Brown's bombshell on voting reform just a 'worthless gimmick', say Lib Dems (UK)

Daily Mail ^ | February 2, 2010 | James Chapman

[C19fan]

Gordon Brown's plan for a referendum on scrapping Britain's first-past-the-post voting system was today labelled a 'gimmick' by opposition MPs.

In what was billed as a major speech on constitutional reform just weeks before an election Labour is expected to lose, he announced plans for a referendum on whether to change the way MPs are elected. Brown made it clear any such change would take place after the looming election. The plan was to introduce legislation that would require a referendum to be held by October 2011. ...................................................

The move towards an ' alternative vote' system, which would see candidates ranked in order of preference, will be seen as a desperate attempt to attract the support of the Liberal Democrats.

[C19fan]

Gordo taking another chop at Britain's unwritten constitution and traditions. At least the Liberal-Democratic proposal of multi-member constituencies was actually the norm in Britain until the 1880s.

[Gay State Conservative]

I think it was Stalin who said that it matters not who *casts* the votes,only who *counts* them.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

From the headline, I first thought this was about Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) shaking things up already.