The following information and quotations are taken from The Electoral System in Britain 1918-1951 by D.E. Butler, Oxford University Press, 1953.
The Representation of the People (No.2) Bill provided for the introduction of the alternative vote for parliamentary elections, the division of two-member constituencies, and the abolition of university seats and the business vote, though the City of London would be exempt from the abolition of the business vote. There were also provisions restricting the use of cars on polling day and reducing election expenses.
The House of Commons debated the second reading debate on 24 February 1931. Only one Labour member expressed unqualified support for the alternative vote. "Several Labour members expressed doubts about it or even open hostility." The Conservative case against the Bill was put by Sir Samuel Hoare. "The alternative vote was bad in principle and had always proved unsatisfactory in practice." "The Liberals who spoke all regretted the absence of P.R. from the Bill but welcomed the alternative vote as a great improvement of the existing syatem."
"The Bill received a second reading by 295 votes to 230 on a strict party division." Labour and Liberals voting for, Conservatives voting against.
The committee stage of the Bill commenced on 4 March. In the debate on the Conservative motion to reject the clause introducing the alternative vote, "the convinced defenders of the alternative vote were very few". The clause was carried by 277 votes to 253. "Despite the whips, 11 Labour and 2 Liberals voted against it and 27 Labour members were absent unpaired."
On 2 June 1931 the Bill received a third reading by 278 votes to 228. In the third reading debate Winston Churchill, "who had hitherto been silent on the Bill, intervened with a vehement demand for proportional representation in the large cities[...] The alternative vote was the child of fraud and the parent of folly".
The House of Lords gave the Bill a second reading by 50 votes to 14. In the committee stage an amendment to limit the application of the alternative vote to constituencies in boroughs which had a population of more than 200,000, was passed by 80 votes to 29. "One hundred and seventy-four constituencies fell into this category."
The Bill received its third reading in the House of Lords on 21 July 1931 and was returned to the Commons.
"Some weeks remained before the recess, but the Government decided not to consider the Lords' amendments until the autumn. There was no intention of abandoning it. [...] In August the Government fell and no more was heard about the Bill in public, though privately Sir Herbert Samuel, now Home Secretary, pressed Mr. MacDonald to pass it before going to the country in October; he received a somewhat unsympathetic negative."