Celebrities line up for electoral reform rally
Thursday, 9 July 2009 3:20 PM
By Ian Dunt
Activists and celebrities will gather in central London tonight for a rally on electoral reform, designed to maintain a sense of momentum on the issue after the expenses scandal.
Supporters of reform have been given added impetus after two prominent Cabinet members started making increasingly outspoken statements on the issue.
Alan Johnson, home secretary, and John Denham, local government secretary, have both recently made public statements calling for reform. Mr Denham will be speaking at tonight's rally.
Willie Sullivan, of Vote for a Change, which organised the event, said: "Politicians should realise that the expenses crisis is an opportunity to turn the page on discredited politics.
"The single best decision they could make is to hand over the mantle of reform to the public."
Also addressing activists will be folk musician and left-wing firebrand Billy Bragg, poet Dave Neita, Blur's Dave Rowntree, Helena Kennedy QC, human rights activist Peter Tatchell, Lib Dem frontbencher Jo Swinson and Gerrard Battten MEP.
Debate over the system by which Britain votes came back into the limelight from nowhere once the MPs' expenses scandal broke.
Mr Johnson wants a referendum on an alternate voting system on the same day as the next general election, but movement from the government has been sporadic and timid.
The Conservatives oppose any change to first-past-the-post, but the Lib Dems are long-standing supporters.
Those who back the current system argue that it provides a link for each voter to his elected representative and that it keeps minority parties such as the BNP out.
But opponents point to the democratic deficit it creates, and the prevalence of a 'safe seat mentality' among MPs who are certain of their position because of the character of the constituency they represent.
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