Referendum campaigners fear royal wedding distraction
The alternative vote referendum campaign will be ‘swamped’ by the royal wedding, the head of the ‘no’ campaign has admitted.
Matthew Elliott conceded to politics.co.uk that Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton would ‘dominate’ headlines at exactly the time when the public debate on electoral reform should be reaching its climax.
“The debate is all about for and against AV, and not being the most sexy subject it will actually be difficult to set the public imagination alight,” he admitted.
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The coalition government has arranged for the referendum to take place on May 5th, the same day as local elections in England and elections to the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
That comes just six days after the royal wedding on April 29th, a fact which has already outraged some Liberal Democrat pro-AV campaigners.
“The two weeks building up to the royal wedding will be largely dominated about Kate’s dress and where William’s gone on his stag night,” Mr Elliott said.
“That will create a certain noise in the media. I’m hoping that when it comes to political stories, the AV referendum will be the number one issues discussed.”
Commentators have predicted the wedding’s timing could benefit the ‘no’ campaign more than it does the ‘yes’ camp.
Mr Elliott said he wanted the debate over whether or not to fundamentally change the way elections to the Commons take place to “capture the public’s imagination”, however.
“I want it to be a grown-up debate on the issue in front of us so future governments are encouraged to have more referendums,” he added. “I think the great British public would love to have a referendum on some aspect of Britain’s participation in Europe, for example.”
His counterpart in the ‘yes’ campaign, Katie Ghose, agreed that it would be good for the referendum to attract significant coverage.
“I hope as the campaign goes on we get as many opportunities as possible on an even playing field to have an opportunity for people to hear the arguments for and against,” she commented.
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