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Sat 05 May 2011Scotland goes its own way
IT HAS often been said of referendums in Ireland that you can put a question to the people but there’s no way of making sure they don’t respond to an entirely different one. The chance to hold politicians to some kind of account does not come around that often. Carpe diem.
And so it was with electoral reform in the United Kingdom – a once-in-a-generation opportunity lost. Voters were determined to punish Nick Clegg and his Liberal Democrats for their involvement with the deficit reduction programme of the Conservatives. And so they defeated by a resounding majority the proposal to move to the Alternative Vote (AV) system. Only weeks ago AV enjoyed majority voter support.
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