The Smokescreen of the Alternative Vote

If (and it is only an if) the Alterative Vote (AV) were used for the 2010 General Election the New Labour wipe-out would be even bigger. Why?

Most of the votes of eliminated candidates would transfer to the Tories (i.e. most Liberal Democrat votes plus the vast bulk of those of UKIP and the BNP). Labour would pick a minority of the LibDem votes and most of the Green vote. So the question is why do some New Labour strategists peddle AV?

There are two reasons. First, proposing electoral reform is a bid for popularity and an attempt to be seen as doing something while in fact opposing proportional representation. Second, one can guess that Cameron’s Tories will lose popularity throughout their period of office, so in the 2015 (?) elections most of those eliminated third votes from Liberal Democrats and other might transfer to Labour.

What New Labour would never do is introduce a PR system for Westminster in which Labour could end up with a mere 20 percent of the seats in Parliament.