MPs back plan for a referendum on election shake-up

A REFERENDUM on changing how MPs are elected will be held by October next year under government plans passed last night.

Despite opposition from the Tories and vocal criticism from some Labour backbenchers MPs voted 365 to 187 to ask the British people to decide if the traditional first-past-the-post system should be scrapped in the biggest shake-up of the election system in generations.

But the government faces an uphill battle to get it through with the prospect of stiff resistance in the Lords and time running out before the general election.

Gordon Brown’s proposal would let people choose whether to adopt an Alternative Vote (AV) system allowing them to rank candidates in order of preference.

Critics accused him of a cynical ploy to win Lib Dem support in the event of a hung parliament at the election.

The government also came under fire over the £80million cost of the referendum at a time when public spending is under intense pressure.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw told MPs the expenses scandal had led to a “crisis of confidence in our political system and in our politicians on a scale which none of us have witnessed in our political lifetime”.

He added: “The ‘alternative vote’ takes on the considerable strengths of our system and I suggest builds on it. We propose a referendum because we believe it is not for us to decide, but it is important the people should have that choice.”

Lib Dem spokesman David Howarth said Mr Brown had undergone a “deathbed conversion” on electoral reform. The Liberal Democrats want to see the more radical single-transferable vote (STV) as a referendum option but he said AV was “a small gain but a gain worth having”.