The country votes on May 5th for or against introducing the alternative vote (av) system, and two of our local MPs could be negatively affected by electoral change.

Local MP Justine Greening could find that her seat would be more likely to change hands under the av system. Although The Conservative Economic Secretary to The Treasury and MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields has a majority of 10,053, her seat would be reclassified from 'marginal' to 'ultra marginal' according to research from The New Economics Foundation Think Tank.

Meanwhile Sadiq Khan, Labour MP for Tooting and Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State For Justice, who has a majority of 2,524, would move from being 'fairly safe' to 'marginal'

In the May 5th referendum, voters will be asked to choose between the current first-past-the-post system in which one candidate is chosen, or whether they want to switch to the alternative vote system in which candidates are ranked in order of preference.

May 4, 2011