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Left Foot Forward > Published by Shamik Das, September 14th 2009 at 2:49 pm

Mandelson: “Electoral reform will be addressed in the coming months”

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Lord Mandelson dropped another hint today that the Government is considering holding a referendum on electoral reform. Answering questions after his Progress speech at the LSE he made clear the voting system would be looked at in the coming months.

He said:

Peter Mandelson speaks at the LSE“I do think that whilst our voting system has been tried and tested and served us well through the generations – it has produced strong, majority Government with a clear view, an idea of what they stand for and with a clear sense for the public of what they can expect from those governments which sometimes you cannot get from coalitions which start with soaring vision and tremendous clarity but then, sort of, drop down to a sort of lowest common denominator form of government which leaves people both bemused and dissatisfied.

“Now, does that mean to say that there is no change that could be made in our voting system in our country so that people really feel that it’s fairer and more representive? No, I don’t think we should reject contemplating any sort of change and I think that’s something that we’re going to have to address in the coming months.”

The Business Secretary’s remarks follow an article in Friday’s Independent which revealed the Prime Minister was contemplating holding a referendum on electoral reform on election day.

  • http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/3980288871 Shamik Das

    Lord Mandelson says electoral reform "will be addressed in the coming months" – http://bit.ly/lvetu

  • http://twitter.com/makevotescount/status/3985094584 Make Votes Count

    Mandelson on voting reform: we shouldn’t reject contemplating change – we’ll address issue in coming months http://tinyurl.com/lag6s6

  • Floater

    Mandelson uses the’I'-’I'think,’I'don’t think?
    Maybe someone should tell him WE DO NOT CARE WHAT HE DOES OR DOES NOT THINK!!!!The last time i looked GORDON BROWN was the British Prime Minister.
    This character is the reason Labour are trailing in the polls.SHUT HIM UP and KEEP HIM OFF OUR SCREENS!!
    He alienates Labour voters because of his disreputable past dealings with Blair.

  • http://pluralprogressive.wordpress.com/ Luke

    Whilst electoral reform should be welcomed by all progressives, the Government really needs to start discussing what kind of reform it wants. It’s no good for the Government to keep flagging up ‘electoral reform’ without explaining what kind of PR they want. Perhaps a vote in the Commons along the lines to the vote on House of Lords reform would be the best way to gauge Parliamentary opinion before pursuing a referendum. I believe it would be easier to make the case for reform in a referendum if the Government pursued it with Parliamentary consensus.

  • Peter Orlov

    “I do think that whilst our voting system has been tried and tested and served Labour well through the past decade – it has produced strong, majority Government with a clear view, an idea of what they stand for and with a clear sense for the public of what they can expect from those governments which sometimes you cannot get from coalitions which start with soaring vision and tremendous clarity but then, sort of, drop down to a sort of lowest common denominator form of government which leaves people both bemused and dissatisfied. Like now.

    “Now, does that mean to say that there is no change that could be made in our voting system in our country so that we have any chance, any chance at all, of staying in power? No, I don’t think we should reject contemplating any sort of change – no matter how transparent – and I think that’s something that we’re going to have to address in the coming months.

    Or we’re fucked, basically.”