This afternoon, the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill will be debated during its second reading in the House of Commons. The purpose of the bill is:

‘To make provision for a referendum on the voting system for parliamentary elections and to provide for parliamentary elections to be held under the alternative vote system if a majority of those voting in the referendum are in favour of that; to make provision about the number and size of parliamentary constituencies; and for connected purposes.’

The bill notably provides for a referendum to be held on May 5^th 2011 on whether to change the voting system for parliamentary elections and reduces the number of parliamentary constituencies in the U.K. from 650 to 600.

History Today contributor Tristram Hunt criticised the bill in yesterday’s Financial Times describing it as ‘a bill that places utility above tradition, separates people from place and past, and ruptures the unwritten constitution in order to hold a coalition together’.