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Meeting of the Parliament 18 November 2010

18 Nov 2010 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Alternative Vote Referendum Date

Curran, Margaret Lab Glasgow Baillieston Watch on SPTV

That is to argue on the head of a pin. The electorate will go to the ballot box wanting to know what decisions they have to make and how many votes they have. The last time, they went into polling stations with three decisions to make and mistakes took place. This time, they will have three decisions to make. The member’s attempt to highlight some subtle difference does not translate into practice.

We have to think about the practicalities, and we must ensure that there is not a distraction from the key issues of the Scottish Parliament elections. As many people have said, we have no idea how the media will behave and we do not know how the various stakeholders will behave, including the political parties, which have different views about the AV referendum. We do not know how election materials will be dealt with. We still have to wait for clarification about which election materials will be paid for and which will not.

The debate on the AV vote will take a different shape in different parts of the country. In Northern Ireland, where there are to be three elections, there will be a very different debate about AV compared with the debates in Scotland and in England. That undermines the validity of the AV referendum, as those arrangements mean that it will not be fair and transparent.

I cannot believe what has happened to the Lib Dems during the short time that I have been at Westminster. Nick Clegg, who seems to eat his words on a daily basis, used to describe the AV referendum as a “miserable little compromise” that he would not accept. Now, all of a sudden, the Lib Dems have done a somersault and are pulling out all the stops to ensure that it happens.

The Lib Dems in Scotland have changed remarkably, too, perhaps with the honourable exception of Jim Tolson, who I believe has taken a principled decision on the matter. They seem to have changed so much. They used to be a distinct political party within a coalition arrangement, with a distinct agenda that had been properly negotiated. Now, they are turning everything on its head all of a sudden. Even Mike Rumbles has been muzzled to the point that he will defend the Government line at any cost. That is not the Mike Rumbles that I used to know—never loved, but used to know.

Now that the Lib Dems are with the Tories, they are turning themselves inside out. I cannot accept politically that they have sold so short the cause of proportional representation, which matters so much to them. They have harped on about that cause all the time that I have been in Scottish politics, but they have sold it short for an AV referendum and attached it to a political fix with the Tories. They are undermining their own cause. I would be open-minded about a referendum, but I am so offended that the Lib Dems have undermined Scottish legitimacy that I certainly would not associate myself with anything that they propose.

In conclusion, I will tell members about the real experience at Westminster. What has been proposed has all the hallmarks of a political fix. We are talking about a significant bill being rushed through the Westminster Parliament. That demonstrates a disregard for the Scottish Parliament and is completely unacceptable. I hope that the Scottish Parliament will send a strong signal to Westminster that it will not put up with it. I think that I have the Lib Dems on record as saying that the Scottish Parliament reflects the opinions of the Scottish people. I will go down to Westminster and argue for Scotland, even if other Scottish representatives will not do so.

15:46

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Meeting of the Parliament 18 November 2010

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