The House of Commons yesterday voted by 365 votes to 187 to hold a UK-wide referendum on changing the voting system next year from first-past-the-post to the alternative vote. The Lib Dems reluctantly voted for the alternative vote, as the most modest of improvements on the current, broken system.
But the party, in the person of Cambridge MP David Howarth, also moved an amendment to leave out ‘an alternative-vote’ and insert ‘a single transferable vote’ – in other words, to ask Parliament to approve an electoral system which would at last reflect the votes cast for parties across the country, as happens in the vast majority of parliamentary democracies.
When the Lib Dem amendment was put to the vote, it secured 69 votes, of which 55 were Lib Dem MPs. So let’s salute the 14 non-Lib Dem MPs who chose to go into the lobby with the Lib Dems in support of a fair voting system. They were:
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Cousins, Jim (Lab)
Durkan, Mark (SDLP)
Galloway, Mr. George (Respect)
Hosie, Stewart (SNP)
Llwyd, Mr. Elfyn (Plaid)
Mason, John (SNP)
Naysmith, Dr. Doug (Lab)
Pelling, Mr. Andrew (Con)
Purnell, rh James (Lab)
Robertson, Angus (SNP)
Smith, rh Mr. Andrew (Lab)
Weir, Mr. Mike (SNP)
Williams, Hywel (Plaid)
Wishart, Pete (SNP)
Especially interesting to see likely future Labour leadership contender James Purnell among the 14 non-Lib Dem MPs voting for STV. Genuine progressive belief, or clever positioning? Time may tell.
For the record here are the Lib Dem MPs who voted for David’s STV amendment:
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Alexander, Danny
Baker, Norman
Brake, Tom
Breed, Mr. Colin
Brooke, Annette
Browne, Mr. Jeremy
Bruce, rh Malcolm
Burstow, Mr. Paul
Burt, Lorely
Cable, Dr. Vincent
Campbell, rh Sir Menzies
Carmichael, Mr. Alistair
Clegg, rh Mr. Nick
Davey, Mr. Edward
Farron, Tim
Featherstone, Lynne
Foster, Mr. Don
Gidley, Sandra
Goldsworthy, Julia
Hancock, Mr. Mike
Harris, Dr. Evan
Harvey, Nick
Heath, Mr. David
Holmes, Paul
Horwood, Martin
Howarth, David
Hughes, Simon
Huhne, Chris
Hunter, Mark
Keetch, Mr. Paul
Kramer, Susan
Lamb, Norman
Laws, Mr. David
Leech, Mr. John
Mulholland, Greg
Oaten, Mr. Mark
Öpik, Lembit
Pugh, Dr. John
Reid, Mr. Alan
Rennie, Willie
Rowen, Paul
Russell, Bob
Sanders, Mr. Adrian
Smith, Sir Robert
Stunell, Andrew
Swinson, Jo
Teather, Sarah
Thurso, John
Webb, Steve
Williams, Mark
Williams, Mr. Roger
Williams, Stephen
Willis, Mr. Phil
Willott, Jenny
Younger-Ross, Richard
Tellers for the Ayes:
Dan Rogerson and
John Hemming
11 Comments
Sad but unsurprising. A partisan split mostly, rather than a principled one.
I thought Douglas Carswell was in favour of STV?
@Thomas: I thought Douglas Carswell was in favour of STV?
I suppose he isn’t when he’s being whipped by David Cameron…. (I meant parliamentary whip! That was not a nice image!)
Oh, Andrew Smith (Lab, Oxford East) voted for STV! He was also one of the Labour rebels over the Gurkhas, bless him. He has always struck me as a very decent man (disclosure: I grew up in his constituency and he visited my school twice).
Do we salute George Galloway’s courage, strength and indefatigability?
Niklas SMith: no room for sentiment in FPTP. Labour he is, and so, he must go.
@Tabman: I think there is room for sentiment, if the MP in question supports policies you think are important as well as being thoroughly decent. Sadly Andrew Smith has voted for the government’s anti-civil liberties agenda, so if I was voting in Oxford East I would certainly be voting for Steve Goddard.
Niklas,
I find your charachterisation of Andrew Smith quite extraordinary. He may have come across well when he visited your school but he’s been consistently let down his constituents.
He’s utterly shameless about saying one thing and doing another. He voted against Simon Hughes’ 10:10 motion then spoke at a rally in support of 10:10 the following weekend. He’s been photographed by the local paper collecting signatures to save a post office he had voted to close.
You are talking about a man who will change views on subjects to what his most politically convienent. He’s done so shamelessly over tuition fees (several times) and air traffic privatisation.
While he talks about being a rebel, public whip has him down as rebelling on about 1 in every 100 divisions. In contrast, to genuine Labour rebels like Jeremy Corbyn and Kate Hoey who rebel in 1 in 4 divisions. He has happily followed the government whips instructions over Iraq, ID cards and tuition fees. He also has a truly disgraceful record on the environment.
When voters say they don’t trust politicians, it’s people like Smith they have in mind. That’s why Lib Dems in Oxford are working so hard to replace Smith with a genuinly decent man.
Regards,
Mark Mills
District councillor, Oxford city
Isn’t Andrew Pelling suspended from the Conservative Party and standing as an independent against them at General Election in his Croydon Central Constituency?
Why didn’t all 63 Lib Dem MPs vote for the STV amendment?
@Mark Mills: You clearly know more about Andrew Smith than I do, not least because I haven’t lived in Oxford for most of the past four or so years. My opinion of him has suffered after reading your post – the two-faced behaviour over 10:10 is especially shocking. I do know that he is not a frequent Labour rebel, which was sort of the point that I was trying to make when I said that I would still vote for Steve Goddard despite liking Andrew Smith as a person.
Which LD MPs did not vote for the STV amendment, and why not?
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