A YORK campaigner for voting reform is calling for local council elections to be changed as well as general elections.

Chris Brace, a member of York For Voting Reform, the group which organised and carried out a voting reform rally in the city in May which attracted more than 150 people, spoke out at a full meeting of City of York Council.

He called on councillors to consult citizens on what voting system they wanted to be used for local elections and then adopt that system in future elections.

He said it was very likely that next May, the electorate would be given a chance, by way of a national referendum, to introduce the Alternative Voting System – “a modest step in electoral reform”.

Mr Brace, of Wheldrake, said there was no reason to suppose the electoral system in use in local elections should be less fair than the one used for electing the national Government, and he called on the council to ask the Government to amend the referendum to include a vote on the adoption of voting reform for local elections.