Calamity Clegg rides again. The Liberal Democrats have been inviting ridicule by proposing a referendum they could easily lose on a voting system they don’t actually support. The proposed AV referendum on May 5th, the same day as the Scottish parliamentary elections, will be held at the height of the cuts controversy, with unemployment rising amid a wave of public sector strikes, and may simply provide an opportunity for disgruntled voters to register their disenchantment with the ConDem coalition. And it’s not even as if the Alternative Vote is proportional.
Then there is the Scottish question. I can understand why Alex Salmond is livid about having the Holyrood elections upstaged by a Great Debate on electoral reform. Just as in the May general election, the campaign will likely be dominated by televised debates generated by the London media and featuring prominent Westminster politicians like Nick Clegg, David Miliband, David Cameron. This could drown out the Nationalists just as they are trying to get a fair hearing for their case for re-election in Holyrood on May 5th.
