Frank Little

Councillor for East Central ward on Coedffranc Town Council Learn more

No2AV lies

by franklittle on 20 April, 2011

I’ve just picked up the anti-AV leaflet from my doormat. In spite of public rebuttals – not to mention refutations – the Taxpayers’ Alliance and other reactionary elements who fund this campaign, continue to peddle untruths. There is a respectable case to be made against AV, but this isn’t it. It suggests that NO Campaign Ltd are desperately concerned that they are losing the argument, so have to tell even bigger lies to win round waverers.

Taking the assertions in order:

“Switching to AV would cost […] £130 million on electronic vote counting machines”
There is no need for voting machines. None of the legislatures, which have used AV for many years, use or have used machinery to count the votes.

“AV would give the Lib Dems extra seats”
That statement appears to be based on academic projections deriving from opinion research from previous elections, where people were asked how they would have voted if AV had been in operation. There is no certainty that this would be the case in 2015. Indeed, if the LibDems are as unpopular as the author of the leaflet suggests, AV would work against the party because they would obtain fewer second or third preferences than other parties.

Incidentally, Nick Clegg did not promise “no job cuts” or “no public spending cuts”. Indeed, he predicted “savage cuts” well before the election and was criticised for it – and Vince Cable refused to rule out a VAT increase when explicitly asked to do so during the campaign.

“AV is not a fair system”
Then why is it used for leadership elections in the main UK political parties, including the Conservatives, many trade unions and even for the Best Picture Oscar?

“That would mean more hung parliaments”
Evidence from Australia is that hung parliaments are rarer under AV.

Some other observations: the comparison with an athletic sprint is misleading, because the performance of runners does not depend on other people’s opinions.

And why should the antis make a personal attack on Nick Clegg alone such a key part of their campaign?

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