Londoners - make your vote count!

Caroline Pidgeon joined politicians from across parties and across the capital today to launch an advertising campaign calling on Londoners to make their votes count on May 5th – by saying Yes to AV.

Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan MP and Murad Qureshi AM joined Lib Dems Simon Hughes MP and Caroline Pidgeon AM and the Green Party’s Jenny Jones AM.

Simon Hughes MP, Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make our political system fairer by giving more power to voters and reducing safe seats in parliament. It could be generations before this opportunity presents itself again. Let's make sure we don't miss out.”

Sadiq Khan MP, Tooting, said: “There are no local elections in London on the 5th May yet Londoners do have the opportunity to vote Yes in the national referendum to change our voting system. There's a danger that the rest of the country will decide for us. Londoners need to get out and vote and make our voices heard.”

Murad Qureshi AM said: “The simple fact is that first past the post is no longer fit for purpose. Both the Tories and the BNP are fighting hard to keep our present system, because they've both said that AV will hurt their chances. They're right, and that's why I'm voting Yes on 5th May.”

Jenny Jones AM said: “Many Londoners no longer fit into the 1950's two party political system and AV is a simple upgrade from our current system by enabling voters to express their real preferences and make their votes count.”

Caroline Pidgeon AM said: “In the last general election, around two-thirds of MPs were elected when a majority of their constituents didn’t even vote for them. London deserves better than this. We can make our voting system much fairer with AV as it would ensure MPs are elected with the support of over half of the electorate.”

To find out more about the campaign across London, and how to help in the next few days, see the Yes to Fairer Votes website.

Photos: Anna Gordon