Scotland plans PR for local elections
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Your support makes all the difference.The Liberal Democrats hailed a deal with Labour to introduce proportional representation in Scottish council elections and said it could lead to the system being adopted throughout the UK.
They believe the move will revive pressure on the Government to consider bringing in PR for Westminster parliamentary elections, as well as the contests for English town halls.
Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, plans to warn Tony Blair not to abandon his promises on electoral reform in his end of conference speech.
Jim Wallace, the Scottish Deputy First Minister, was cheered by delegates as he announced the decision of the ruling Scottish Executive, a coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrat members.
"A few minutes ago, the Scottish Parliament was told of the Scottish Cabinet's intention, by March next year, to publish a Bill to introduce the single transferable vote for local elections," he said. "We should not underestimate, nor will we, the opposition we will encounter. Those whose power is vested in the current unrepresentative system won't let it slip away without a fight.
"But we have both surely and steadily built up the consensus for reform and no one should underestimate our determination to deliver."
Supporters of electoral reform insist they are slowly winning their campaign, with elections to the European Parliament, Scottish Parliament and Welsh, Northern Ireland and London assemblies being conducted by proportional representation. However, the Government has dropped its 1997 manifesto promise to hold a referendum on changing the voting system for Westminster.
Mr Wallace said he was confident that the Scottish local elections of 2007 would be fought by proportional representation. But legislation changing the system will not pass through the Edinburgh Parliament until after its next elections in May, by which time the political landscape north of the border could have radically changed.
Mr Wallace said anybody who thought the existing first-past-the-post system was democratic "clearly needs to examine their dictionary".
"Democratic renewal of local government will only come about when local councils are truly representative of the communities they serve," he said.
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