The ongoing developments in the coalition talks between us and the Tories are something that I am watching carefully from afar (I am based in Singapore).
I am trying to make headway over the deal breaker of electoral reform and the latest offer of an AV referendum. My first response is that we’ve already had the Jenkins Commission which came to the conclusion that the most appropriate way to reform the voting system is through AV+.
While it is inevitable that this requires a longer time to implement, it nonetheless means that AV, subject to a referendum, would be one step en route to AV+. By framing this offer of AV as a step on the way to AV+ then I believe it is something that most members would be willing to agree to. Indeed, adding the top up seats in line with the Jenkins Commission proposal would not necessarily need a further referendum.
It should be enshrined in the coalition deal that there are no caveats to the legislation for a referendum on AV that would cause another referendum should amendments be made. This would allow for a future parliament to legislate to introduce the top up seats for our system to be more representative of the population while maintaining the constituency link.
The real worry for me about the coalition talks with the Tories are the areas that we don’t have any control over – the selection of conservatives to government departments.
There was a report in The Guardian today that in exchange for the most recent offer from the conservatives, right-wing conservatives will take cabinet positions, which is unpalatable. There are also reports of the new ‘traffic light’ coalition, which without Gordon Brown at the helm is much more palatable especially if its led by David Milliband or Harriet Harman.
While we begin to understand what deals have been made, we can at least see that the leadership have worked well in promoting a fairer Britain, and getting the best deal. There will undoubtedly be compromises, but this a compromise parliament.
It is better that we get some progress in this parliament than none; or even worse, regressive policies by a Tory minority government. While the fate of a deal rests primarily in the leadership’s hands they need to know what the deal breakers are if grassroots support is to continue.
Dr. Alistair D. B. Cook is a Post Doctoral Fellow at the RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a member of the Liberal Democrats.
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We will definitely be able to do some good in coalition. But if we had been in opposition the extremists in the Tory ranks would simply not be able to get their measures through.
If we end up in coalition with them then we will have to back all of Howard, IDS and David Davies’ policies.
Australia has AV. Where is the third party in Australian politics?
AV is a tiny variation on the current system, it is not proportional representation, it does not solve many of the problems which STV solves. In particular, my own support for proportional representation comes from the way regional minorities (Labour voters in the south and rural constituencies,Tory voters in the north and urban constituencies) are savagely discriminated against. AV does not solve this problem, so continues to make the country look much more divided than it really is, and leaves a significant proportion of the population without anyone to speak for their particular issues.
@John C: The devil is in the detail. We’ll have to see what the agreement contains. Abstention will be used on some difficult areas.
@Frank H Little: Australia uses the AV or preferential voting system for lower house and PR for the upper house. AV was introduced by the liberals in response to the rise of the country party in 1918 as it split the conservative vote in rural areas. The now National/country party is usually in step with the Liberals mostly as part of a coalition (you will hear reference to John Howard’s govt as The Coalition). Nationwide, Australia also used to have the Australian Democrats and became famous under Don Chipp’s mantle of “Keep the bastards honest” holding the centre ground. Their downfall came through the support of GST (VAT). Now the Greens are taking over as the third force (progressive) in Australia, more quickly in some states than others and are currently playing an important role in the upper house. In more recent elections there was the emergence of Family First and some independents in the upper house. The Australian upper house provides a good check on the lower house there.
So the short answer is that AV was introduced in response to the rise of the third party in Australia.