AV

Some of my best friends in politics are ardent first-past-the-post supporters, but having been a member of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform since 1990 I am delighted by the PM's announcement of a parliamentary vote on a referendum on changing to the Alternative Vote.

This is about giving voters more choice on two levels - enabling them to say yes or no to change and if it goes through enabling them to rank the candidates/parties rather than just voting for one with an "X". This would ensure that no one needed to use their first vote "tactically" because tactical voting can be done through the second and lower preferences - so we would suddenly discover a hidden army of first preference Labour supporters in Con vs. LD seats who have been voting tactically for the Lib Dems for years. It means there are fewer wasted votes, and all MPs would have the mandate of having had the backing of a majority of voters in their seat.

Of course it isn't a proportional system - and we need a system where share of seats in the Commons more accurately reflects share of vote if we are to apply Labour's values of justice and equity (one vote, one value rather than power being concentrated in the hands of voters in a small numbers of marginal seats) to the electoral system and to give Labour voters in safe seats and un-winnable seats a fair share of influence on the overall outcome and hence an incentive to turn out. But it's a good start so I welcome this Damascene conversion.