AV will begin era of political co-operation, says Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband today backed a change to Britain's voting system by suggesting it could usher in an era of cross-party co-operation.

The Labour leader argued a switch to the alternative vote would encourage traditional rivals to build "bridges not barriers" in a bid to keep out opponents.

He claimed the move would benefit the "progressive majority" which has suffered defeat after defeat to the Conservatives because of divisions on the Centre and Left. His aides said AV could see similar-minded parties asking supporters to use their second-preference votes to back each other, in turn seeking greater consensus and finding ways to work together.

The suggestion raises the prospect of Labour and the Liberal Democrats seeking closer ties to keep out the Tories once the Coalition has run its course.

Mr Miliband insisted he would still be campaigning for a Labour majority if voters back a move to AV but said: "The problem about our system is it actually encourages us to paint the enormous differences that we see and never to emphasise any points that we have in common.

"This system - actually irrespective of your view about what kind of progressive government you want - mitigates against it because actually you have one Conservative party and a number of parties competing for the progressive vote."

Today he appeared with Liberal Democrat and Green Party politicians - he refused to share a platform with Nick Clegg - to launch the official Yes to Fairer Votes campaign, which supports a change to AV at the referendum.

On May 5 voters will be asked whether to stick with the existing first-past-the-post system, where an X is placed next to one candidate, or switch to AV where candidates are ranked in order of preference. Under AV, the first choices are counted and if nobody has a 50 per cent winning share, the candidate with fewest number of votes is eliminated and their second choices allocated to the rest. This goes on until someone has more than half the votes.

Mr Miliband said AV would be "good for voters and good for democracy" by forcing parties to reach out and ensuring more voices are heard. "This is a chance to change politics as usual. We should seize it," he said.

A referendum on the voting system was a key part of the coalition deal between the Tories and Lib-Dems but Mr Miliband urged voters not to focus on the implications for David Cameron and Mr Clegg.

Amid fears that turnout in the referendum in London could be as low as 15 per cent, Labour's Tessa Jowell issued a direct appeal to Standard readers. "This is an opportunity Londoners should not miss," she said.