Now that MPs are back at Westminster, they think it's possible to resume life as it was before - as if the expense scandal never happened. It's up to us to remind them that we've not forgotten - and that we'll be holding them accountable any way we can until we have a real voice in Parliament.
Since the middle of September, we've been visiting some of the worst offending MPs, and those with the power to change things at Westminster, with a primary-coloured carnival caravan we've dubbed the Gravy Train. Take a moment to watch a short video we put together chronicling the first day's route targeting MPs Ann Keen, Tony McNulty, and Claire Ward.
We have subsequently taken the Gravy Train to the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences, and to Hazel Blears' Salford constituency. Last week the Gravy Train was back in town to greet MPs upon their return to Westminster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVFG4HxlPXg
Our aim is to use a more light-hearted and visual approach as a way in to (i) discussing the impact of the voting system and why we need a change with a broader section of people (ii) lobbying specific MPs that are roadblocks to reform to try getting them to concede that a referendum is a necessary step to restoring public trust and engagement.
It's been quite a ride so far, and it's not over yet. Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking the Gravy Train to Yorkshire and Lancashire; visiting Yvette Cooper, Ed Balls, Jack Straw, Shahid Malik and David Blunkett.
We've got electoral reform on the agenda. And we're going to keep it there - by calling out MPs who stand in the way of reform, and by pressing our case for legislation that will put forward the timetable for a referendum.
3) Think of some creative way of showing your support for the campaign on 5 November and Bonfire Weekend. We have some suggestions for you to act on at your own bonfire / fireworks party or at communal event, and we'll be emailing them round next week. But in the meantime get your thinking caps on ... and even
your ideas so we can share them with everyone else.
Posted: 21/10/09
Response to Brown's AV referendum commitment
"We've changed the Government's position and we'll do it again"
That is our rallying cry in response to Gordon Brown's announcement this afternoon that the Labour Party will commit to holding a referendum on the Alternative Vote early in the next Parliament.
Tweet, update your Facebook status, text or email people getting the message out that Brown has recognised the strength of our arguments but appears to have fluffed his big moment. We need a democratising and empowering referendum on electoralreform before - or on the same day as - the next general election, and not after.
Six months ago I never would have believed that the Prime Minister would stand up at Labour Conference and effectively announce that First-Past-the-Post was unjustifiable in today's political world. Electoral reform is now seen as a pressing priority that received not just paragraphs in Brown's speech but a proposed timetable for delivery too.
That is the power of your actions. That is the pressure for change that you and everyone involved in Make Votes Count and the Vote for a Change campaign has created this year.
We've won the basic arguments. Thanks to your efforts the Prime Minister has conceded that if politics is to be "more open, more plural, more local, more democratic then big changes need to be made" - including changing the voting system.
BUT - and this is a huge but - the Government has failed to find the right policy. What Brown has announced satisfies no-one and delivers nothing. Cynically, it could be seen as an attempt to close down the debate on electoral reform this side of the General Election. We cannot allow that to happen.
That is why I am asking you straight away to write to Gordon Brown, and to your MP (or Labour parliamentary candidate if you know
them), strongly putting the case for real electoral reform, and for an election day referendum.
(i) The Government has the chance and the power to act now, this side of the General Election.
(ii) Labour promised in its 1997 manifesto a referendum on PR. The Alternative Vote is not proportional - so this is a step-back from that 1997 commitment.
(iii) Give voters a real choice over the system: it should not be the Government dictating the system that is on offer.
Send your letter to: The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA
We ramped up the pressure in the days before the Conference (from targeting MPs in their constituencies with our Gravy Train, to a hillside message to Gordon, to parking the Gravy Train outside the Conference centre http://www.voteforachange.co.uk/blog). And - with your help - we shall be doing so again in the coming days and weeks.
We have moved mountains already and we shall move them again.
