AV

So the No camp has won the referendum by a conclusive majority.  Well done and thank goodness for all the reasons advanced by the No camp so eloquently and intelligently through out the campaign. It must be said though that the No camp had a considerable amount of help from the Yes camp who frankly made a number of ridiculous claims that any child could see through. I do not see the Coalition weakened in any way by this result nor by the results of the other elections which have been counted today. Labour though will be most worried by what has happened as clearly they have not been given any resounding vote of confidence or indeed any other reason to be happy. By contrast the 17% vote the Lib Dems received in the local elections is no meltdown and far better than expected and supports the view of Nick Clegg that once the benefits of the deficit reduction policies pursued by the Coalition come through the Lib Dems will be on the up again. As for the government I do hope that they will have the confidence now to crack on with their reform programme in all its aspects and go even further. For example it is about time that the Unions were brought to book and strikes affecting people's livelihoods were banned, starting with the tube strikes.