"First-past-the-post builds a direct relationship between a community and their MP. Residents come to..." — Emily Thornberry

What a nightmare it would be if we individually had to criminalise every single abuse of every single commodity, market or financial product. There are thousands of these and new ones being invented every day. Such an approach would have disastrous implications for regulation and policy-making. Any slide towards it must be resisted.

AV does not bring you greater proportionality - and there is a tendency for parties to gang up on one of the major ones to run an 'anyone but' campaign.

When one party is really unpopular, like the Conservatives in 1997, AV can really skew the result disproportionately against them.

The social safety net was created by a united society in the aftermath of the Second World War. It came out of a British sense of fairness.