I MET four people who were voting for the Alternative Vote (AV), during Polling Day last Thursday.

One of them was me. We were a small, and exclusive band.

At one stage I felt so isolated in discussion that I might as well have been advancing the case that the earth was flat.

The final result wasn’t quite as bad as my own sample of voters, but it wasn’t much better.

AV received an even bigger raspberry from voters in Blackburn with Darwen, than across the United Kingdom as a whole.

In the UK just under one in three (32.1per cent) of voters were in favour of AV.

In our borough the proportion was closer to one in four (27.67 per cent).

This horse I was flogging was absolutely, completely, categorically dead.

I’ve supported a number of lost causes in my time; none quite as poor as this.

Am I bothered? A bit.

I was never evangelical about AV, but I felt it was the fairer, better system than First Past the Post.

But I’m certainly not losing any sleep over the result.

The most important thing for me was that the referendum gave the British people their chance to say conclusively what system they wanted for the election of their democratic representatives.

For years there have been those who have complained that the existing system was unfair, especially to minority parties, that it led to “wasted votes”, and “safe seats for life” for some.

Whether those criticisms are justified or not, the argument is over.

The people have spoken, very loudly.

They want the current system, warts and all.

(And all voting systems have disadvantages, as well as advantages. Each is a package deal).

So, for the future, no one can say with any credibility that my election as MP for Blackburn was not really “fair” because I got less than half the total votes cast (48 per cent to be precise), nor can they say it is “not fair” where the winner gets only just over a third, as in the case of “three-way marginals”.

Last Thursday was a terrible day for my nag; but a very good one for democracy.