The Spectator

Whose country is it anyway?

The Spectator calls for a general election

issue 13 June 2009

It is an exquisite irony that Gordon Brown, so determined to deny the British people the general election they obviously crave, has made the centrepiece of his (latest) relaunch an investigation into the Westminster voting system. Refusing to play the game, he launches a full-blown inquiry into its rules. It is the most insultingly scarlet of red herrings.

There appears to be a measure of support on the Labour side for the so-called ‘alternative vote’ procedure. Under this system, voters rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate secures more than half the votes cast, the one who has fewest first-preference votes has his or her votes re-allocated according to voters’ second preferences. This continues until one candidate has more than half.

Champions of the system claim that it is both ‘fair’ and preserves the constituency link.

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