The referendum proposing to change Britain's electoral system from "First Past The Post" (FPTP) to "Alternative Vote" (AV) has been lost decisively by the "Yes" campaign.

The referendum was proposed by the Liberal Democrats as part of the prics for which they would be willing to enter coalition with the Conservatives following last year's general election.

Although the Conservatives agreed to a referendum, they campaigned heavily against AV, while their coalition partners made the case for the change.

The Opposition Labour Party was split on the issue, with Labour leader Ed Miliband supporting the change, but many senior figures in the party, particularly those who had served as cabinet members under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, arguing for FPTP.

Initial polls conducted last year suggested that the referendum would result in voters saying yes to AV. However as the referendum approached Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron is reported to have ratcheted up the campaign for FPTP after it became clear that a vote for AV in the referendum could turn parts of his own party against him.

Polls increasingly showed a strong lead for the "No to AV" campaign.

Although votes a still being counted it has now been confirmed that the "No to AV" campaign has won decisively.

Turnout for the referendum was 41 per cent, meaning that the winning campaign would need over 9.8 million votes to win the campaign. With 90 per cent of the votes counted the "No" campaign already has 11.1 million votes to the "Yes" campaign's 5.1 million, suggesting that the final result could be around 70 per cent to the "No's" and only 30 per cent to the "Yes's".

While the result will be good news for the David Cameron, it is a blow to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, as possible voting reform was one of the main carrots for his party activists in the deal to form a coalition. However Ed Miliband may also have questions asked of him as he too supported the losing side in a contest that saw his party split completely (although not antagonistically) down the middle.