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Is Ed Miliband really the man to sell AV?

Tim Iredale|23:56 UK time, Wednesday, 29 September 2010



Typical ballot paper

Now that Labour's long leadership race has been settled, much attention will focus on the party's first big test at the ballot box since the general election.

That will come next May with local elections taking place across much of England and the parliamentary/assembly elections in Scotland and Wales.

May 5th 2011 is also the planned date of the referendum on changing the way we vote.

In his keynote speech to the Labour conference in Manchester, Ed Milband outlined his support for a "yes" vote in the referendum on whether we should switch to the Alternative Vote system.

But some Labour MPs believe the failings of the AV system have been laid bare for all to see in the party's own leadership contest.

They point out that Ed Miliband won a majority of union members, but he was not the first choice of the majority of MPs and MEPs or Labour Party members.

Many in the party believe last weekend's complex result shows just how tough a sell AV will be on the doorstep, compared with the relative simplicity of the first-past-the-post system.

Hull Labour MPs Diana Johnson and Karl Turner told me they would both be campaigning for a "no" vote in the referendum.

The other Labour MP in Hull - Alan Johnson - is known to be a supporter of electoral reform. Ironically, he was also one of David Miliband's biggest supporters for the Labour leadership. Will the former Foreign Secretary's defeat to his brother make the ex-Home Secretary think again?

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