Local MP Greg Barker launched the local No to AV campaign at Devonshire Square in Bexhill and outside the Abbey in Battle on Friday, gathering with supporters to urge local people to get out and vote ‘no’ in the Referendum on 5th May.
Speaking in support of keeping the “First Past the Post” system, Greg said:
“The AV referendum on May 5th is one of the most important political events in years.
I believe AV is the wrong system for Britain. It is complex, doesn’t improve fairness and is used by only three other countries in the world. In Australia where they have it, 6 out of 10 people want to get rid of it!
Even the ‘yes’ campaigners don’t really want AV – they’ve argued before that it’s a system that doesn’t work but they see it as a stepping stone to more reforms.
The independent commission chaired by a senior Lib Dem concluded that AV was ‘even less proportional’ than our existing system, and warned that it was ‘disturbingly unpredictable’.
A ‘no’ vote is not a vote against political reform, it is a vote against an expensive, discredited process with doesn’t work.
The principle of ‘one person – one vote’ is fundamental to our democracy here in Britain and we should fight to protect it.”