Martin’s point about the issue of the simplicity of FPTP is a useful one. I am tired of Tories and others forever going on and on about ‘one man, one vote’ etc. The simple approach is not always the best one. Baldrick solved the problem of his mother’s low ceilings by scything off her head; a simple solution but the unintended consequence was considerable.

Mary is right to say that the vote should not be about personalities. I am not put off from voting the same way as Nick Clegg. Sometimes people, however wicked or deranged they are, do sometimes stumble across a sensible idea. Adolf Hitler was, for instance right in wanting state funded university places even though he was wrong about everything else.

But I understand that people who have used AV have tended to favour it: when they understand what it does. The Tories of course know perfectly well what it does: that’s why they oppose it.

Every voter should know their vote will make a difference to the election result.
Election of MP’s should be based on the merit, not a consequence of wearing the right rosette.

Uncomplicated, single member constituencies, simple voting and counting, PR Government – Direct Party and Representative Voting

Google ‘DPR Voting’