Clegg: Coalition 'Will Go On After AV Vote' - Sky News

4:07pm UK, Thursday April 21, 2011

Nick Clegg has hit out at "falsehoods" from the campaign against the alternative vote, but insisted the coalition would continue to work regardless of the referendum result.

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Both the Prime Minister and the Liberal Democrat leader have said there would be no ill will between the Government partners - even though each party disagrees over voting reform.

There is two weeks to go until the referendum on whether AV should replace first-past-the-post is held.

The Tories support the "No to AV" campaign, with David Cameron dismissing the voting system as "obscure and unfair".

Other figures of the No campaign have claimed AV would help extremist parties and would require expensive vote counting machines.

In a speech outlining his case for AV, Mr Clegg said: "The No campaign seems less interested in making the positive case for first-past-the-post than attacking a ludicrous caricature of AV.

"The arguments being used against AV fall into two equally flawed categories - distractions and falsehoods."

The Deputy Prime Minister argued the alternative vote addressed "some of the deepest problems in our current system".

"It means all MPs will have to try to win the support of a majority of their constituents instead of relying on their core vote," he said.

"It will help to reduce the complacency of MPs with jobs for life in safe seats. AV simply updates our voting system to give people more power, and more choice."

Mr Clegg had been absent from Monday's cross-party "Yes to AV" event, when Labour leader Ed Miliband stood up with the Lib Dems' Vince Cable.

Previously Mr Miliband had refused to share an AV platform with the Deputy PM, saying Mr Clegg should "lie low" for the sake of the Yes campaign.

However, since then the opposition leader has said the May 5 referendum is not a vote on personalities.

Will there really be no more safe seats under alternative vote? The safest seats of all could well remain as safe as (duck) houses.

Read Ruth Barnett's Boulton & Co blog

Amid the row over AV there was also speculation on whether it would provoke a serious backlash among the backbenchers of whichever of the two parties loses out.

But Mr Clegg said: "This is a strong coalition, forged at a time of crisis.

"The work of this Government will continue in the national interest regardless of the result of the referendum."

However, he added: "It is indeed true that the coalition Government is not delivering the whole Lib Dem manifesto.

"But that's because I'm the leader of a party with 57 MPs out of 650.

"If people want more Liberal Democrat policies the way to get them is to elect a majority Liberal Democrat government. That didn't happen.

"In the meantime, I will continue to make what are sometimes difficult compromises, but ones which are always shaped as best I can by the Liberal values I hold dear."