The Spectator’s Notes | 10 July 2010

The more you think about it, the odder it is that the only national referendum ever legislated for in this country, apart from the 1975 referendum about whether or not to stay in the EEC, should be about the Alternative Vote. The only party which proposed AV at the last election was Labour, which lost. The Tories campaigned for the status quo and the Liberal Democrats for the single transferable vote. It would be more logical — more proportional, indeed — to put all three versions before the electorate. It would also be more proportional to legislate for a threshold, a substantial fraction which the referendum would have to surmount before its result could have legal effect. If just over half of those voting voted for AV, and if those voting were only, say, half of those entitled to do so, the great majority would find change imposed upon them without their agreement.