I’ve just come back from Ed Miliband’s press conference, which was billed as “the final press conference of this local election”. Harriet Harman even took to the stage to tell us about some encounters she’d had with voters on the doorstep.

Unfortunately for Labour, very few of the assembled journalists appeared at all interested in what the pair had to say about the local elections. Instead, almost all of the questions were concerned with the upcoming AV referendum, and the likelihood of its result effecting a change in the relationship between Labour and the Lib Dems, or Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg.

I asked Ed to what extent the turnout for the referendum will be the real indication of how people feel about the Alternative Vote. The YouGov poll for the Sunday Times had Yes on 45% and No on 55%. Turnout is predicted to be strongly influenced by the other elections taking place, so high in Scotland, but as low as 14% in London.

Rosa Prince reported this morning for the Telegraph that the No campaign is urging its supporters not to get complacent, fearing that a low turnout could help Yes squeak to victory. I had assumed that my question would provide Ed with an opportunity to issue a rallying cry to Yes supporters to make a final push to up the turnout and inject some much-needed passion into the debate.

I was wrong, though. Ed said:

“I want the turnout to be as high as possible in both the local elections and the AV referendum but I don’t think you should assume that the people who stay at home are on one side or the other. I mean in other words people have a chance to vote... I don’t think you can read anything into the decision of the voters who don’t turn out, if you like.”

I disagree. Low turnout in elections has long been seen as an indication as a lack of voter engagement and education, or a protest against a political system. You only have to look back to the 2008 US election to see what can happen to turnout when previously disenfranchised voters feel really involved in a campaign. So far, Yes to AV has failed to produce this kind of feeling in any way.

It sounds to me as though Ed is hedging his bets. If there is a low turnout and a No vote on Thursday, he doesn’t want to be caught out lambasting potential Labour voters in the future. But at the same time, his resigned tone throughout the press conference didn’t suggest he is either energised or hopeful about Thursday’s referendum. He runs the risk of appearing to have given up on AV before people even get as far as the polling station.

Tags: Alternative vote, AV referendum, Ed Miliband