Labour hints at alliance with Tories to delay voting reform

Labour will suggest for the first time that it is willing to form an alliance with Tory rebels to put back the date of the planned May 2011 referendum on electoral reform. MPs returning to Westminster from their holidays are due to vote on the bill introducing the referendum and a complex redrawing of parliamentary boundaries that Labour says favours Tories and will damage Labour and Liberal Democrats. Up to 60 Tories have said they will oppose the 11 May date for the referendum on the proposed electoral changes, arguing it should not be held at the same time as the Scottish parliamentary elections, or the local elections. Labour has said it will oppose the bill at tomorrow's second reading, claiming it supports the principle of referendum but not the alleged gerrymandering of constituency boundaries that has been included in the bill. The coalition government says it is merely trying to reduce parliament to 600 MPs and make seats more equal in numbers of voters. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have accused Labour of opportunism. No serious Tory rebellion is expected at tomorrow's second reading, although concern will be raised by figures such as Bernard Jenkin, the Tory chairman of the public administration committee. Many Tories believe the prime minister should never have offered Clegg a referendum on the Alternative Vote system as the price for a broader coalition agreement. The shadow justice secretary, Jack Straw, is expected to raise doubts about the referendum being held in May, increasing the possibility of Labour and the Tory rebels forming an alliance to change the bill at its detailed committee stage in October. He will not commit his party to oppose a May referendum, as tactics on potentially the most difficult piece of legislation facing the government must be decided by the new Labour leader and the new shadow cabinet due to be elected in October. Straw said today: "It was Labour which first proposed a referendum on the Alternative Vote, and of course we remain in favour of one. But we can't support a bill that combines that objective with a partisan and undemocratic carve-up of constituency boundaries. "Everyone agrees with the principle of broadly equal sized seats, which is already written into the law. But the inflexibility of the new rules proposed by this bill means that boundary commissions will no longer be able take account of natural boundaries, history or community ties, as the electoral quota will trump all other considerations. Independent local public inquiries are to be banned. Furthermore, the review is to be rushed through on a timescale designed to ignore millions of unregistered voters from the calculations, which will distort the outcome at Labour's expense." Research conducted for the Electoral Reform Society, published today, suggests the reduction in number of seats proposed by the coalition means England will lose 32 seats, Scotland six, Wales 11 and Northern Ireland one. The ERS calls on the parties to find a workable compromise on redrawing boundaries, but warns that the coalition decision to build seats using registered voters rather than the adult population is "a recipe for bloated constituencies packed with invisible citizens".