Horwood dismisses Brown election offer (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

Horwood dismisses Brown election offer

January 4, 2010 2:16 PM

CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood has echoed his leader Nick Clegg's dismissal of Gordon Brown's offer of electoral reform as motivated simply by 'the certain knowledge that Labour has lost the next General Election'. A pledge to hold a referendum on electoral reform after the General Election had been made before but the Prime Minister explicitly said 'we are for the alternative vote system' during in his interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr on Sunday.

Martin said: 'The voting system in this country is obviously unfair. In many parts of the country voting Conservative is a waste of time just as it's a waste of time voting Labour in Cheltenham. The Lib Dems earned about a quarter of the votes at the last General Election but got only a tenth of the seats. But how can you trust a Labour government to reform the system when they haven't done so for the last 13 years? Gordon Brown has only offered this because of the certain knowledge that Labour has lost the next General Election and thinks this could save them from oblivion.'

'Dangling the prospect of reform after the election is just a transparent attempt at electioneering. Gordon Brown wants reform-minded Lib Dems and others to give Labour another chance on the flimsy promise of reform at some unspecified date in the future. No-one is fooled. If Mr Brown really wants to reform the system, why doesn't he do it now?'

'The simple fact is that if you want more reform, you need more Liberal Democrats in Parliament'.