[EM] Lib Dems warn Blair to look at how Britain votes

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

Lib Dems warn Blair to look at how Britain votes

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy warned on 
Sunday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair risked losing the support of 
the left-wing party if he did not hold a referendum on proportional 
representation. 

Kennedy, who on Monday heads into his first meeting with Blair since he took 
over as head of Britain's second opposition party in September, said the 
agenda would include freedom of information, House of Lords reform and the 
way Britons vote. 

``I certainly don't see any future prospect for further constitutional 
cooperation between the two parties'' he told the BBC, if Blair's Labour 
Party were unable to make a commitment to a referendum on proportional 
representation. 

Kennedy said he was not expecting a referendum on the voting system to be 
held tomorrow but stressed that his party had made its position clear and 
would not allow him to move away from it. 

``They would say the curtain comes down at that point, so I don't think 
there's room for manoeuvre there,'' he said. 

Kennedy has made no secret of his willingness to work with Labour to lock the 
Conservatives out of government but has stressed that his Liberal Democrats 
were ``nobody's poodles.'' 

Backers of proportional representation say it ensures that the makeup of the 
members of parliament at Westminster more accurately reflects voters' party 
preferences. 

Blair has shelved a report by the Jenkins Commission which proposed replacing 
the first-past-the-post system with the Alternative Vote Top-Up. 

Blair has been cool on the idea, especially after Labour fared badly in 
European parliament elections in June that were run under the proportional 
representation list system for the first time. 

Kennedy said that, with the Conservatives in disarray, it was time for the 
Liberal Democrats to emerge as a more positive alternative. 

``The Conservatives are split down the middle over Europe, they can't even 
agree on a candidate for the mayor of London, they are in a shambolic 
state,'' he said. 

``There is a big opportunity for a constructive, coherent opposition party 
which can cooperate with the government where it makes sense but can actually 
give the most telling opposition critique of the government and an 
alternative view where that makes sense as well.'' 

11:29 12-12-99