The Electoral Reform Society launches a major new campaign today for a referendum on the voting system. Vote for a Change has an ad in the Observer and the backing of Helena Kennedy, Stephen Fry, Brian Eno, Philip Pullman and lots of other high profile figures. As the website delcares:
THE EXPENSE CRISIS reveals a nation governed by a political elite that has stopped listening and who are accountable to no one but their party machines. Too many MPs seem more interested in changing their homes than changing the world.
Our society faces real problems - mass unemployment and growing poverty, the threat of climate chaos and an erosion of our civil liberties to name but three. These all require effective government working on behalf of the popular will.
Yet our whole political system is close to collapse. Just when the system needed to be strong it has been brought to its knees. Only the British people can put this right. We demand a new electoral system that makes everyone's vote count.
Alongside the next general election there should be a binding referendum on whether to change to a new more proportional electoral system. This should be drawn up by a large jury of randomly selected citizens, given the time and information to deliberate on what voting system and other changes would make parliament more accountable to citizens.
Sign up at: http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/
Update: Tory MP Douglas Carswell, whose book The Plan has had a clear influence on David Cameron's programme for reform, seems to be coming round to the idea of PR.
