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August 10, 2009
The Countdown is on to Nov 18
As part of the Vote for a Change coalition, Make Votes count echoes their call for real voting reform to be included in the Queen's Speech. The timer below is counting down the time that politicians have to make sure that this is the case.
In the States, a President's first '100 Days' is synonymous with change. It's an opportunity to break with the past - to prove that politics and politicians are still capable of surprises.
Well if any country ever needed a break from the past then it's Britain.
Today we start our countdown to our very own 100 Days. 100 Days to ensure that real voting reform makes it into the Queen's Speech on Nov 18. This will be the first since the expenses crisis, the last of this parliament, and potentially the last by this government. This is their last chance.
In 100 days we'll know if politicians are prepared to throw the rule book of politics in the bin, along with safe seats and jobs for life - by delivering a referendum on the voting system. They can either spend the time ahead confronting the crisis at Westminster head on, or waste it rearranging the deckchairs.
But today you can help spread the word with our countdown widget as shown above. Pop it on your site, on your blog, and get your readers to sign up.
http://voteforachange.co.uk/widget
Time is short. In 100 days we'll know if politicians are serious about change. With your help we can get the message through.
The Clock is ticking...
http://voteforachange.co.uk/widget
Posted by philconnor on August 10, 2009
Comments
If this does get into the Queen's Speech and there is ultimately a referendum why does everybody seem so confident that the outcome of the referendum will be favourable?
This morning at 1050 under the user name "Buckley" (for anyody who is interested enough to read what I wrote) I made a contribution to the Guardian CiF column under Peter Mandelson's article in effect berating him and New Labour for reneging on their electoral reform commitments(as well as agreeing with him on his assessment of Osbourne and the Tories). On scanning the other posts I could not find a single comment that even mentioned my comment or the subject of electoral reform more generally. This is what one meets with regularly.
Unless there is something resembling the educational process recommended by Jenkins in his 1998 report it is my view that the referendum could very well fail. Where are the plans for such a process - and what are they?
Moreover even if the referendum showed a consensus in favour of PR can we believe that the Tories would do other than ignore it anyway, when they get in in 2010.
Posted by: Joe Patterson at August 12, 2009 02:56 PM
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