Matthew believes that the Alternative Vote (AV) system is an unfair system for four reasons. Under AV some people would get their vote counted more times than others. As well as being unfair in itself this would encourage candidates to chase after the second and third choices, giving extremist voters a decisive say in close elections. Secondly AV is expensive - it would end up costing our country £250 million. This referendum alone is costing us £91 million, and AV would be a more costly way of running elections. Thirdly AV is a politicians' fix. AV will do nothing to enhance the political system - indeed it risks making the public’s perception of politics worse. Finally, even the Yes campaign think AV isn't good enough for our country. They've spent years pointing out the flaws of AV. Nick Clegg dismissed it as 'a miserable little compromise' whilst Chris Huhne said 'there would continue to be safe seats where the MP will effectively have a job for life'. These are the beliefs of AV’s biggest campaigners.
Matthew said, “During the General Election both my Liberal Democrat and Labour opponents supported changing the electoral system to introduce the Alternative Vote. I was the only serious politician to oppose it then and I continue to oppose it now. My opponents showed how out of touch they were with the people of Hendon then and I am confident that tomorrow the people of this country and this constituency will show how out of touch my opponents and the YES camp are now.”