No to AV in landslide vote

Saturday 7th May 2011, 11:30AM BST.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg
David Cameron and Nick Clegg

Britain has overwhelmingly rejected the alternative vote system in a referendum to decide how MPs should be elected.

The No vote won 68 per cent of national support, delighting David Cameron, but leaving Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg in crisis.

In the West Midlands, 1,157,772 people came out against the alternative vote, or 71 per cent, compared to 461,847 in favour.

After all 440 referendum results had been declared, 13 million people had voted to keep the first-past-the-post system to elect MPs, against 6.1 million backing the alternative vote.

The referendum was one of the key Lib Dem demands when they agreed to form a coalition government.

The party lost around 700 councillors in England and haemorrhaged support to the Scottish National Party, which claimed an historic outright majority north of the border. Responding to the AV vote, Mr Clegg said today: “This is a bitter blow for all those people — like me — who believe in the need for political reform.

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  1. 1
    smelly

    yes clegg its a bitter blow when the leader of the third placed party becomes deputy prime minister

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  2. 2
    Fox in a Box

    Amazing, they can give the U.K. a referendum on a subject that by this result proved no one was remotely interested in, but still no referendum on what the public really want a say on, such as E.U. membership and Capital Punishment, its a scandal.
    The LibDems have proved them selves to be a political joke, who will throw away any principles just to get a taste of power. I feel sorry for LibDem supporters, much the same as people who voted Labour before Blair, yet still blindly vote “New” Labour, how do you do it? they are not even the same parties!

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  3. 3
    andym

    now we got this micky mouse referendum can we have the one which the peaple of this country realy want one off is a referendum on european union but we wont get that as our traitors in our parliament wont let us as they no we will pull us out off there

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