Sir, We will vote “No” on May 5 because we think AV is less fair than our current system and that it will provide an opportunity for extremist parties such as the BNP and Respect to increase their vote, become more influential and legitimise their participation in mainstream British politics.
Under first past the post (FPTP), everyone is entitled to a vote and the BNP has never been elected to Parliament. In Nick Griffin’s words, for the BNP “to continue fighting first-past-the-post elections and securing an ever-dwindling vote is simply a recipe for demoralisation and failure”. The BNP has long complained that FPTP puts the party at a “hugely unfair disadvantage”.
AV would provide oxygen to groups such as the BNP and Respect. While we hope that they would still not win seats, AV would certainly give such extremists a bigger platform, with more votes, more attention and more legitimacy. AV could lead to BNP MPs if, as Nick Clegg and the “Yes” campaign want, this becomes a “step in the right direction” to proportional representation.
Cllr Nilgun Canver, Chair, Labour Friends of Turkey; Sir Trevor Chinn, Jewish Leadership Council; Stephen Chung, Solicitor, Manchester; Richard Harrington, MP; Tony Ip, Chairman, Chinese Chamber of Commerce (UK); Lord Janner of Braunstone; Sen Kandiah, Chair, Tamils for Labour; Zakir Khan, Conservative Friends of Bangladesh; Abby King Khawaja, Conservative Arab Group; Kwasi Kwarteng, MP; Kam Lee, Chair, Conservative Chinese Group; Sonny Leong, Chairman, Chinese for Labour; Khalid Mahmood, MP; Priti Patel, MP; Stuart Polak, Director, Conservative Friends of Israel; Lord Popat; Dr Rami Ranger, Chairman, British Sikh Association; Patrick Ratnaraja, Vice-Chairman, British Tamil Conservatives; Keith Vaz, MP