Comments on: Ed Miliband says Yes to AV 2011/03/16/ed-miliband-says-yes-to-av/ London MEP European Parliament Tue, 01 Mar 2016 16:57:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Daniel Oxley 2011/03/16/ed-miliband-says-yes-to-av/#comment-4166 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 00:17:51 +0000 ?p=14051#comment-4166 The problem with AV is that it is not proportional representation. I do plan to vote Yes but this will be in the hope that it might eventually lead to a referendum on PR. I suspect, though, that the referendum will not be a milestone on the road to PR but a conclusion to the whole issue of voting reform; a cul-de-sac rather than a sign post.

Nick Clegg has said that he would like a referendum on our membership of the EU. He was not advocating it after a damascene conversion to the cause of UK Home Rule but in the ambitious hope that the vote would be a firm endorsement of the EU, giving Federalists the mandate to enmesh us all even further in the stranglehold of EU Nationalism.

Whatever his motives, he is right to recommend a referendum on EU Membership and I am minded to make a comment which has not been made for some time – I agree with Nick.

It is difficult to see why the LibDems should want PR, other than to make their bland party seem to be firm on at least one issue. PR has been terrible for them in the EU Parliament. The fairness of the PR system has resulted in such success by UKIP; a level of success which allowed it a substantial victory over the Labour Party and a huge defeat of the LibDems.

The point in the article about not using the issue to damage Nick Clegg was a valuable one. He is damaged beyond repair anyway. Don’t kick a chap when he is down.

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