Percentage of votes in the result from the AV referendum
Yes
5,807,086
No
12,570,539
100% of voting areas declared
Latest AV results
Leicester votes: No
Copeland votes: No
Wycombe votes: No
Thanet votes: No
AV Results Map
Results of the AV referendum by area.
AV referendum: Britain overwhelmingly votes No
Plans to change the way the MPs are elected have been overwhelmingly rejected by voters.
Nearly 70 per cent of voters wanted the first past the post system to remain in a bitter blow to Nick Clegg who led the Yes Campaign Photo: GETTY
By Andrew Porter, and Christopher Hope 8:04PM BST 06 May 2011
More than two thirds of people voted to keep the first-past-the-post system in what was the first UK-wide referendum for 36 years.
With the count 85 per cent complete, the No to AV campaign passed the crucial figure of 9.87million votes at 7.41pm on Friday night to secure victory.
It was a boost to David Cameron who had campaigned hard for a No vote and a blow to Nick Clegg, who had made a referendum on voting reform a condition of the Coalition deal which is this week one year old.
The Prime Minister and his deputy had sharply contrasting fortunes on “Super Thursday” as voters went to the polls in council elections, and in assembly and parliament elections in Wales and Scotland. It was the first major test of opinion since the general election.
The Liberal Democrats were severely punished. They lost almost half their councillors in town halls across the country, while the Conservatives exceeded expectations.
But in an attempt to soften the blow for Mr Clegg, the Tories made a point of not trumpeting notable successes achieved in councils across the south at the expense of the Lib Dems.
Mr Cameron also ordered his party to not celebrate the AV victory too vocally, fearing it would further antagonise his Lib Dem partners after weeks of bitter Coalition in-fighting.
Astonishingly, at one point on Friday evening, before all the council votes had been declared, the Tories were actually ahead of Labour on share of the vote.
A projection put them on 38 per cent, down two on four years ago, Labour on 37 per cent, up 11 and the Lib Dems on 17, down seven on 2007 results. The party also claimed to have won at least half of all council seats up for election.
The party also looked on course to increase its number of councillors. Labour did far worse than many in the party had hoped. Ed Miliband did see his party win in Wales, but Labour was humiliated in Scotland and just managed to break through the 800 gains barrier in council elections that was deemed the benchmark for even modest success.
The Conservatives said Mr Miliband’s first test as party leader produced a worse result than Michael Foot achieved in 1981.
The Labour leader was also personally associated with the abject failure of the Yes campaign which is reeling from the country devastating verdict on the Alternative Vote.
However, Sadiq Khan, a close ally of the Labour leader and a fellow supporter of Yes to AV, blamed Nick Clegg for the debacle.
He said: “Because of your hunger for power, not principle, I’m afraid the chick’s come home to roost. For a generation now we’ve lost the chance for electoral reform.”
Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury, admitted: “It is disappointing that people have chosen to vote the way they have, but it is important to accept the people’s verdict and say that’s that.”
Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, concealing what was private Tory delight at the result, said the vigorous AV campaign would not affect the way the Coalition operated.
He added: “People voted to stick with the electoral system they know. It is tried and trusted and they know how to use it.”
Mr Cameron will now allow Mr Clegg time to engage with his party and try and regain some composure after a bruising few weeks.
The Prime Minister will ignore Mr Clegg’s decision to claim that it was his party supporters’ fears of a return to the 1980s policies of Margaret Thatcher that turned them against the Lib Dems.
But Mr Cameron came under pressure to resist holding out further policy concessions to the Lib Dems to help shore up Mr Clegg.
Mark Field, a backbench MP, said: “I’m pretty sure that David Cameron will be very energised by what’s happened. Clearly there will be an effort to try to sure up Nick Clegg’s position but I think the idea now that there will be a whole lot of policy concessions allowing the
Liberals to look good in the months to come is way, way short of the mark.”
Bill Cash, the veteran backbench Tory MP added: “The truth is, the Liberal Democrats have had an absolute thrashing and people voted ‘c’, they voted ‘c’ for Conservative, not for Coalition and I think that the attempt to give an impression that somehow or other everything will just go on as normal is just cloud cuckoo land.”
The spotlight will remain on relations between senior Lib Dem ministers and their Tory Cabinet colleagues.
Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, continued his attack on leading Tories days after he had confronted Mr Cameron and George Osborne over their backing of No to AV tactics.
He said he was angry because the Conservative party were “trashing” the Lib Dems after they had “compromised in the national interest”.
However, while he ruled out a challenge to the Lib Dem leader his words in the immediate aftermath of the Lib Dem meltdown were seen as equivocal. He said “now is not the time to change leader”.
He later told Channel Four News: “The people have spoken and they have voted in no uncertain terms.”
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