Before the UK election, New Labour was pushing for a referendum on the alternative vote. Not out of any real desire for electoral reform, you understand, but for shabby, tactical reasons: they thought it would
encourage anti-Tory tactical voting in the general election, and also help form a platform for a Lib-Lab coalition in the event of a hung parliament.Now, having lost the election, and faced with a Conservative - Liberal Democrat plan for a referendum on the alternative vote, New Labour has anounced they will vote against it. Their reason? The bill will also include boundary changes designed to equalise the size of electorates in the UK. This will apparently make it "impossible" for Labour to win elections in future - this apparently taking precedence over the democratic basic of all votes having equal value.
Once again, New Labour has shown how utterly unprincipled it is, and how it puts its own success ahead of basic democratic values.
