Is Labour about to look a gift horse in the mouth on electoral reform?
Monday’s meeting of the parliamentary Labour party offered no real impediment to progress should the prime minister demonstrate sufficient determination to push ahead with legislation for a referendum on the alternative vote. In his speech to conference last year, Gordon Brown clearly committed Labour to a referendum on AV in its next manifesto. But failure to establish these plans in law before the general election will only cast doubt on his sincerity on this question and thus cancel out any positive advantage. Monday’s meeting of the PLP seems – somewhat predictably – to have failed to deliver a unanimous verdict on whether to introduce legislation before the election. It is no secret that the PLP contains increasingly isolated forces that would defend the existing system, while others want to see the electoral system changed more radically. Jack Straw has promised to reflect on the views expressed, but the fundamental justifications for action have not gone away, and the promised A
