The Labour Party manifesto 1997:
We are committed to a referendum on the voting system for the House of Commons. An independent commission on voting systems will be appointed early to recommend a proportional alternative to the first-past-the-post system.
Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party conference 2009:
There is now a stronger case than ever that MPs should be elected with the support of more than half their voters – as they would be under the Alternative Voting system. And so I can announce today that in Labour’s next manifesto there will be a commitment for a referendum to be held early in the next Parliament it will be for the people to decide whether they want to move to the Alternative Vote.
So a 1997 commitment to a proprotional electoral system has become a 2009 commitment to hold a referendum after the next election for a non-proportional system.
Still, at least on House of Lord reform the Labour Party has remained consistent – they’re still trying to remove the hereditary principle:
1997 manifesto: As an initial, self-contained reform, not dependent on further reform in the future, the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords will be ended by statute.
Share:2009 speech: In this next year we will remove the hereditary principle in the House of Lords once and for all.
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There is now a stronger case than ever that Governments should be elected with the support of more than half the voters
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