general election. If things actually look like they might get worse, then he could well think about introducing a form of PR to reduce the number of Tory seats and give a combined Labour/Lib Dem pact big enough to form a government.

Plus, it was in the 1997 Labour manifesto, so presumably someone must have wanted it, and it clearly wasn't Blair.

If Gordon wants to leave a legacy, then bringing in PR would do it.

__________________
If you care about what's in your food and where it comes from, then get it labelled!
Label My Food - http://www.labelmyfood.org.uk

Britannist

There has been speculation in the press about this for some time. They only other voting system Labour would consider is probably Alternative Vote (AV) which many say is not proportional at all. Certainly AV would not satisfy many proportional representation (PR) campaigners in the Liberal 'Democrats' although the Liberal 'Democrats' have gone quiet about PR since UKIP got more votes than them in the last EU election held under PR voting.

Bringing in AV could backfire on Labour - it is a voting system which tends to over-compensate the party ahead but severely punish a party when it falls behind. In other words - both Labour and the Liberal 'Democrats' might think they would gain under AV but once they became unpopular in coalition Government they could lose a huge number of seats in the Commons.

AV is used for national elections in Australia and very small changes in voting trends have resulted in Governments there losing a large number of seats at election time.

Anthony Butcher

I believe that the AV+ system is an improvement on the AV system, and was recommended by the Jenkins report.
Electoral Reform Society

__________________
If you care about what's in your food and where it comes from, then get it labelled!
Label My Food - http://www.labelmyfood.org.uk

Britannist

I wouldn't want any electoral system recommended by The Late Roy Jenkins (former EU Commissioner and commited europhile).

The tactic of UKIP, the Free England Party (FEP) and the English Democrats (ED) should be to try to win under any electoral system (i.e. because if the named parties started winning under AV, AV+, Single Transferable Vote (STV) or Total Representation (TR) the europhile political establishment would change the voting system straight back to the one we use now in UK General Elections (FPTP - First-Past-The-Post)).

Which is what europhile The President Mitterrand of France did the moment small parties started winning seats under proportional voting in elections to the French National Assembly.

22ANDUK

Be wary the theory that PR would mean a perpetual Tory minority against a constant Liberal Democrat-Labour governing coalition - politics has a way of proving doubters wrong!

The mixed use of PR in London has seen a Tory Mayor and a Conservative dominated Assemby. Whilst Lib/Lab coalitions would spring up (as they have) in Scotland, Wales etc (traditionally left-leaning areas, sceptial of the Tory party and with their own dominant national parties) England would be far different.

A UK Parliament, that is effectively dominated in numbers by English seats, could possibly see massive Tory returns (even more so if an English Parliament emerged) - I'm quite sure that the Conservative Party could govern as a majority in any system.

Britannist

A point also made by former Conservative leader Michael Howard MP in the 1990s.

Britannist

Labour and the europhile Liberal 'Democrats' naively set up the Scottish Parliament/Executive thinking they would govern together on it more-or-less permanently. After eight years they lost the Scottish election in May of last year and are now in opposition.

Likewise, if Labour tried to bring in AV (a voting system they think the pro-EU Liberal 'Democrats' would win seats under but not UKIP) they would find (as I pointed out earlier in this thread and in other threads on this subject) that AV harshly punishes a political party if/when it became very unpopular. What Labour and the Liberal 'Democrats' thought would be semi-permanent coalition Government under AV could well turn out to be a period on the opposition benches of the House of Commons instead.

AV is used in Australia where small changes in voting trends have resulted in Governments being defeated after losing a huge number of seats in national and state elections.