A RALLYING cry to voters to say yes in today’s referendum on the voting system has been issued by David Miliband.
The South Shields MP believes this is a once-in-a-generation chance to change the system used in Westminster elections, with the alternative vote (AV) offering a chance of a more fair politics.
And while the campaign had failed to catch the public’s imagination, he denied it was a lost cause.
But Labour’s deputy chief whip and Tynemouth MP Alan Campbell said that while he was “broadly supportive” of proportional representation, the alternative on offer in the referendum was a “squalid compromise”.
And Ronnie Campbell, Labour MP for Blyth Valley, predicted a huge vote against AV, although North East Liberal Democrat peer John Shipley insisted there was a swing to the yes campaign.
Middlesbrough MP Sir Stuart Bell, chairman of the Labour No to AV group, meanwhile, warned the main party leaders risked being damaged by the result.
Under AV, voters could rank candidates in order of preference, with those coming into play if nobody won a majority of first choices outright.
Mr Miliband said: “No one has voted yet, and it is sprint to the finishing and see who gets there first. I think it is slowly dawning on people this is their chance in a generation to decide the electoral system of the House of Commons.
