THE campaign to change the Westminster voting system will win the upcoming referendum by 10%, a top Liberal Democrat has claimed.

The bold prediction from John Shipley, a Lib Dem peer and former leader of Newcastle City Council, comes as one Labour MP suggested apathy could lead to a default yes vote in the referendum on May 5.

Voters will be asked whether they want to keep the current first past the post system to elect MPs or switch to the Alternative Vote (AV), where candidates are ranked by preference – with those then tallied up until there is a winner. Speaking to The Journal, Lord Shipley said: “I think the yes campaign has started very well and I think that we are going to win the referendum by about 10 clear percentage points.”

He added that voters could change the “face of British politics” if they wanted to, but had to vote yes in the referendum.