It was moved by Councillor Sir Ron Watson, seconded by Councillor Glover:
"That this Council:
Supports the Prime Minister in his opposition to the introduction of an Alternative Voting (AV) system;
Believes that AV is an unfair system that unduly complicates the electoral process and gives fringe parties several votes whilst supporters of mainstream candidates have one vote only;
Considers that as there are only three countries in the world using AV - Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Australia, this hardly represents an endorsement of the system by the international community;
Agrees with the Deputy Prime Minister, who has described AV voting as "a miserable little compromise" and with the late Lord Jenkins of Hillhead who has described AV as "disturbingly unpredictable"; and
Believes that introducing such a system in the UK would further alienate the general public from the democratic process and considers that Sefton should restate its commitment to "first past the post".
During the debate, Councillor Sir Ron Watson indicated that he would withdraw the words "Prime Minister in his" in the second line of the motion in order to gain all-party support for the motion.
Following debate, on a show of hands, the revised motion was carried by 35 votes to 23 and it was
RESOLVED:
That this Council:
Supports the opposition to the introduction of an Alternative Voting (AV) system;
Believes that AV is an unfair system that unduly complicates the electoral process and gives fringe parties several votes whilst supporters of mainstream candidates have one vote only;
Considers that as there are only three countries in the world using AV - Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Australia, this hardly represents an endorsement of the system by the international community;
Agrees with the Deputy Prime Minister, who has described AV voting as "a miserable little compromise" and with the late Lord Jenkins of Hillhead who has described AV as "disturbingly unpredictable"; and
Believes that introducing such a system in the UK would further alienate the general public from the democratic process and considers that Sefton should restate its commitment to "first past the post".