Proceeding contribution from Austin Mitchell (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 19 October 2010. It occurred during Debate on bill and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill.
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill
Perhaps the Minister can help me with a further point. It is good to see the Government being so nice and sensitive, in that they will not force people to vote for the whole slate; they will allow people to choose how many candidates they vote for—that is the essence of what he is saying, I think. But will that not produce unpredictable results, in that if someone votes for the whole slate—for a first, second, third, fourth and fifth preference, or whatever—their vote counts more heavily than that of someone who votes for just one or perhaps two candidates under the London system? Does that not open up the possibility of the donkey vote, which we all know applies in Australia, whereby less-informed voters simply list the candidates in first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth place according to where they are on the form? There is therefore a great premium on having a name beginning with A. For that reason, when the system comes in, I will change my name to A1 Austin. The donkey vote will count more than legitimately calculated and thought-out votes.
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 516 c850
- Session
- 2010-12
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Boundary commissions Constituency size Alternative vote Electoral register General elections Referendums Voting methods Reform Reviews
- Legislation
- Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill 2010-12
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2023-12-15 13:15:57 +0000
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_670324
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_670324
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_670324