Labour Yes

UPDATE: 14/3/11 Due to overwhelming demand, we have had to close the registration for this event as the event is over-subscribed. Please accept our apologies but those who have not registered are unlikely to be admitted.

The Guardian’s Jackie Ashley to chair the event

New speakers announced for launch event: Alan Johnson, Liz Kendal, Susan Nash, Tony Robinson (sign up quickly - places are strictly limited)

Labour Yes is delighted to invite you to join us on Wednesday 16th March for the national launch of our campaign - with party leader Ed Miliband, and other senior Labour speakers including Ben Bradshaw, Neil Kinnock, Oona King, and Ken Livingstone, with other speakers to be confirmed.

The rally will take place on:
Wednesday March 16th, 6–7.30pm
Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton Street
London SW1P 3RB.

To register for free please click here:

Labour Yes brings together the many party members and supporters want to see a Yes vote in May’s referendum, alongside winning for Labour in May’s crucial elections. By making the democratic case for reform of our broken political system, we will reinforce Labour’s positive appeal to the electorate.

David Cameron and the Tories are desperate for a No Vote. They know that it would be a hammer-blow for their chances of dominating the 21st Century like they dominated the previous one.

AV is a fairer alternative which would make MPs work harder to broaden their base of support in the community. Changing the system to AV will mean that the majority get their voices heard; it will shut the door on extremist parties like the BNP. And under AV, every Labour Party member and supporter, in every seat in the country, can show their true first preference is for Labour, in the knowledge their vote won’t be wasted.

We do hope you will be able to join us next week. Please rsvp using the following link:

Fourteen leading Labour lights have been announced as spokespeople for the campaign for a Yes vote in May’s referendum on the alternative vote.

The list includes big hitters and rising stars including Neil Kinnock, Douglas Alexander, Gloria De Piero and David Lammy. (more…)

UPDATE: 9/3/11 - Daily Mail reports Tory crisis talks over the prospect of an AV victory.

Many Labour supporters understandably want to punish Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems in May for their broken promises. But it is rapidly becoming clear that the party which stands to lose out most from the referendum are the Tories, who are getting increasingly panicked at the prospect of a Yes vote.

They understand that a Yes would be a hammer-blow for the forces of Conservatism in the UK, from which they may never recover. Labour should not lose sight of the real target as we go to the polls in May.

Look at what the media have been saying a NO vote would mean for the Tories:

“The cry will be: “First he [Cameron} messes up the election. Now he’s messed up the referendum. We’ll never govern again on our own - and I’m going to lose my seat” Conservative Home

David Davis: “anti-Tory’ vote reform”, Daily Mail

” If our voting system remains the same, he’ll be a stronger prime minister. But if it changes, he risks becoming the Conservative Party’s next lost leader”, Daily Telegraph

“…an AV win would be “a dagger at the heart of the party,” “we would never hold power outright again”, Channel 4

“…general elections for years to come will be Conservative Party disasters”, George Pascoe-Watson

“A Yes victory would be the most destabilising thing for the Coalition”, The Herald.

David Cameron’s speech today to the Conservative Spring Forum saw him repeat his misplaced analogy between our broken voting system and Olympic sprinting.

But this is yet more evidence of Tory hypocrisy. Cameron owes his job to the fact that the Tories themselves reject First Past the Post as a system for electing their leader - as Newsnight’s Michael Crick observes here.

As Labour Yes Spokesman Ben Bradshaw commented :

In their last leadership election David Davis was the Tories’ ‘Usain
Bolt’. David Cameron would be wise to remember that next time he tries
defending our broken voting system.

“The Tories don’t use First Past the Post to elect their own. Why then
is it the right choice for the British people?

“AV will make MPs more accountable, and make it harder for them to
keep safe seats for life. Why does Cameron have a problem with that?

A week after Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers Alliance led a No2AV leafletting session in Birmingham, the local Yes to Fairer Votes group joined ‘Birmingham Against the Cuts’ in a mass demonstration in the city centre.

(more…)

Today Conservative Home exclusively revealed that seven Conservative MPs and two unsuccessful candidates from the 2010 General Election have joined the NOtoAV campaign as official spokes people. As written on ConHome:

They can be expected to play a leading role during the forthconing referendum in highlighting the message of why people should vote against changing our electoral system both in the media and in debates taking place up and down the country.

In fact, George Eustice one of the names listed as a spokesman for the NOtoAV campaign, conceded on Newsnight that AV would cost the Tories seats.

(more…)

In the first of our campaign videos, Labour Yes asks why Cameron and the Tories are so firmly against a change to the voting system.

Watch the video below and please forward to friends.

Last week we released a document outlining Tory support for a No vote in May’s referendum which you can read here.

Anyone remember February 1975? I was twelve at the time. The only thing I can vividly recall was in May of that year was crying shed loads of tears at my Gran’s house watching on TV my beloved Leeds United being cheated out of victory in the European Cup Final in Paris against Bayern Munich.

Something else happened that year, three months prior to this, and whilst I can’t remember the moment (I’ve cried as many tears since) Mrs Thatcher became Tory leader. Little did then the country at large realise the extent to which the political discourse throughout Britain would change irrevocably. (more…)

It came as no surprise to anyone that today Prime Minister David Cameron came out in support of the No2AV campaign.

“Cameron and the Tories have always been against voting reform—and have quickly forgotten the lessons of the expenses scandal. The Alternative Vote (AV) would give more power to the public and make MPs more accountable. On this as on so much else, now they’re in Government we can see they’re the same old Tories,” Ben Bradshaw MP campaign spokesperson for Labour Yes said today. (more…)

Today’s announcement of Prime Minister David Cameron’s official support for the No2AV campaign comes as no surprise to anyone.

“Cameron and the Tories have always been against voting reform – and have quickly forgotten the lessons of the expenses scandal. The Alternative Vote (AV) would give more power to the public and make MPs more accountable. On this as on so much else, now they’re in Government we can see they’re the same old Tories,” Ben Bradshaw MP campaign spokesperson for Labour Yes said today.

“The Tories are in favour of the status quo and maintaining a system that has served them well in the past electorally, but they also know that under the current system they can get away with savaging our public services with savage cuts without facing any real accountability from the electorate.”

(more…)