Press Story

Electoral reform is a significant missed opportunity of the New Labour era and ippr welcomes the referendum announcement as recognition of the need for change to the electoral system. However ippr does not believe AV is the right option for the UK.

ippr calls instead for the referendum to offer a choice between the existing First Past the Post system and the Additional Member System (AMS). Without this choice the referendum is a missed opportunity to change politics in the UK for the better.

ippr recently published a report on electoral reform in which it argues that Alternative Vote is not the answer because:

it is not a proportional system
it can actually distort things to a greater extent than the existing system
it does not address the many problems of the current system.

The report instead argues that AMS is the best option for elections to the UK Parliament because it combines a treasured part of the current system - the constituency link - with genuine proportionality. To date AMS has not been discussed as part of the current debate, even though it is used successfully for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the London Assembly.

Co-director of ippr Lisa Harker said:

"The outcome of the election showed that the current voting system is past its sell-by-date. First Past the Post is unfair and distorts the electoral outcome - and this time it didn't even deliver its proudest boast: a clear majority for one party. We warmly welcome the decision of the new coalition government to hold a referendum on electoral reform, but if the people are only offered the chance to reject one unfair system and replace it with another it will be tragic missed opportunity. In the era of new politics, the electorate must be offered the chance to opt for real change."

Contact

Nyta Mann, Media Manager
020 7470 6112 / 07979 602065 / n.mann@ippr.org