Last week, Stephen highlighted the rather gaffe-prone No2AV campaign’s list of Labour MPs planning to vote No in May’s referendum on changing the voting system from first past the post to the alternative vote. It’s since turned out that five MPs were wrongly included in the list, with one – Barry Sherman – going as far as to say he was actually planning to go out and campaign for a Yes vote.
Today a second one of the supposed No supporters has turned out to also be campaigning for a Yes vote. This time it’s Albert Owen, MP for Ynys Môn (as highlighted by Stephen Glenn on Twitter).
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4 Comments
Thought he was out of place, though there are a few remaining who I can’t imagine to be supporters of FPTP.
While we are going on about AV – which incidentally according to the polls appears to be going our way – something much more significant seems to be going on within the coalition.
I have kept faith up until now that our Lib Dem ministers had been able to restrain the worst excesses of the Tory right – even through the tuition fees debacle. Yet today there was talk of extending the period before workers’ protection from unfair dismissal starts from one year to two. What is more, Nick Clegg appears to have caved in totally to the bankers. He is now asking them to be “sensitive”. WTF? When have bankers ever been “sensitive”?
I am willing to put up with huge doses of realism and fiscal cold showers, but it is looking increasingly as if the Tory right have mounted a putsch over Christmas and the results are now filtering out in new announcements. Has anyone got any knowledge of what the hell IS actually going on inside government at the moment, because this is looking really bad to me.
I think the most accurate thing anybody can say from outside Government is… Early Days.
“While we are going on about AV – which incidentally according to the polls appears to be going our way …”
That depends which poll you look at. According to ICM last month, 36% support AV, 30% FPTP and 34% don’t know. But according to last night’s YouGov, 41% support FPTP, 32% AV, 18% don’t know and 8% won’t vote (from 39-33 last month).