AV would be a gift to the BNP

 

 

Under the British voting system of first-past-the-post it is hard for extremists to get elected.

Sir Oswald Mosley, for instance, was able to gain election when he stood as a Labour MP - but not when he stood as a Fascist.

There are exceptions of extremist parties gaining entry to the House of Commons. At the 1945 British General Election two Communist Party MPs were elected. This was at a time when Stalin was the Soviet leader and the man to whom they had ultimate allegiance.

More recently, of course, we have had Sinn Fein MPs elected. Absolutely disgusting. Stomach churning. Nonetheless, right that it should be allowed. That is what democracy means.

To live in a democracy means to allow extremist parties to exist and field candidates - paradoxically even those parties which seek to destroy the democratic system they exploit. That does not mean that the system should not be rigged in their favour.

One check on extremist parties growing is that we have a system of one person, one vote. If someone wants to indulge themselves by voting for an extremist with little chance of election then they have used up their vote. They are not then able to have another vote to cast for a candidate with a greater chance of winning. That is the voting system of first-past-the-post with which we are all so familiar in this country - and indeed across the  world in so many other places that have followed our democratic model.

However on May 5 a referendum is taking place on changing our voting system to the Alternative Vote. That would mean that supporters of fringe parties such as Respect or the BNP would have their votes counted several times, not just once.

 

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Unscrupulous politicians from mainstream parties would be conscious that wooing them could provide the extra votes needed. Those disaffected would be emboldened to make a protest vote for a fringe party - knowing they could do so safely without 'wasting their vote'  because of the second and third preferences.

Naturally, the overwhelming majority of those who favour electoral reform to the AV system completely abhor the BNP and its ill-concealed neo-Nazi ideology. Yet all those intelligent, decent people planning to vote yes to tearing up our voting system should pause and reflect.

At a General Election, more than 90 per cent of Labour and Conservative voters would have been unlikely to get a second vote counted. Yet in some constituencies, supporters of the BNP would have had their preferences counted six times before a winner was determined. BNP voters would have had two or more votes counted in 193 constituencies.

This is not a smear. These are the facts. Let the Yes campaign go and check the maths for themselves.

As Matthew Elliott, campaign director for the NO to AV campaign, says: 'A Yes vote to the unfair and expensive alternative vote on May 5 is a Yes to unequal votes and a Yes to giving BNP supporters more power at the ballot box. Candidates would have to worry about the unpleasant views of people voting BNP in order to try to pick up their second preferences.'

Sir Oswald Mosley was not able to gain election when he stood as a Fascist under the first-past-the-post system

There is nothing new about the idea of an Alternative Voting system. When the idea was mooted in 1931, Winston Churchill spoke up against it as elections being determined by 'the most worthless votes given for the most worthless candidates.' 

Churchill said the proposed change to AV 'adds new features of caprice and uncertainty to the conduct of each individual election.' 

He added: 'Imagine making the representation of great constituencies dependent on the second preferences of the hindmost candidates. The hindmost candidate would become a personage of considerable importance, and the old phrase, "Devil take the hindmost" will acquire a new significance.'

The BNP are an odious fringe party. Under Proportional Representation, as with Euro elections and those for the London Assembly, they have a chance to win but not under first-past-the-post. The Alternative Vote system would not  be proportional but it would still represent a huge boost for them.

If AV passes the BNP will find it easier to win votes and BNP supporters could become king makers in many constituencies. Eighty years later, Churchill's warning remains as valid as ever.