The electoral reform bill has passed comfortably, by 328 votes to 269. Now comes the
hard bit: this bill is going to be deservedly lacerated in committee. The bill drew opprobrium from all sides of the house throughout this afternoon’s long debate, notably from both wings of
the Tory party. First, the government has coupled boundary reform to the alternative vote referendum. Peter Hain, Labour’s most articulate attack dog, unleashed his thesaurus and referred to
the bill as a ‘smoke-screen for colossal gerrymandering’. He was speaking for his ardently hypocritical and opportunistic party. The government’s motives were not so
cynical; it coupled the bill’s two aims to aid swift progress through the commons. The result is a truly dreadful piece of legislation.
Equality of representation is admirable but an arbitrary numerical determination will exacerbate political dislocation. Labour’s opposition is well rehearsed; Conservative objections are less well known.
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