Give the #NotoAV campaign their due – their propaganda is compelling but that is all it is – propaganda

This morning through the letterbox I got a #NotoAV leaflet and I’m sitting her perusing it. If I wasn’t interested at all in politics I have to say that they put together some excellent points. However the fact that I am and know most of what is written is lies and misinformation my heart just sinks that little bit.

Howver I won’t swell on the insides – the back cover is where it is at. A big picture of Nick Clegg holding up his NUS pledge sign under the headline ‘AV Leads to Broken Promises’. Just to point out here that FPTP led to that broken being broken but who wants facts when they can have propaganda? They go on ‘Nick Clegg is unpopular because he broke his promises’

job cuts

VAT increase

tuition fees

public spending cuts

So the No team have decided that the best form of defence of the current system is to attack Nick Clegg. In a country where coalitions are not commonplace and tribalistic politics has long dominated this is no surprise. The No team don’t want a third-party (or heck even more) muscling their way in on the action. Labour and the Tories know that the Lib Dems are a threat (under any electoral system) but that also the party are at this current juncture down in the polls for going into a coalition. Nick Clegg is extremely unpopular because he’s the leader of this party so they are hoping that using short-term hatred of Clegg from the masses they can win the referendum.

Who knows the future will hold? To close their leaflet with ‘The only vote that would count under AV would be Nick Clegg’s’ shows just how desperate they are to win the vote. The people vote and the numbers are added up at the end and when that happens if a party has 50%+ of the seats then they can form a government. Seems simple enough and then it comes down to pure maths. Between them Labour and the Lib Dems could not put through any laws without help from the other parties so they would have formed a weak government. The maths show that the Tories and the Lib Dems could and therefore that is what happened.

The people of this country will vote and then we’ll see what happens. What happens if under AV Labour or the Tories win 50%+ of the seats in the House of Commons? Then Nick Clegg – or any other leader of any party has a say in what government would be formed. under AV – just like under FPTP – people will vote and then the votes will be added up and a government will be formed.

I just hate propaganda. Just deal in facts. I don’t know what will happen in the next General Election whether we have AV or FPTP and nor does anyone else and so to say that Nick Clegg will without a doubt be the only person that matters is a lie. Lies don’t go down well in my world so clearly I will not be voting No on May 5th. Tell me why FPTP is great in the 21st Century when so many people are disaffected with the big three parties and are moving towards fringe parties? Oh wait you can’t. Politics is a mess at the moment and our electoral system might be the biggest mess of it all. It might be simple but it is not a fair reflection of the wishes of the people in this nation. AV isn’t perfect but it’s a step in the right direction. If the Yes campaign lose then we won’t see electoral change for another generation and by then the rate things are going UKIP, Greens, Lib Dems et al may make up 40-45% of the electorate but only 10-15% of the House of Commons? Is that fair? I do not think so.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Please leave any comments or contact me directly via the E-Mail Me link on the Right Hand Nav. You can stay in touch with the blog following me on Twitter or by liking the blog on Facebook. Please share this content via the Social Media links below if you think anyone else would enjoy reading.