A generous mention...

Friday, May 20, 2011

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in a Daily Telegraph blog post by chief leader writer David Hughes, on our BBC Radio 4 Report 'Inside the AV Referendum campaign'.

What has the Yes to AV campaign got to hide?
By David Hughes Politics Last updated: April 13th, 2011
47 Comments Comment on this article

The Yes to AV campaign stinks (Photo: SWNS)
Praise be. The AV campaign has finally burst into life thanks to the intervention of George Osborne. The Chancellor has taken a four by two to the Yes to AV campaign in both the Mail and the Sun. Not a man to mince words, Osborne uses his Mail interview to accuse the Yes campaign of dodgy dealing. This is the key passage: “What really stinks is actually one of the ways the Yes campaign is funded. The Electoral Reform Society, which is actually running some of the referendum ballots, and is being paid to do that by the taxpayer, stands to benefit if AV comes in… that organisation, the Electoral Reform Society – part of it is a company that makes money – is funding the Yes campaign. That stinks frankly and is exactly the sort of dodgy, behind the scenes shenanigans that people don’t like about politics. The No campaign has asked for it to be investigated by the Electoral Commission and certainly I think there are some very, very serious questions that have to be answered.” These allegations of dirty dealing were given a very thorough airing by BBC Radio 4’s excellent James Silver in The Report last week. The response of the Yes campaign to what amounts to allegations of corruption is instructive. A spokesman said: “This is just desperate rubbish, rehashed again and again by the No campaign. Why don’t they tell us the real story about their funders? We have declared every penny we have received from the moment we were formed – they haven’t. We have declared who have donated staff and resources to us – they haven’t. What do they have to hide?” See what they did there? They ignored the substance of the allegations completely. So what do they have to hide?

Tags: Electoral Reform Society, George Osborne, No to AV, Yes to AV
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Posted by James Silver - On Friday, May 20, 2011

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