By Jonathan Isaby
ConHome can exclusively reveal this morning that the Conservative Party is announcing seven MPs and two unsuccessful candidates at last year's general election as spokesmen for the party's campaign against the Alternative Vote.
They can be expected to play a leading role during the forthconing referendum in highlighting the message of why people should vote against changing our electoral system both in the media and in debates taking place up and down the country.
They are:
- Conor Burns MP (Bournemouth West)
- George Eustice MP (Camborne and Redruth)
- Sam Gyimah MP (Surrey East)
- Kwasi Kwarteng MP (Spelthorne)
- Charlotte Leslie MP (Bristol North West)
- Priti Patel MP (Witham)
- Chris Philp (PPC for Hampstead and Kilburn, 2010)
- Chris Skidmore MP (Kingswood)
- Maggie Throup (PPC for Solihull, 2010)
Here's what some of them have to say about the proposal to change the voting system:
Conor Burns: "The current system we have in place has served the United Kingdom well. It works. It provides transparent accountability of MPs to their constituents. More importantly, it allows the electorate to decisively reward or punish Governments and provides for clear outcomes leading to stable Government. Under First Past the Post, a winning party can implement the manifesto on which they were returned without recourse to backroom deals, leading to programmes never endorsed at the ballot box. The Alternative Vote is the compromise that no one genuinely wants. Britain is better by sticking to a system that we know, we trust and that works."
George Eustice: “Our current one person one vote system delivers clear outcomes, strong government and is used by over 70 countries around the world. Under the Alternative Vote system some people get more votes than others and that’s not fair. Someone who votes for the BNP would get a second and maybe third bite of the cherry. That’s not right. No wonder this system is only used by three countries in the whole world.”
Sam Gyimah: “We need to change the way we do politics. But the Alternative Vote isn’t the answer, because it doesn’t put people in charge - it puts politicians in charge. With AV you lose what everyone knows they’re doing when they enter the polling booth – voting for the MP they want and, by extension, the government they want. And you lose the ability to decisively kick out a government you don’t like. To begin to reinvigorate our politics we’ve got to make our politicians more accountable, approachable and relevant – not create an environment where they can hide away in Westminster making deals behind closed doors about who gets a turn in government this time round.”
Chris Philp: “AV will mean more Hung Parliaments. This means that Governments will get chosen in backroom deals with smaller parties after the election, not by the public. AV transfers the power to choose the Prime Minister from the people to the Lib Dems. No wonder they're so keen on it. Another weakness of AV is that fringe party voters have their voted counted many times - and their fifth or sixth preference could trump a Labour or Conservative first preference. I lost Hampstead & Kilburn by 42 votes at the last election. The BNP polled 300. Why should their sixth preference votes have decided the outcome?"
Chris Skidmore: “I am supporting the No2AV campaign as I firmly believe that First Past the Post gives the most important power of all to the electorate; the ability to eject a failed government. In my view AV is deeply undemocratic. It offers supporters of fringe parties several opportunities to influence the outcome as their second, third or fourth preferences are counted. AV will increase the public scepticism of politics as parties decide the fate of the country in backroom deals. I urge everyone to vote ‘No’ on May the 5th.”
Maggie Throup: “I’m campaigning for a ‘no vote’ because the Alternative Vote just won’t deliver what the ‘yes campaigners’ are promising. Changing the voting system isn’t the way to clean up politics, it’s not the way to make votes fairer and it certainly isn’t the way to make MPs more accountable. Add to this, our country just cannot afford the millions it would cost to implement any new system.”
Here are the latest ways in which CCHQ is distilling those messages (click to enlarge):
