Coalition set to fall out over voting

THE coalition partners are squaring up for a bruising 10-month fight after David Cameron confirmed he will campaign against ditching the first-past-the-post voting system in a referendum next May.

Many Tory backbenchers are angry that, in a major victory for the Liberal Democrats. the referendum – expected to be confirmed next week for May 5 by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg – will be held less than a year into the coalition.

It will give voters a say in whether the current system should be replaced by the Alternative Vote (AV), where candidates are ranked in order of preference so ultimately need the backing of 50 per cent of voters to be elected.

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The referendum was arguably the biggest concession secured by the Lib Dems when forming coalition but there is fury on the Tory Right the offer was ever made and MPs are already pressing for the date to be changed so it does not happen on the same day as elections for English councils, the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.

Downing Street confirmed the Prime Minister will support the "no" campaign, sparking a 10- month test for the coalition as Tories and Lib Dems form separate camps.

But the vote will also pose uncomfortable questions for Labour, because its MPs are divided over AV. Leadership candidates David and Ed MiIiband and Ed Balls both backed the change yesterday, but Andy Burnham dismissed voting reform as a "peripheral issue".

Mr Balls and Shadow Justice Secretary Jack Straw condemned the way the referendum will be bundled together in a Government Bill with Tory proposals to re-draw boundaries to ensure a more equal number of voters in each.

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Mr Clegg, MP for Sheffield Hallam, is expected to announce the date of the referendum next week following approval by the Cabinet. He has hailed it as a "once in a generation chance" to make the electoral system fairer.

Tory MPs will be whipped to back the Bill but bitter opposition to electoral reform among many backbenchers may provoke a rebellion against Mr Cameron. They will then be free to campaign for a "no" vote in the referendum itself.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "He will be campaigning against AV. I can't predict precisely how the campaign will unfold but clearly he is going to be asked his views during that campaign and he will make them clear."

Supporters of AV – which allows voters to number candidates by preference – say it is fairer because it requires the winner to secure more than 50 per cent approval. But it falls well short of the Lib Dems' long-held desire for a move to proportional representation for Westminster elections.

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Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said the spring date meant the referendum – which he branded a "concession too far" – was being held "with indecent haste".

"You would think people would want to see how a coalition government ran for a number of years before they were invited to vote to say whether they wanted a that made that more likely," he said.

But Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West, said: "There's a lot of anger around the country about the state of the political system, particularly over the MPs expenses scandal, and we all need to make sure votes actually count."