Now, there has been a lot said about different arrangements and possibilities and problems with these various possibilities and problems with policies and overall, there's not really been any actual advancement in clarity with anything. This is sad, because usually that is what news broadcasters are supposed to do. But I suppose, in reality, there isn't a lot anyone can do but theorise as there really isn't a surefire way this can go. Anything that happens is likely to be rather temporary and we should all gear up for another election within a year or two.
And this in itself is sad, because it would be fairly nice to see a success from whatever coalition arises. Especially if the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition succeeds, as what more ammunition could the Lib Dems want to support PR than the example of successful governments where two parties that are fairly disparate actually bury their respective axes to grind and bandy together to help the country recover and succeed. Sadly, I worry that the Tories are too petty to try and give in to the middle ground enough to get on with anyone, but they are the party that must have government formed around them for many reasons. I'm sure a lot of people wont see why, but bear with me and I'll try and straighten it out.
First of all, Nick Clegg has made it very clear throughout campaigning that the right to govern is determined by the support of the highest number of people. And he is right. And no matter how much a coalition between Labour and the Lib Dems may be favourable to the majority of us, if we start undermining the concept of an election then we start to lose touch with democracy and instead begin the slippery slide into something resembling Stalinism or Mugabism. If that even exists yet. The people have a right to have their voices heard, and a chosen government should be arranged to suit the needs of the majority.
Secondly; Labour are clearly in a mess right now, and should really be looking to simply slink off to the opposition benches, lick their wounds, and start the process of pointing out every single thing the Conservatives do which goes against the public good. For now I will not look to presume any inevitability to this occurring, but I wont be surprised if it does. But with Gordon Brown resigning, no matter how much this could lead to Lib Dem support, it still wouldn't be democratic to suddenly allow a completely new leader take the reigns of the country straight away without a show of public support.
There has been the argument that any election is not a vote for a leader but for a party, but the fact is that when a new leader is elected, that party undergoes a change, and so the party that may have won seats and gained votes is not the same as the one that exists after a change in leader. So for now, a Labour led government is not democratically viable.
It is also not really very numerically viable. Whereas the Tories and The Lib Dems alone would easily form a majority, Labour would essentially need the support of every other smaller party to gain the majority. Now again, whilst there may well be a large uniting force determined to keeping the Conservatives from power, this is not enough to form a solid government, which must be the priority right now, even if only for a year or so, so that some work can be done on the long process of restoring financial parity. Asking two parties to negotiate is not too unreasonable. Asking them all to negotiate is a bit unlikely.
And this need for decisiveness is why we cant just leave the Tories on their own. Were they to try to go it alone, they would most likely just keep getting out voted and we'd be having another election before you know it and the likelihood as I see it is that people would just vote Tory to get this over and done with. Therefore, if the Lib Dem supporters were to simply bite the bullet and accept that; providing their influence will be felt in decision making and providing they can distance themselves from being a scapegoat for failed policies, a working with the Conservatives may well work for their benefit, and will at least limit any Tory policy that works against the larger, less well off part of the public. If successful, this could see a rise in the support for the Lib Dems after showing that they can contribute to a successful government, and they may gain a greater support in their pursuit of a fairer electoral system after seeing how they can be successful. And what's more, they could limit any future gains in support for the Tories if they can show themselves to have played a big enough part in forming laws.
Now obviously, the big problems that arise when you try and merge two quite distinctly contrasting policies together like the Tories and the Lib Dems, it's going to mean a lot of people will be unhappy with the compromise. Firstly I would like to directly respond to these people by suggesting they grow up and get some perspective past their own selfish desires. Secondly, I would suggest that what may happen is that a show of compromise is made to pander to doubters from the other party but in reality, has about as much substance as Katie Price.
To back this up I wish to close on looking at the "very generous offer" of a referendum on the alternative vote system by the Tories. Now, aside from the fact that AV is about as far away from PR as the current system is, the real depth of the Tory offer is that they are willing to put the idea of changing the political system to a public vote. They have not said they will support this vote and they have not said they will not actively campaign against it. Which leads me to think that they have put this offer on the table knowing full well the public may not vote for it, being that it is so far away from being what we really want as well as knowing that they can quite easily buy the support of the Murdoch empire to convince people it is bad. This isn't surprising on its own, but when we consider that a discussion between the Tories and the Lib Dems is going to be full of these "generous offers" I can quite easily see the Lib Dems getting chewed up and spit out if Clegg isn't very careful and very clever.
However, this could still yet again work to the Lib Dems advantage, as they can then show how dishonest the Tories have been and how they were not interested in the spirit of progressive democracy and then press for a new election, knowing that they have already got a discussion in place with Labour after the talks of the last few days, that Labour could easily rally more support from their new leader, and that the Tory bubble had burst after any petty unwillingness to work constructively with another party. Obviously, this is only one example of what could happen, and is the work of a feverishly left-wing and democratic mind set and optimistic to say the least. But success in politics is, sadly, knowing how to play the game to get what you want. As long a Clegg is sincere, however, that may just coincide with what we want for once as well.
So have you tried emailing this to Lib Dem central office? They should be paying you for your advice!
ReplyDeleteI'm here if they want me, but I think they're doing enough without my help
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