Vote referendum: AV undemocratic, says Cameron

David Cameron has branded the alternative vote system "undemocratic" and "unfair" and urged people to oppose it in next month's referendum.



The prime minister told an audience in Sale, Greater Manchester, that ending first-past-the-post Westminster elections would do "nothing to rebuild trust in politics".

His Liberal Democrat deputy, Nick Clegg, has called arguments against change "nonsensical".

The referendum will be held on 5 May.

Voters will be asked whether to retain first-past-the-post or switch to the alternative vote (AV) - where they can rank candidates in order of preference - in the UK-wide poll.

In a speech, Mr Cameron said it was "hugely important" to take part in the referendum in order to defeat AV, adding that even some of its supporters had admitted in the past that "it would do nothing to rebuild trust in politics" and had called it a "miserable little compromise".

The biggest argument against AV I would have thought is that the MPs elected by second or third choice will not represent any particular area of the country. Their sole loyalty will be to the party for which they stood as opposed the people who elected them!