Back to blog
Clare Hudson
Clare Hudson
  • 1 Minute Read
  • 28th April 2011

The Royal Wedding overshadowing the Alternative Vote (AV)

Smiling faces of the soon-to-be-married couple are everywhere- pizza toppings, tea towels and china plates. It seems that people care more about a Kate look-alike jelly bean than Britain's future voting system.

I hope that William and Kate have an enjoyable day and I wish them all the best. However I can’t help thinking that as a nation we need to sort out our priorities. I recently read an article in The Sun that claimed the majority of sports fans thought AV meant Aston Villa.

I also read a few online articles that suggested the additional bank holiday will be bad for the economy and British business. Is this really true or is it just bad for certain businesses? China manufacturers and those selling Will and Kate memorabilia will certainly see sales rise.

The Royal Wedding hype overshadowing the 5th May is my primary concern. This combined with manipulative government advertising campaigns to scare us into voting No, if at all, makes me wonder how many people will bother at all. Is it not important for us to make our own minds up?

The current voting system has been in place since the 17th century and for the first time in history we have the opportunity to vote either yes or no to the following question:

At present, the UK uses the ‘first past the post’ system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the ‘alternative vote’ system be used instead?

To find out more and to make sure you are registered to vote, click here: https://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/referendum_2011.aspx?