Miliband and Cable push case for yes vote minutes before David Cameron and former Labour home secretary Lord Reid appear at rival event for no camp

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Vince Cable became the most senior Lib Dem to appear with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, to push the case for a Yes vote in next month's referendum on the voting system.

Cable sought to highlight the "absurdity" of the current system, saying that if the Strictly Come Dancing programme on which he had appeared had been decided on a first past the post basis, the former Tory MP Ann Widdecombe would have been declared the undisputed best dancer in Britain.

He said: "The public there, and in many other ways, do understand run-offs, they do understand the basic principle of the alternative vote."

As the campaigns to change the voting system approach their halfway points, Cable teamed up with the Labour leader, the former home secretary Alan Johnson and the comedian Eddie Izzard as they pledged their support for the Yes campaign.

The event started just minutes before a rival event for the No camp, featuring the prime minister, David Cameron, and former Labour home secretary John Reid.

Miliband acknowledged that AV was not a "magic remedy or a magic cure", but added: "It can make for a more accountable politics, a fairer politics and a politics with a different culture".

Cable said he was "delighted" to be on the platform for the Yes campaign but also said he would like to see his party's leader, Nick Clegg, appear.

Miliband has vetoed appearing alongside Clegg, believing the Lib Dem leader's appearance would persuade more people to vote No in protest at his decisions since joining the coalition.

Speaking in public for the first time since his public criticism of the prime minister's speech on immigration, Cable made light of the row, pointing out that Cameron was elected as the leader of the Conservative party under the AV system.

"If they had their choice of leader determined by first past the post rather than an alternative vote system, I would now be conducting my amicable, businesslike coalition discussions on immigration with Mr David Davis," he said.

Cable dismissed as "bizarre" claims by the No campaign that ditching first past the post would provide a boost to extremist parties.

He said: "One of the most bizarre arguments used in this campaign is that somehow or other the AV system will favour extremist parties like the BNP. It will do exactly the opposite.

"The people who run the BNP may not be very bright, but at least they have worked out what's in their self-interest, and their self-interest is in opposing the alternative vote because every MP has got to reach out and get a majority of their electorate.

"It's much more difficult for extremists to accomplish that."

Miliband, meanwhile, dismissed another of the No campaign's suggestions – that switching from first past the post to AV would lead to more coalitions or involve expensive and complex counting machines.

The No campaign has made much of the cost of new technology to deal with a voting system with new ballot cards, producing a report last week in which it showed that the cost of running a general election would triple if there were a move to AV.

Miliband also chose to temper his one-time aggressive attitude towards Clegg, urging voters not to use the referendum as an opportunity to give the Liberal Democrat leader a "kicking".

"The chance to send a message to this Conservative-led government lies in the elections that are taking place in English local government, in Scotland and Wales," he said.

"This referendum is not about Nick Clegg, it's not about David Cameron, it's not about me. It is a chance to have a better politics in Britain.

"It is a chance to choose hope over fear. It is a chance to choose change over the status quo. I urge people to vote yes on 5 May."

Alan Johnson made his first appearance since leaving his role as the shadow chancellor in Miliband's shadow cabinet.

Boris Johnson has been volubly against AV, but his namesake pointed out that the London mayor had been elected by the supplementary vote system, a variant of AV.

And the former shadow chancellor also pointed out that Cameron's plan to elect police commissioners would use the supplementary vote. "I believe first past the post should be left where it belongs – on the race track," he said.