25/04/11 - The Way I See It: Chris Kelly MP writes for the Dudley Chronicle

On Thursday 5 May the UK will hold its first national referendum in 36 years and voters will decide whether to keep the current voting system or ditch it in favour of the Alternative Vote (AV). This vote will shape the future of our democracy and, at a time of financial uncertainty, it is important that we have a national debate on the risks of this change.

Under our current system the candidate who gets the most votes wins. Under AV, voters would have to rank candidates (1, 2, 3 and so on). If no candidate gets 50% of the vote the last placed candidate is knocked out and his or her votes are redistributed according to the next valid preferences on each ballot paper. This process repeats until one candidate gets above the 50% mark.

Although no voting system is perfect, I believe that we should keep our fair, clear and decisive system instead of adopting the unpopular, unfair and complicated AV system. Only three countries in the world use AV – Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Australia – and it hasn’t been wildly successful. Papua New Guinea has only used it once, Fiji will be ditching it ahead of their next election and Australia has to use compulsory voting to force people to the polls. Most voters in Australia, in fact, want to return to a British-style system.

Even most of the Yes campaign supporters don’t actually want AV because they really want proportional representation (PR). The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, who is now championing AV, previously called it a “miserable little compromise.” Likewise, his colleague Chris Huhne acknowledged that AV “does not give voters real power.” It has only been put forward as political compromise, and that’s not a good reason to change our voting system.

In fact, AV makes the voting system more complicated and less fair. Supporters claim that it will make elections more competitive, but AV doesn’t reduce the number of safe seats – in the last election 218 MPs were elected with more than 50% of the vote and they would have won in the first round under AV, making their position just as secure. Moreover, AV violates the basic “one person, one vote” principle by giving supporters of fringe parties two, three or more votes. Mainstream voters, on the other hand, will never get their other preferences counted.

The only parties certain to benefit from AV – besides the Liberal Democrats – are extremists like the BNP. While we all hope they will still fail to win seats, they will gain legitimacy from increased votes because AV gives people the chance to register a protest vote for an extremist party alongside their ‘regular’ vote. While far-right governments have never been elected under first-past-the-post, instant run-off systems like AV can produce surprise results based on second and third preferences.

At a time of difficult fiscal austerity, many people may ask why we’re spending over £90 million on a referendum on the voting system. On the doorstep, I’ve never encountered someone whose main concern was the voting system, less than one in fifty voters mentioned “constitutional reform” as an important issue ahead of the last election.

I believe we should only make dramatic changes to our voting system if it is in the national interest, not because it benefits one political party. AV is not fair or proportional, and it’s not an improvement on what we currently have. It’s an untested, expensive system – “the most worthless votes for the most worthless candidates” in Winston Churchill’s words. So don’t sit back and let others make this important decision for the future of our country. Log onto www.no2av.org for more information and go out and vote No to the Alternative Vote.

Polling day on Thursday 5 May also includes your opportunity to vote for who should be your local Councillor.

Steve Ridley will make an excellent new Councillor for Netherton, Woodside & St. Andrews - Steve lives in Netherton & runs a fireplace company with his wife. He has served as a local school governor for more than 20 years.

Cheryl Billingham, who has lived in Kingswinford for 19 years where she works for a small business, will be able take her experience from involvement with a number of local community groups into the Council Chamber if elected in Kingswinford North & Wall Heath.

Glenis Simms has lived in Dudley all her life & works for Barnardo's children's charity. She has previously worked with young offenders & elderly people with dementia. Glenis, who is standing in Wordsley, has a great deal of care experience to bring to Dudley MBC.

Sue Ridley works with her husband in their fireplace business. She has served as a Governor at a local school for the past 5 years. Sue would be an active community Councillor for Brockmoor & Pensnett, just like Cllr Sue Greenaway.

Dan Horrocks lives locally and works in Brierley Hill. He has been an active member of the local community for several years and is standing in Brierley Hill.

Cllr Peter Miller has lived locally for 35 years & has represented Kingswinford South since 2000, latterly serving as Mayor of the Borough. Peter is a dedicated ward Councillor - it is my hope that Peter is returned to the Council Chamber to continue his good work for local residents.