Gordon Brown now favours voting reform
Discussion
Telegraph said:
Gordon Brown 'passionately' in favour of electoral reform
Gordon Brown will campaign “passionately” in favour of a move to the alternative vote system if a referendum on electoral reform goes ahead, he has said.
Speaking at the end of his party’s annual conference in Brighton, the Prime Minister said that he and Labour were committed to changing the way MPs are elected.
In his speech to delegates on Tuesday, Mr Brown said that if re-elected, Labour would hold a referendum in the next parliament on whether the electoral system should be changed to alternative vote.
In an interview last night, Mr Brown said the party would back the new system – under which voters rank candidates – because it was fairer than the “first-past-the-post” system currently in use.
Asked whether he “passionately” believed in and would be “urging people to vote for” the electoral reform, Mr Brown replied: “Yes I will”.
“The one thing this political crisis has shown is that if an MP has more than 50 per cent of the voters, the majority of voters supporting him or her, then I think that is a better position to be in,” he told Channel 4 News.
“And the alternative vote system allows a member to be elected with the votes of second preferences allowing that person to have more than 50 per cent of the vote.
“That is something, you could see from the reaction in the Labour party, that most people are prepared to support.”
Under the alternative vote system, voters’ second and subsequent preferences are counted until one candidate has more than 50 per cent of the vote.
However, the electoral system is unlikely to be changed if the Conservatives win the next general election, as current opinion polls indicate they will.
The Tories are not proposing a referendum on the subject and David Cameron, the party leader, has said that he will not scrap the first-past-the-post system.
During his conference speech Mr Brown also announced that Labour would promise a “right to recall” system. This would allow voters to replace their MPs between general elections if they were found to have carried out financial corruption.
The proposal had previously been floated by Mr Cameron at the height of the Daily Telegraph’s investigation into MPs’ expenses.
Mr Brown also said last night that he believed that the actions of some British bankers that contributed to the financial crisis were criminal offences.
Asked whether any would be prosecuted for “criminal misconduct”, he said: “If there are any cases – and I believe there are – that show this is the case, then there will be proper prosecutions.”
When just under 36% of the vote was sufficient to give Labour a healthy majority they seemed somewhat disinterested in voting reform. What could be behind their new found enthusiasm Gordon Brown will campaign “passionately” in favour of a move to the alternative vote system if a referendum on electoral reform goes ahead, he has said.
Speaking at the end of his party’s annual conference in Brighton, the Prime Minister said that he and Labour were committed to changing the way MPs are elected.
In his speech to delegates on Tuesday, Mr Brown said that if re-elected, Labour would hold a referendum in the next parliament on whether the electoral system should be changed to alternative vote.
In an interview last night, Mr Brown said the party would back the new system – under which voters rank candidates – because it was fairer than the “first-past-the-post” system currently in use.
Asked whether he “passionately” believed in and would be “urging people to vote for” the electoral reform, Mr Brown replied: “Yes I will”.
“The one thing this political crisis has shown is that if an MP has more than 50 per cent of the voters, the majority of voters supporting him or her, then I think that is a better position to be in,” he told Channel 4 News.
“And the alternative vote system allows a member to be elected with the votes of second preferences allowing that person to have more than 50 per cent of the vote.
“That is something, you could see from the reaction in the Labour party, that most people are prepared to support.”
Under the alternative vote system, voters’ second and subsequent preferences are counted until one candidate has more than 50 per cent of the vote.
However, the electoral system is unlikely to be changed if the Conservatives win the next general election, as current opinion polls indicate they will.
The Tories are not proposing a referendum on the subject and David Cameron, the party leader, has said that he will not scrap the first-past-the-post system.
During his conference speech Mr Brown also announced that Labour would promise a “right to recall” system. This would allow voters to replace their MPs between general elections if they were found to have carried out financial corruption.
The proposal had previously been floated by Mr Cameron at the height of the Daily Telegraph’s investigation into MPs’ expenses.
Mr Brown also said last night that he believed that the actions of some British bankers that contributed to the financial crisis were criminal offences.
Asked whether any would be prosecuted for “criminal misconduct”, he said: “If there are any cases – and I believe there are – that show this is the case, then there will be proper prosecutions.”
news said:
Mr Brown also said last night that he believed that the actions of some British bankers that contributed to the financial crisis were criminal offences.
Asked whether any would be prosecuted for “criminal misconduct”, he said: “If there are any cases – and I believe there are – that show this is the case, then there will be proper prosecutions.”
And the ministers who willingly committed multiple cases of fraud during the financial crisis and further increasing public spending and adding to the problems. Will they be prosecuted?Asked whether any would be prosecuted for “criminal misconduct”, he said: “If there are any cases – and I believe there are – that show this is the case, then there will be proper prosecutions.”
Fat chance.
FourWheelDrift said:
news said:
Mr Brown also said last night that he believed that the actions of some British bankers that contributed to the financial crisis were criminal offences.
Asked whether any would be prosecuted for “criminal misconduct”, he said: “If there are any cases – and I believe there are – that show this is the case, then there will be proper prosecutions.”
And the ministers who willingly committed multiple cases of fraud during the financial crisis and further increasing public spending and adding to the problems. Will they be prosecuted?Asked whether any would be prosecuted for “criminal misconduct”, he said: “If there are any cases – and I believe there are – that show this is the case, then there will be proper prosecutions.”
Fat chance.
JagLover said:
When just under 36% of the vote was sufficient to give Labour a healthy majority they seemed somewhat disinterested in voting reform. What could be behind their new found enthusiasm
This is a carrot for the Lib Dems. If there's a hung parliament, "Oh we'll look at voting reforms if you form a coalition with us". Hopefully it won't get to that!Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff