AV vote will not break the Coalition, insists Cameron

The AV referendum on voting reform will not pull apart the Tory-Lib Dem government, Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed as the war of words between the “Yes” and “No” camps grows increasingly bitter.

The PM, who opposes replacing the current first-past-the-post system, said the losing side would just have to “pick themselves up and get on with governing” after the poll on 5 May.

His comments came after former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown, writing in The Observer, accused Chancellor George Osborne – an opponent of AV – of “throwing mud” to “frighten the public” out of a change.

It’s a shame that the ‘No’ campaign has sunk to such desperate tactics as inventing fake stories. Mark Pack

Meanwhile an unnamed senior Lib Dem is said to have warned that Nick Clegg‘s leadership would be “at the edge of a precipice” should he lose the AV referendum.

But Mark Pack, the co-editor of Liberal Democrat Voice dismissed the suggestion, saying it could “not to be taken seriously as a prediction”.

Speaking to Channel 4 News he added: “It’s a shame that the ‘No’ campaign has sunk to such desperate tactics as inventing fake stories about counting machine costs, but it shows just how scared the old-fashioned political establishment is about a change that would give the public far more power in future elections.

“What’s been great to see is the high level of grassroots campaigning around the country for a ‘Yes’ vote, involving far more people than the ‘No’ campaign and bringing in many people who are new to political campaigning.”

On Mr Ashdown’s claims of “mudslinging” he said disagreements between leading politicians is “grown up”.

“Where politicians genuinely disagree on points of principle, as Ashdown and Osborne clearly do over electoral reform, I think it’s a sensible, grown up approach to let those differences show in public. So far from being worried, I welcome the way the referendum is highlighting some of those differences.”

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