Miliband: AV would make parties ‘reach out’ to others
Ed Miliband, Labour leader, made for the alternative vote on the Today programme:
“In the end my case is very clear for the alternative vote, it’s a case for a system where anyone who is elected must seek a majority of the vote, which you don’t have under first-past-the-post.
“It’s the case for a system that I think would change our political culture and would mean that people would need to reach out to other parties.
“Under the current system, we only have incentive to go into elections saying how much we hate each other.
“I am determined to lead a party that has a political culture of reaching out, proud to be Labour but reaching out to others.
“My concern throughout this campaign has been that it doesn’t become a referendum on a particular individual, Nick Clegg, David Cameron or indeed myself.
“The reason I did not share a platform with Nick Clegg is because I didn’t want it to become what in some people’s minds I think it still is, which is a referendum on Nick Clegg and some of the promises he has broken.
“This isn’t about Nick Clegg. This is about whether we change our politics for the better and this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do it.”
