We doubt it. When the PM and the Deputy PM feel obliged to face different ways over this issue, you wonder why they are inflicting on the public a totally irrelevent obligation to vote over things which are way down most people's list of concerns. Our own view is that referenda exercises should only be used for vital issues, (such as the 1975 one on IN or OUT of Europe?). We elect MPs to Parliament to get on with deciding such complicated issues, as the intricacies of rival voting systems.
But it seems we will have to do it. Hopefully the weather on May 5th will be nice for the stroll to the polls.
So, what's it all about? One party, the Liberal Democrats,want to change the current First Past The Post system to one which they think will benefit them electorally. They really want Proportional Representation (PR), where you count people's 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th etc preferences and so possibly negate people's 1st preference (as in Ireland, Israel and a few other countries). But the compromise which emerged from their haggling with the Conservatives over forming a coalition is something called the 'Alternative Vote' (AV), whereby only 2nd preference votes are counted.
Be sure to vote.
This fudge is hardly the way to change constitutional arrangements that have served us reasonably well. Yes, it can be a bit crude in giving one party more of a sweep of the seats in Parliament than their overall majority of votes. But it works both ways in a two party system. It usually enables the voters to 'throw the rogues out' when they emphatically want a change of government. Mr Clegg, who sold us such a false prospectus last June as aTV star, but went on to renege on all his promises, is hardly to be believed now.
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