AN MP warns that holding the alternative vote referendum on the same day as the Welsh Assembly election is a big mistake.
Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies says it will be “the biggest non-event since national tiddlywinks week”.
Mr Davies, the Tory who took the Montgomeryshire seat from the LibDems in the General Election, says his commitment to the coalition government is strong.
“I readily admit to being impressed by all the LibDem members of the Cabinet,” he says.
“So what’s gone wrong? I’ll tell you what’s gone wrong. It’s the date of the proposed AV referendum that’s gone wrong. It’s totally unacceptable to me.
“May 5 is the date of the General Election to the National Assembly for Wales. For three years I have argued that another constitutional referendum on law making powers for the Assembly should not be held on May 5, 2011, so how on earth can I accept that an AV referendum can be held on the same date? In fact this new proposal is much, much worse,” he added.
Some 44 MPs, including Mr Davies, have signed an Early Day Motion against holding the referendum on electoral reform on the same day as the elections to the devolved chambers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Mr Davies says national newspapers read in Wales are printed outside of Wales.
“In my opinion, if the date is not changed the AV referendum will be lost,” he says. “The voters never like being treated like dupes.”
Under the post-election agreement reached by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, the coalition is committed to hold a referendum on adopting the ‘alternative vote’ system.
This allows voters to rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.
The Montgomeryshire MP has been accused in some quarters of deliberately trying to sideline the AV referendum in the hope the coalition will have imploded by then.
But Mr Davies says his stance has got nothing to do with frustrating the election.
“There has got to be a referendum on the alternative vote because that is what we agreed, but there could be a situation whereby there are three elections in three months and that seems a bit much.
“Those 44 MPs all have their different reasons for signing the Early Day Motion. I resisted pressure to take my name off that list,” he said.
The MP is set to raise the issue on the first day back in Parliament on September 6.