I am absolutely delighted that the country made the right decision on 5th May and rejected the Alternative Vote system for electing MPs. As I have said before, an Alternative Vote system would have been an expensive mistake to implement and damaged our democracy forever. It could have meant more coalition governments and broken the chain of accountability between politicians and their constituents.
Thankfully, the majority of the country saw its faults and I can now breathe a sigh of relief; our robust form of democracy remains intact.
Whilst out and about meeting tens of thousands of residents over the last decade, nobody has ever said that they wanted AV – it was a non-issue on the doorsteps. So I am not surprised that around 70% voted against AV in the Royal Borough. Many of you raised concerns about the fact that under AV minority parties may be elected and that one person’s vote could count more than someone else’s- valid reasons not to vote for it!
Now that the referendum is over, and the country has given a clear and resounding answer, I hope that the Coalition Government can get back to the important work of getting our country back on track. Ministers must spend their time focussing on how best to reform the country’s finances, improving the NHS and making sure that the necessary cuts do not affect the most vulnerable in society.
So nationally and locally in the Royal Borough, it’s back to the business of taking care of the things that matter to people, and the AV referendum will become a distant memory.