REFERENDUM:THE REFERENDUM to reform voting rules for the election of Westminster MPs has been resoundingly defeated, in a further blow to Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who had pushed for the abolition of first-past-the-post voting.
Sixty-eight per cent of the 15.7 million people who voted rejected the proposal, which was one of the main concessions offered by the Conservatives last year to the Lib Dems before they formed a coalition. Only 32 per cent of voters were in favour.
Mr Clegg described the result as a bitter blow for reformers. He said: “When you get such an overwhelmingly clear answer you have got to accept it and move on.”
The campaign has opened serious divisions between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems, with the latter still furious that the No campaign – largely funded by Conservative supporters – had told untruths.
The Liberal Democrats sought to regroup last night. Energy secretary Chris Huhne, who bitterly criticised Conservative prime minister David Cameron’s campaign conduct, expressed full confidence in Mr Clegg’s leadership.
Party president Tim Farron made clear that the Liberal Democrats will now push for speedy reform of the House of Lords. “The UK is the last ancien régime in Europe: a country where we still have people deciding our laws who are doing so merely because they were born in to a certain family.”
Reform of the Lords would not be “a further concession” from the Conservatives, he said, since the coalition pact agreed that a committee would bring forward reforms. “That committee will report soon and I expect Tory backbenchers to abide by the agreement we made – just like we respect that we lost the referendum.” However, the Conservatives, buoyed by a surprisingly good performance, may be in little mood to ease the pressure on Liberal Democrat ministers who have to face the anger and fear of their local organisations, following the loss of more than 700 councillors.This loss of council places raises serious questions over the party’s ability to hold on to its MP seats in the next election.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Paddy Ashdown voiced the deep anger of party members, saying Mr Cameron had destroyed “the bonhomie of the Downing Street rose garden” and that “it will never again be glad confident morning”.
Conservative education secretary Michael Gove, saying the coalition would last five years, praised his coalition colleagues: “One of the things that has struck me is the way in which my Liberal Democrat colleagues have reacted to the result today. And we saw Chris Huhne, who was very passionately in favour of change, and others, respond with dignity and a sense of proportion.”
Conservative backbencher Peter Bone, however, doubted if the coalition could last. He reflected the lack of sympathy in his party for its coalition partners when he said: “We gave the Liberals what they wanted – they wanted this referendum, they’ve got it, they’ve had it, it’s out the way, the British people have spoken so now we’ll get on with governing the country.”
