CRACKS HAVE appeared in Britain’s coalition government over an upcoming referendum on voting reform, as Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians clashed publicly on the merits of adopting a new system.
On May 5th, voters will be asked if they want a new electoral model, known as the alternative vote (AV), to replace the current first-past-the-post system.
Prime minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party has always opposed change but promised to put it to the popular vote last year as part of concessions to entice the smaller Lib Dems to join them in coalition.
With the vote drawing closer and with local elections on the same day seen as a key test of support for both the coalition and the popularity of individual parties, tensions rose as both camps stepped up their rhetoric at the weekend.
In a stinging attack in yesterday's Observernewspaper, former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown accused finance minister George Osborne of cheap mudslinging and scaremongering to push the "No" vote through.
Last week Mr Osborne had said it “stinks” that the main backer of AV was the Electoral Reform Society, which he alleged stood to gain financially from change.
Mr Ashdown hit back, saying Mr Osborne’s strategy “stinks of the same odour which has surrounded our politics recently” and accusing him of hiding the facts from voters. The result could spell more trouble for the Lib Dems than for their Tory partners. Lib Dems leader Nick Clegg has staked his reputation on adopting the alternative system.
Writing in the Independenttoday, Labour leader Ed Miliband urges party supporters not to vote against AV in a bid to "punish" the Liberal Democrats for choosing to join a Tory-led coalition.
Protest votes – against the Lib Dems or the Conservatives – should instead be concentrated on the local and devolved elections on the same day, he said.
Adding to Lib Dem woes, a survey for the Independent on Sundayand Sunday Mirrorgave the "No" camp a six-point lead, an exact reversal of the position as recently as January.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Cameron backed his chancellor and rejected accusations his party was indulging in a dirty tricks campaign. He also threw his weight behind the current system.
“We’ve got a system that’s efficient, that’s simple, that’s fair, that works, that’s used by half the world and we shouldn’t swap it for a system that’s unfair and used by just a handful of countries and that is much more complicated.”
However, Mr Cameron insisted that party political differences over the vote would not significantly damage the coalition.
“Whatever the result on May 5th, this is a five-year government. Nick and I are absolutely committed to taking the government and its programme forward.”
In the first-past-the-post system, the winner is the person with most votes; there is no requirement to gain an absolute majority. Under AV, each voter ranks candidates in order of preference so if no candidate gets a majority, votes are redistributed until one does.
Separately, Mr Clegg distanced himself from Mr Cameron’s immigration speech as he battled to calm tensions at the heart of the governing coalition.
He said he would “not have used that language” and insisted the prime minister’s aim of cutting new entrants to 1980s levels was not Government policy.
However, he added, such differences were a natural part of power-sharing administrations and the cabinet remained united on proposals for reducing immigration. – (Reuters, with additional reporting from PA)