Lib Dems warn Blair to look at how Britain votes LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy warned on Sunday that British Prime Minister Tony Blair risked losing the support of the left-wing party if he did not hold a referendum on proportional representation. Kennedy, who on Monday heads into his first meeting with Blair since he took over as head of Britain's second opposition party in September, said the agenda would include freedom of information, House of Lords reform and the way Britons vote. ``I certainly don't see any future prospect for further constitutional cooperation between the two parties'' he told the BBC, if Blair's Labour Party were unable to make a commitment to a referendum on proportional representation. Kennedy said he was not expecting a referendum on the voting system to be held tomorrow but stressed that his party had made its position clear and would not allow him to move away from it. ``They would say the curtain comes down at that point, so I don't think there's room for manoeuvre there,'' he said. Kennedy has made no secret of his willingness to work with Labour to lock the Conservatives out of government but has stressed that his Liberal Democrats were ``nobody's poodles.'' Backers of proportional representation say it ensures that the makeup of the members of parliament at Westminster more accurately reflects voters' party preferences. Blair has shelved a report by the Jenkins Commission which proposed replacing the first-past-the-post system with the Alternative Vote Top-Up. Blair has been cool on the idea, especially after Labour fared badly in European parliament elections in June that were run under the proportional representation list system for the first time. Kennedy said that, with the Conservatives in disarray, it was time for the Liberal Democrats to emerge as a more positive alternative. ``The Conservatives are split down the middle over Europe, they can't even agree on a candidate for the mayor of London, they are in a shambolic state,'' he said. ``There is a big opportunity for a constructive, coherent opposition party which can cooperate with the government where it makes sense but can actually give the most telling opposition critique of the government and an alternative view where that makes sense as well.'' 11:29 12-12-99
