A Referendum on Electoral Reform? Whoopee!

The 'Tell Us Your Ideas' phase of Power 2010 ended yesterday, and no doubt electoral reform was amongst the most popular ideas (It certainly will have been if the people behind Power 2010 have anything to do with it).

According to Vote for a Change the campaign for electoral reform is going to take one almighty leap forward tomorrow.

The Government's Democratic Reform Council met yesterday: they have decided to call a vote in the Commons on a legally binding clause that will provide for a referendum on the voting system.

This is the first time the Commons will be able to vote on holding such a referendum in decades.

What are the odds that the 'Democratic Reform Council' - whoever they are - will favour the Alternative Vote system that Jack Straw spoke about in his lecture to the Magna Carta Institute last week?

We need an electoral system that secures legitimacy for the public. I have in principle long supported the Alternative Vote, by which voters rank candidates in order of preference, and now believe we need to actively move to it.

Crucially the Alternative Vote would enable us to retain the single Member constituency link, which is one of the central merits of the current system – both because it delivers effective representation and allows MPs to be held directly to account. But AV would also ensure that every MP is elected with the support of over half of the voters in their constituency. In an age of multi-party politics, it could both enhance the legitimacy of MPs and enable the public to express a greater range of preferences.

Yes Jack. I'm sure the electoral reform campaigners have been glad of your support during your twelve years as a Government minister, you've campaigned tirelessly for electoral reform haven't you? You bow to no one in your unyielding integrity and your determination to deliver Labour's 1997 manifesto pledge on electoral reform.

If you want to enhance the legitimacy of MPs you could begin by giving us that referendum on the Lisbon Treaty (which came into force today) that was promised us and by doing something about the constitutional issue that most concerns us, the voters (and here I quote Hansard's Audit on Democratic Engagement):

The constitutional issue that the greatest number of people are dissatisfied with by far is Scottish MPs being able to vote on English issues in the Commons (46%).

But wait, those Scottish MPs could be useful in securing a referendum on England's voting system so that this fag-end of a government can, in its dying days, secure a referendum on electoral reform to prevent England turning blue.