Electoral reform essential but no panacea

If Brown's gaffe locks Labour in third, all progressives lose | Seumas Milne | Comment is free | The Guardian:
"The existing system, which depended on a now stifled internal democracy in the main parties, has been breaking down for years. Eventual electoral reform of some kind looks increasingly probable, even if it is unlikely to be the political and social panacea some on the centre-left seem to believe. Judging from experience elsewhere, it could just as easily entrench a new bloc of Liberal Democrats, New Labour and Cameron-style Tories as deliver the genuine political choices and pluralism they want.

But what is absolutely clear is that the only way they are going to get it is through a Labour-Liberal Democrat administration. It's not just that David Cameron has set his face against holding a referendum on the subject; it is increasingly doubtful that he could get his MPs to vote for one even if he conceded it as the only way to get the keys to No 10."