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A Bill to make provision for a referendum on the voting system for parliamentary elections and to provide for parliamentary elections to be held under the alternative vote system if a majority of those voting in the referendum are in favour of that; to make provision about the number and size of parliamentary constituencies; and for connected purposes.
The Bill will provide a referendum for people to choose between the existing first past the post system with the alternative vote (AV) system. The measure was a key demand of the Liberal Democrats during negotiations with the Conservatives, and Nick Clegg was able to extract the concession from David Cameron after the Tories feared Clegg may seek to form a coalition with Labour.
AV requires a candidate to achieve 50 per cent of the vote in order to be elected, with voters ranking candidates in order of preference so that if their first choice is eliminated their vote switches to their second choice and so on. The Liberal Democrats first preference would be for proportional representation, but the coalition agreement has limited itself to creating a committee to look into the subject.
As part of the coalition deal both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrat MPs will be whipped to support the passage of the Bill, although the Tories will campaign against a change in the system in the referendum itself.
Progress:
House of Commons
1st reading: 22 July 2010
2nd reading: 6 September 2010
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