If the AV vote is a “No” the Lib Dems will not have a hissy fit and decide to quit the coalition.  The reason for this is that there is too much at stake for the party to do tbat.  The cuts are a necessary evil, if we don’t cut, the markets might lose confidence in the UK economywith a result that our debt would be harder to sell and we would have to pay more for it, since we have such a large defecit and national debt this would make our position worse than it is at the moment . 

If we quit the coalition the cuts would be difficult or impossible for the Conservative party to achieve on it’s own, akin to admitting that the country can’t impose the cuts

Also if we quit, we would be admitting that coalition politics can’t work.   In the General Election Ballot Booth where the voter makes their decision this would be a tragic error.  People wouldn’t vote for us, even in those seats where we were the incumbant, because there would be no point.  In this situation I can forsee that we would lose many seats and be back in the situation just after the second world war.

Therefore there is only one option for the lib dems, that is to stay the course.

Some Labour voters and dissatisfied former lib dem voters might think that if they vote No then that is the easiest way to stop the coalition and the cuts and register their dissatisfaction with the lib dems percieved behaviour within government.  What I answer is “No” to your  No.

Of course some Conservative voters might be tempted to vote Yes because they think we will quit if they vote no.  The lib dems will not quit so they may as well vote no.

In other words, it’s tactical voting and in AV people are free to vote for their first choice.  I wish Labour voters and dissatisfied lib dems to vote tor their first chice.   Is AV better than FPTP?

As coalition politics will be more likely in the future , whatever happens, unless we quit the voter might like to eliminate the need to vote tactically.  Therefore vote Yes