British Liberals take "big knocks" ahead of referendum

May 6, 2011, 16:30 GMT

London - Britain's Conservative-Liberal coalition government was heading for a period of turbulence Friday following stinging losses for the Liberal Democrats in local elections ahead of a crucial national referendum on the country's voting system.

'We have taken big knocks,' said Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat (LibDem) leader, who is also deputy prime minister in the government led by Conservative David Cameron.

The scale of the Liberal losses - believed to be their worst since the party was founded in the 1980s - emerged just hours before the expected publication later Friday of a separate referendum on Britain's voting system.

In a nationwide referendum coinciding with the local and regional elections, Britons were asked Thursday whether they wanted to replace the traditional first-past-the-post system with the Alternative Vote (AV), a method of proportional representation.

Under the first-past-the-post system, the candidate who simply wins the most votes is elected in his/her constituency. The AV system asks voters to rank candidates in order of preference, with votes from second and third choices counted if no candidate wins a majority on the first take.

As Britain's third political party, the Liberals have long sought a voting system more favourable to smaller parties in parliamentary elections. They made the holding of a referendum on the issue one of the conditions for joining the Conservatives in government a year ago.

However, latest polls suggested that the AV method - under which voters rank candidates in order of preference - would be rejected by a sizeable margin - thus compounding Clegg's woes.

The result of the referendum is expected at around 2000 GMT Friday.

Results in from local elections showed that the Liberals lost control of major cities in northern England, including Sheffield, which Clegg represents in the national parliament in London.

Clegg said Friday it was clear that the Liberals were 'getting the brunt of the blame' for the unpopular massive spending cuts brought in by the government last October in an effort to reduce the record budget deficit.

But he pledged that the LibDems would 'redouble' their efforts to convince voters of the importance of their role in government. 'We need to get up, dust ourselves down and move on, because we have got a really big job to do,' he said.

Cameron, whose Conservatives reject AV, said that, despite 'different views' and a bruising battle over AV, Conservatives and Liberals would continue to work together 'in the national interest,' and serve a full five-year term.

Votes were Friday still being counted following the elections to local councils in England, and to the regional parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

They indicated that the opposition Labour party made considerable gains as they profited from the Liberals' demise.

In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP), led by Alex Salmond, strengthened its position in the regional parliament with a stunning victory to become the region's first-ever majority government.