Question

Sir Alan Beith, The Lib-dems are known to state that electoral reform is a pre-condition for any proposals to join government. The major sticking point seems to be about whether it would work in the UK, especially in General Elections. Why can't electoral reform itself be introduced incrementally. For instance, couldn't one region be given an allocation of MP's who are then elected by proportional representation?
Asked by sameen on Jun 11 2009 8:40:46 AM and supported by 8 members MORE!

Answer

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sameen at Jun 21 2009 12:00:00 AM : Thank you for proposing this question to Sir Beith and to him for answering. It wasn't an easy question to answer. Essentially, the principle 'elections by one body have to be by the same system' would rule out the proposal. It is true that there are different systems of elections in operation in each devolved region for their own devolved assemblues. For example, Scotland and Wales have Additional Members Plus whilst Northern Ireland has Single Transferable Vote. If this is the implied choice of the people into how they elect their national assembly representatives, then shouldn't the same system be used to elect their MPs? I think this question is more pertinent given the day before it was posted, Gordon Brown had 'announced' an inquiry to develop proposals for electoral reform. My stance, albeit political, is that the Libdems raise the bar for coalition government unneccessarily high by insisting on an electoral system which only (approx) 3% of the UK are used to.

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