Can't count to 3 then vote No.

On 5 May, you can vote No with David Cameron, the BNP and a campaign that thinks you are too thick to count to three, or you can vote Yes with all the progressive forces in British politics, massed together to move democracy forward a few small inches.

Lib Dem fail to support people power

A couple of days ago I blogged about the disgraceful and gutless voting by the Lib Dems on Caroline Lucas's amendment to the referendum bill which would give a choice of changing the voting system to a variety of options: AV, STV and AMS. By voting against the amendment the Lib Dems voted against their own policy of STV and voted against giving people the choice about how they elect MPs.

Read the full debate here but I particularly like the comment from Austin Mitchell: "Does my hon. Friend agree that what we are doing is repairing the damage done by the gutlessness of the Liberal Democrats? They did not have the guts or the integrity to include in the referendum a question on a system of proportional representation, which they always purported to believe in. We are allowing the people to speak out."

Be under no illusion though. 55 Lib Dems voted against the amendment and no Lib Dem voted for it. This is disgraceful. Is your MP in the list of the 55 Lib Dems below, if so write to them and tell them what you think!

Danny Alexander	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
Norman Baker	Lewes
Alan Beith	Berwick-upon-Tweed
Gordon Birtwistle	Burnley
Tom Brake	Carshalton and Wallington
Annette Brooke	Mid Dorset and North Poole
Jeremy Browne	Taunton Deane
Malcolm Bruce	Gordon
Paul Burstow	Sutton and Cheam
Lorely Burt	Solihull
Vincent Cable	Twickenham
Menzies Campbell	North East Fife
Alistair Carmichael	Orkney and Shetland
Nicholas Clegg	Sheffield, Hallam
Michael Crockart	Edinburgh West
Edward Davey	Kingston and Surbiton
Tim Farron	Westmorland and Lonsdale
Lynne Featherstone	Hornsey and Wood Green
Don Foster	Bath
Andrew George	St Ives
Stephen Gilbert	St Austell and Newquay
Duncan Hames	Chippenham
Mike Hancock	Portsmouth South
Nick Harvey	North Devon
David Heath	Somerton and Frome
John Hemming	Birmingham, Yardley
Martin Horwood	Cheltenham
Simon Hughes	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
Mark Hunter	Cheadle
Julian Huppert	Cambridge
Charles Kennedy	Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Norman Lamb	North Norfolk
David Laws	Yeovil
John Leech	Manchester, Withington
Stephen Lloyd	Eastbourne
Michael Moore	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
Greg Mulholland	Leeds North West
John Pugh	Southport
Alan Reid	Argyll and Bute
Dan Rogerson	North Cornwall
Bob Russell	Colchester
Adrian Sanders	Torbay
Robert Smith	West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Andrew Stunell	Hazel Grove
Ian Swales	Redcar
Jo Swinson	East Dunbartonshire
Sarah Teather	Brent Central
John Thurso	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
David Ward	Bradford East
Steve Webb	Thornbury and Yate
Mark Williams	Ceredigion
Roger Williams	Brecon and Radnorshire
Stephen Williams	Bristol West
Jennifer Willott	Cardiff Central
Simon Wright	Norwich South

Shameful Lib Dems vote against Proportional Representation Referendum

An amendment to the voting reform bill was debated last night, fronted by Caroline Lucas. 17 MPs voted to include options for STV and AMS in the referendum, these 17 MPs were from various parties except Lib Dem. Lib Dems MP only voted against PR. The Hansard record is here.

This is truly shameful.

The following is a cut 'n' paste from Jim Jepps:

Yesterday Parliament voted on whether to allow the people to decide on what kind of electoral reform they should go for. The majority of MPs decided to deny people the opportunity to opt for PR and instead instead that the only acceptable change was the dismal AV.

Moving the amendment Caroline Lucas said;

I am pleased to move the amendment that stands in my name and those of the hon. Members for Clacton (Mr Carswell) and for Great Grimsby (Austin Mitchell). I welcome the fact that the Committee is at long last debating the possibility of a referendum on electoral reform, but it is crucial that the public choose the voting system, not the politicians. We do not often have referendums in this country, and now that we are planning to have one, the least that we can do is give people a real choice on their ballot papers. It is hugely disappointing that AV is the only alternative to first past the post in the Bill. As a result, the Bill fails to live up to the promise of genuine reform and of re-engaging people with the political process.

Amendment 7 is about giving people a real choice of electoral systems, because it is essential that the referendum question is not set up by the politicians to promote their favoured system. Of course, I have my views about which system would be preferable-the Green party advocates the additional member system as the fairest-but our amendment 7 is not about promoting a favourite system; it is about giving the public the options and allowing them to make their own choice. Rather than simply offering a narrow choice between first past the post and the alternative vote system, our amendment widens the question, so that in addition to the AV option, voters are given the opportunity to express a preference for one of the other main voting systems in elections for UK institutions.

There are two parts to our proposed question. The first part asks people whether they want a change from the current, first-past-the-post system; and for those who do, the second part offers the options of the alternative vote, the additional member system, and the single transferable vote, to be listed in order of preference. Our amendment is needed, because it is contradictory for the coalition to be talking about electoral reform while seeking to offer little more than a Hobson's choice, between AV and first past the post.

You can read the rest of the debate here.

Of the seventeen MPs who voted for the amendment we have a broad range of parties;

Long, Naomi (Alliance)

Mr Douglas Carswell (Con)
Evans, Jonathan (Con)
Hollobone, Mr Philip (Con)

Lucas, Caroline (Green)

Dakin, Nic (Labour)
Smith, rh Mr Andrew (Labour)
Austin Mitchell (Labour)

Llwyd, Mr Elfyn (PC)
Williams, Hywel (PC)

Durkan, Mark (SDLP)
McDonnell, Dr Alasdair (SDLP)
Ritchie, Ms Margaret (SDLP)

Hosie, Stewart (SNP)
MacNeil, Mr Angus Brendan (SNP)
Robertson, Angus (SNP)
Weir, Mr Mike (SNP)
Whiteford, Dr Eilidh (SNP)
Wishart, Pete (SNP)

Hmmm... there seems to be a party missing here. One party doesn't seem to have provided even a sinlge rebel in favour of giving the public the choice of PR. I'll give you a clue which one - their policy is for PR.