Labour failure on PR

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/29/labour-failure-on-pr

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Austin Mitchell suggests rather unrealistically (Letters, 28 February) that the Lib Dems should have held out for proportional representation in the coalition negotiations. He should remember that the last Labour government failed to deliver the referendum on PR that was promised when it was elected in 1997. Then, having decisively lost the general election in 2010, Labour said it was unable to deliver its remaining MPs in support of a referendum on the much more modest proposal to use the alternative vote (even though this proposal was in its own manifesto). Many of the MPs then opposed their leader in the referendum campaign. So Labour must share some responsibility for where we are now and where we may be heading. If people like Austin Mitchell really wish to avoid Tory dominance in future, whether in a devolved England or across the UK, they will have to persuade their colleagues to think again about proportional representation.<br /><strong>Chris Rennard</strong><br /><em>Liberal Democrat, House of Lords</em>