One Person, One Vote

By Joan Ryan

There’s a great buzz among the many Labour activists working to secure a No vote in the referendum on the Alternative Vote. The campaign is hard work, but what keeps me going is their sense of passion. They share a belief that AV would be a huge mistake for Britain and are determined to do their best to expose its deficiencies to the public.

With the referendum only a few weeks away, the pace is quickening, and this coming week, NO to AV will be launching the next phase of the campaign, urging people to go out and vote ‘no’ on May 5th to ‘Keep One Person, One Vote‘.

Over the past few months NO to AV has demonstrated how bringing in the Alternative Vote will cost up to £250 million – a completely unacceptable expense when the Conservative/Lib Dem Government are trying to take money out of our schools, hospitals, police and armed forces.

We’ve also shown how the Alternative Vote is a Lib Dem fix – bargained for by Nick Clegg last May when he could have kept his promises on tuition fee or the VAT rise.

And last week over 200 Labour MPs, Peers and Trade Unions came together to tell Labour members and supporters that they will be voting ‘no’ on 5 May.

With the launch of One Person, One Vote, we provide those who know that AV is the wrong change with a simple reason to reject it. For centuries, generations of reformers were inspired by a simple principle. They believed that because each person is equal, they should each have an equal vote.

This principle has become a beacon to the rest of the world. Right now, 2.4 billion people choose their governments using first-past-the-post. That’s 2.4 billion people – each with one ballot paper and one, equal, vote.

While everyone on the NO to AV campaign is united about the need for AV to be rejected, people do come at it from different standpoints. Some believe in proportional representation, thinking it only fair that each party should have seats in the Commons roughly akin to their share of the vote. They see AV as a big step backwards, and are appalled that in the landslide election years (Margaret Thatcher in the 80s and Tony Blair in 1997) the winning party would have had an even greater majority.

But for those who want us to stick with the current system, One Person, One Vote says that not only is a ‘no’ vote about the huge cost of AV, and the political consequences of changing our voting system, it is also about the fundamental right of every citizen to cast an equal vote.

Under AV, people are asked to rank candidates in order of preference. When the votes are counted, if the person coming first doesn’t have 50% of the vote, the votes of the lowest ranked candidates are recycled until someone gets over the winning margin.

In this way it allows people who vote for the minor, fringe parties to have their votes counted several times, while those voting for mainstream parties can have their voted counted just once. AV is the opposite of one person, one vote. In fact, if you support a less popular party, you are more likely to have your vote counted multiple times.

In close marginal seats, why should the winner be decided by the second preferences of fringe parties? It’s absurd and unfair that these parties would be rewarded, while mainstream voters don’t get to have their second preferences considered.

I am Labour through and through. I am proud of the many achievements of the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown governments. At every election I’ll be fighting the Tories every inch of the way, but I can’t imagine why we are about to usher in a voting system that would hand more votes to BNP supporters.

I’m delighted Labour NO to AV is standing alongside the greater NO to AV campaign. I would urge all Labour activists to do their bit on 5^th May – get Labour candidates elected and keep One Person, One Vote.

Joan Ryan is Deputy Campaign Director of NO to AV. For more information please go to labour.no2av.org