The Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have agreed to whip their parliamentarians into supporting legislation for a referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) for parliamentary elections, so the Bill will probably be passed and Conservative MPs and peers should have no qualms about this. It will let the people decide.

But I wonder what Labour’s attitude will be. We all know that many of its backbenchers are diehard opponents of reform and we may suspect that its leaders espoused reform only as a last ditch attempt to keep the Tories out of power. However, this legislation was in the Labour manifesto. Ironic though it is that a Conservative-led coalition will introduce legislation that was in the Labour manifesto, will Labour support it or will they have the effrontery to oppose it?

If the Conservatives honour their agreement with the Liberal Democrats and Labour honour their own manifesto unlike 1997, the Bill should be passed almost unanimously.

Nevertheless, reformers should aim to maximize support for the Bill.

Individually, we can write to our own MPs. We can remind Labour MPs that they were elected on a manifesto that promised this legislation and, in suitable cases, we can also remind them that they owe their election to Lib Dem supporters who voted tactically. We can remind Conservative MPs of their party’s agreement with the Liberal Democrats without which they might be on the Opposition benches. Some of them, too, owe their election to Liberal Democrat supporters who voted tactically. We can also tell them that, even if Labour wanted AV to keep the Conservatives out of power, it could just as easily keep Labour out if the coalition works well and voters like it.