Briefing: two votes and a referendum

04.05.2011

What does the AV referendum mean for UK politics?

This week sees three separate votes – the UK-wide referendum on the Alternative Vote, local elections across most of England, and elections to the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly.

In between a royal wedding, ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, and the death of Osama Bin Laden, none of these votes have really grabbed the public’s attention.

But in the political world, they matter. The AV referendum has caused an increasingly bitter argument between the Coalition parties. Over three-quarters of voters in England are voting in local elections, and election results in Wales and Scotland will be taken as signals about the parties’ UK-wide future.

What does this combination of elections and voting reform mean? How do these three votes interact? And where will it leave the Coalition?

In this note, we take a look at these questions, and analyse what this week of polling means for UK politics.