MP blasts “Labour’s cynical attempt to fiddle with the voting system”
10 February 2010
Speaking at the Vesey ward Conservative supper held at the home of Mrs Mal Beadman, Andrew Mitchell MP said, “The Government’s proposal for the alternative vote system of electing the Commons is a cynical announcement masquerading as political reform. 13 years into Government and 90 days before a general election, it is clear the Prime Minister will do or say anything to cling onto power.
“Real improvement means cutting the size of the House of Commons, cutting Ministers’ pay and complete transparency on expenses. But the one thing that we should not change is the public’s ability, at a general election, to get rid of a tired, incompetent, useless and divided Government.
“I support retention of the current system of ‘first past the post’ for Westminster elections, which generally ensures stability by giving a working majority to a single political party and means that each voter is represented by a single MP.
“One of the great strengths of Britain’s tried and tested electoral system is in enabling the electorate to ‘kick the rascals out’. No other voting system gives the public the same power to boot out an unwanted Member of Parliament or an unwanted government.
“Unlike the Prime Minister, who has recently converted to supporting electoral reform for painfully transparent partisan reasons, the Conservative Party’s position on this issue has been consistent and genuine: we have supported ‘first past the post’ when we were behind in the polls and even when the electoral system has worked against us.”
