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15 March 2011
Last updated at 20:56 ET
Labour leader Ed Miliband will rally his party to support changing the UK voting system later - as 200 of his own MPs and peers say they will oppose it.
Mr Miliband will give his first major speech on the Alternative Vote and will say the "time is ripe for change".
But at the same time a "Labour no" campaign will be launched - backed by three members of his shadow cabinet.
Voters will be asked whether they want to keep first-past-the-post or switch to the Alternative Vote on 5 May.
Mr Miliband is a supporter of AV - where voters rank candidates in order of preference - but his party is split on the idea. Senior Labour figures including David Blunkett and Lord Prescott are against it.
Mr Miliband will urge Labour supporters to ignore the temptation to vote "no" in order to damage Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who is also campaigning for AV.
The Labour leader will say: "We can't reduce the second referendum in British political history to the betrayal of one man.
"I supported the inclusion of an AV referendum in our manifesto because I believe the time was ripe for change. If it was right then, it is right now."
Continue reading the main story THE REFERENDUM CHOICE
At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.
On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the Alternative Vote system.
Under the Alternative Vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.
Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.
If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers' second choices allocated to those remaining.
This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.
Mr Miliband has said the best way Mr Clegg could help the "yes" campaign was to "lie low for a bit" and said he would not share a platform with the Lib Dem leader.
But more than 200 Labour MPs and peers will come out in support of the "Labour No to AV" campaign - including three members of Mr Miliband's own shadow cabinet, John Healey, Caroline Flint and Mary Creagh.
The AV referendum was a key coalition agreement between the Lib Dems, who want to change the voting system, and the Conservatives, who want to keep first-past-the-post.
Voters will decide whether to keep first-past-the-post, where voters put a cross next to their chosen candidate, or switch to AV.
Mr Clegg is campaigning for AV, while Prime Minister David Cameron is campaigning to keep first-past-the-post.
BBC political correspondent Norman Smith said that, given the scale of Labour's opposition, some suspect Mr Miliband will choose to temper his support for AV and focus more on the local council elections to be held on the same day.
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Mr Miliband will give his first major speech on the Alternative Vote and will say the "time is ripe for change".
But at the same time a "Labour no" campaign will be launched - backed by three members of his shadow cabinet.
Voters will be asked whether they want to keep first-past-the-post or switch to the Alternative Vote on 5 May.
Mr Miliband is a supporter of AV - where voters rank candidates in order of preference - but his party is split on the idea. Senior Labour figures including David Blunkett and Lord Prescott are against it.
Mr Miliband will urge Labour supporters to ignore the temptation to vote "no" in order to damage Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who is also campaigning for AV.
The Labour leader will say: "We can't reduce the second referendum in British political history to the betrayal of one man.
"I supported the inclusion of an AV referendum in our manifesto because I believe the time was ripe for change. If it was right then, it is right now."
Continue reading the main story THE REFERENDUM CHOICE
At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.
On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the Alternative Vote system.
Under the Alternative Vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.
Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.
If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers' second choices allocated to those remaining.
This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.
Mr Miliband has said the best way Mr Clegg could help the "yes" campaign was to "lie low for a bit" and said he would not share a platform with the Lib Dem leader.
But more than 200 Labour MPs and peers will come out in support of the "Labour No to AV" campaign - including three members of Mr Miliband's own shadow cabinet, John Healey, Caroline Flint and Mary Creagh.
The AV referendum was a key coalition agreement between the Lib Dems, who want to change the voting system, and the Conservatives, who want to keep first-past-the-post.
Voters will decide whether to keep first-past-the-post, where voters put a cross next to their chosen candidate, or switch to AV.
Mr Clegg is campaigning for AV, while Prime Minister David Cameron is campaigning to keep first-past-the-post.
BBC political correspondent Norman Smith said that, given the scale of Labour's opposition, some suspect Mr Miliband will choose to temper his support for AV and focus more on the local council elections to be held on the same day.
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