Hague: AV would ‘reverse’ British history
Foreign secretary William Hague gave a speech last night against a change to AV:
“In the end, there is quite simply something not very British about AV.
“If there’s one salient fact about British political history, it is the steady evolution towards the principle of one person, one vote. Progress was often slow and frustrating.
“Many of those who campaigned for equal votes saw only small changes during their lifetime. But the direction was unmistakable and clear: from the rotten boroughs before the Great Reform Act, when the vast majority of people had no vote, to what we enjoy now, where each person has one vote, no matter your wealth, rank or station.
“This is the British story, written by generations of reformers and progressives over two centuries. Today, the principle of one person, one vote stands as the cornerstone of our democracy.
“And that is AV’s greatest problem: it would take us backwards and reverse some of this history – because the extraordinary thing about AV is that some people’s votes are counted more than others and more often than not the people whose votes are counted again and again are not the mainstream majority but those whose first choice is fringe or extremist parties.”
