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Barry Sheerman announced last week he would support this year's referendum to reform the electoral system to an alternative vote (AV) system.

Barry Sheerman believes the AV system provides a positive change for voters from the current two-party system. He adds the current system allows many Members of Parliament to win their seats with only a minority of votes.

While the Labour and Conservative parties took more than 90% of the votes in the 1950s, Barry Sheerman believes there is no longer the same two-party dominance today. Instead, he supports the AV system's ability to provide better representation of voters' interests in Parliament.

Under the AV system, voters would be able to rank candidates in order of preference. A candidate who wins more than 50% of the first preference votes is elected. Without a 50% majority, voters' second choices are allocated until one candidate wins the majority.  

"There's no doubt that it's time to have a radical re-think of how we elect MPs in this country," Sheerman said. "I will be joining the campaign for AV and I will be voting for it."

Mr Sheerman was wrongly included on a list released in December of Labour MPs who intended to oppose the electoral reform. Rather, he strongly believes the AV system would encourage more people to vote.

The referendum will take place in May.