Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has this week boosted the labour movement in support of the alternative vote by announcing he will be giving his backing to the campaign.
A “Labour Yes to AV” campaign is emerging in advance of next May’s referendum, in which voters will be asked whether they support adopting the alternative vote system for future general elections.
Mr Hain, a long-standing supporter of electoral reform, told Tribune that campaigning for AV would be “a fight between progressive forces and the Tories”, and would help counter their “gerrymandering” of parliamentary constituencies.
However, the former Liberal Party activist rejected the idea of branching out to build an alliance with the Liberal Democrats, whom he described as having “discredited themselves” in coalition with the Conservatives.
He also acknowledged that Labour was divided over AV, despite Ed Miliband supporting AV personally. The Lib Dems will campaign in favour , while the Tories will campaign against.
Mr Hain said: “I think it’s important that Labour is prominent in the campaign. The Liberal Democrats have so discredited themselves with right wing policies in government. I don’t think there’s any prospect of working with the Lib Dem leadership – they have caved in to a right wing, free-market agenda of massive cuts. They will be a millstone round the campaign’s neck, frankly.”
The Tories were “trying to rig the next election through gerrymandering and the packing of the House of Lords”, he said.
He added that Labour and Lib Dem activists could work together locally on the campaign, but said he did not see a bigger goal beyond securing AV.
A report in The Guardian this week said former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw will lead the campaign, which will also be supported by the centre-left Compass and centre-right Progress think tanks.
Gordon Brown committed Labour before the general election to holding a referendum on the alternative vote, which would require voters to cast multiple votes for candidates in order of preference. Ed Miliband promised to campaign for AV if elected leader.
However, Labour support for AV has soured since the Government combined the referendum legislation with plans to redraw constituency boundaries and reduce the number of MPs. Election co-ordinator Andy Burnham said last week Labour as a whole would not campaign for or against AV.
