by Newswire

To coincide with the national launch of the Labour Yes campaign, campaign founder Neal Lawson told Liberal Conspiracy how voting Yes to AV will damage and isolate the Tories:

“David Cameron risks becoming the Conservative Party’s Lost Leader if Britain votes Yes to AV – Conservative Home”

“If David Cameron’s not careful, he could become the next lost Tory leader – the Telegraph”

“Tory MPs stop you in corridors to share their worries – an AV win would be “a dagger at the heart of the party” ,“we would never hold power outright again.” – Gary Gibbon C4 news”

“Mr Cameron is a worried man, I’m very reliably informed. The PM has ordered an emergency push to deliver a “no” in the AV referendum at all costs – George Pascoe Watson – former Sun Political editor”

“David Davis leads revolt over ‘anti-Tory’ vote reform – The Mail”

These are all headlines and quotes from just one week in March 2011. The Tories, it seems, have just woken up to the fact they might lose the AV referendum and it will hurt them if they do. But it is not just that First Past the Post is the Tory electoral system of choice when it comes to seats that should get everyone in Labour behind the Yes campaign. There are two even more important reasons why they fear a Yes victory.

The first is the pressure it will put real pressure on the Coalition. Not so much in the sense that it emboldens the Liberal Democrats to break further away from their current partners but because it will encourage Tory backbenchers to ask what exactly they are getting from this Coalition and why did they get into it in the first place? Why did Cameron do a deal which has pegged back their views on a whole number of issues, not least Europe, but allowed a referendum which if passed will deal a death blow to their hopes of re-election? Why didn’t they go into minority government and squash both Labour and the Liberal Democrats at a second election? So the Scottish Herald had a headline that read “AV ‘Yes’ will hurt Coalition, says Tory minister”. Indeed it will.

But it is the wider political culture shift that AV brings and the Tories hate. First Past the Past is their system because it encourages an adversarial form of politics in which the Tory voting bloc can dominate politics. Shift to a more pluralist and constructive voting system in which candidates and parties have to court other voters and parties and then the Tories become isolated. They want the outcome of every election to remain in the hands of a few swing voters in a few swings seats. Just 1.6 per cent of the electorate deciding the outcome. Because then Ashcroft £ millions and Murdoch papers can shape the result.

One Party stands full square behind the No Campaign. The Tories . They know they will lose not just in terms of numbers but the culture of a new politics if AV goes through. The choice is getting clearer by the day.