Camden says ‘Yes’ to Alternative Vote system – but fails to get its way on electoral reform

Published: 12th May, 2011
by RICHARD OSLEY

CAMDEN wanted electoral reform – even if the rest of the country was against the idea.

The borough was one of just a handful of areas,  including London neighbours Islington and Haringey, to vote in favour of ditching the traditional first-past-the-post (FPTP) system of electing MPs in Thursday’s national referendum. Nearly 52 per cent of those who voted wanted to move to the Alternative Vote (AV) of ranking election candidates in order of preference.

The results, revealed at the count at the Camden Centre on Friday, were bittersweet for campaigners from members of all four political parties represented at the Town Hall. While they won the argument, just, on their home turf, the success was not matched around the country as the “No” campaign claimed a resounding victory.

The Liberal Democrats, the group with the most united position on the debate – firmly in favour – will take the local result as a boost for their own doorstep popularity.

Defeated in last year’s council elections and challenged by the national party’s performance in coalition with the Conservatives, the group would have been dismayed if large numbers of potential supporters at future Camden polls had been against them on one of the issues they hold dearest.

Councillor Keith Moffitt, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Camden, said: “It was disappointing that there weren’t more areas that voted for electoral reform, but the local result is testament to the work everybody put in on the campaign. 

“It’s a good turnout compared to other areas. There was a good response as we went around. People weren’t saying, ‘You’re a Lib Dem, go away’.”

One of the main criticisms of FPTP, which effectively rules that whoever collects the most votes in a constituency wins, is that winning candidates can claim victory with low shares of the vote. 

In Hampstead and Kilburn at the last general election, for example, more than half of voters did not want Glenda Jackson, who turned 75 this week, as their MP.

A rainbow coalition in Camden formed to campaign for a switch, a group which included several Labour councillors – although few had enough interest to attend the count on Friday – a Green Party member and a small clutch of Tories spearheaded by former group leader Councillor Andrew Marshall.

The more prevalent view in the Tory group locally was opposed to changing the system, even though under AV their parliamentary candidate in Hampstead and Kilburn, Chris Philp, might have overcome Ms Jackson, whose margin of victory last May was just 42 votes. Conservatives insist that a micro-breakdown reveals that in their strongest wards in ­Camden, more people voted no than yes.

Mr Philp said: “There were 440 polling districts and 430 of them said no – we won by six million votes which can only be called emphatic. We won’t see Alternative Vote come back now and politicians need to get back now to trying to fix the economy, getting ­people back in work. 

“The Liberal Democrats have had their crack of the whip with this referendum, the Conservatives honoured the deal – and now it’s time to move on. In the north of Camden, our analysis shows that there was a pretty comfortable win for the no campaign.”

One of Camden’s better-known residents, Labour leader Ed Miliband, cast his yes vote at a polling station near his home in Dartmouth Park. 

The local group were split on the merits of the possible change. Labour group councillor Nasim Ali said: “In the end, I came down as yes to AV and so I was happy with the Camden result. 

“The problem here is for the Liberal Democrats. This was their main issue and it’s gone.”

The AV figures

Camden

Yes: 26,275 (51.4 percent)
No: 24,845 (48.6 percent)
Turnout: 37.28 percent

UK

Yes: 6,152,607 (32.10 per cent)
No: 13,013,123 (67.90 per cent)
Turnout: 42.2 per cent

Areas voting in favour of AV

Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Southwark, Glasgow Kelvin, Cambridge, Edinburgh Central, Oxford