MP supports electoral reform

6.00.00pm GMT Wed 10th Feb 2010

The Liberal Democrats believe in reform of the current electoral system

The House of Commons has voted to give people a say on the voting system for electing MPs. The Commons decided by a large majority to have a national referendum on changing from the current 'First Past The Post' system for electing MPs, to the 'Alternative Vote' system. Most Labour and all Liberal Democrat MPs voted for reform, with the Conservatives opposing any change.

Under the current system voters just mark an 'X' next to the candidate of their choice and the one with the most votes is declared elected. Critics of the system have long campaigned for a change as no one party forming a government in the last 100 years has had the support of a majority of voters. The system was introduced in 1885 when there were only two parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives. The system does not produce a fair reflection of how people vote in situations where there are three or more parties fielding candidates.

Stephen Williams, Liberal Democrat MP for Bristol West, said, "The proposal to change our voting system, while welcome, is obviously a deathbed conversion for Gordon Brown's government. The 'Alternative Vote' is a small improvement on our current system, but I would prefer a more proportional system such as the 'Single Transferable Vote'".

Under the Alternative Vote, the current pattern of Parliamentary constituencies being represented by one MP would continue. At elections voters would mark a '1' next to their first choice and a '2' next to their second choice candidate. If one candidate did not have more than half of the first preferences, then the candidate with the fewest votes would be eliminated and the second preferences reallocated to the remaining candidates. This process continues until one candidate has more than half of the preferences.

The Lib Dems forced a vote in the Commons on their preferred system of Single Transferable Vote. This differs from AV as seats would be larger and have more than one MP. For instance Bristol could be split into two seats each with two Members of Parliament, rather than the existing four seats, each with one Member of Parliament.

Stephen Williams said, "The current system is clapped out and desperately needs to be replaced. It massively distorts how people actually vote. The current Labour government has a majority of seats in the House of Commons despite securing only 36% of the vote in 2005. At least AV is a step forward and it also removes completely from our current system pleas for tactical voting by all the parties. Tactical voting has been a feature of elections in Bristol West for decades and although i was the beneficiary in 2005 I still want to see this rotten system swept away".