What would the Lib Dems do in the event of a hung parliament? The Tories are slipping down the polls (I’m blaming their constant “When we’re in government” tone, talking about Lisbon and the recent wave of pity for Gordon). It’s possible that no clear winner will emerge from the general election, forcing the parties to do deals with each other in order to form a government.
I thought this matter was settled. I thought Nick had ruled out a coalition with Labour. Apparently not!
The ground has shifted again and Nick Clegg has elaborated on the party’s position:
I start from a very simple first principle – it is not Gordon Brown or David Cameron or Nick Clegg who are kingmakers in British politics – it’s the British people.
So the votes of the British people are what should determine what happens afterwards.
… which all sounds fair enough, but he’s left himself some wriggle room here – does mandate mean popular vote or the number of seats? It’s a crucial question considering how few votes Labour needs to win a seat in comparison with the Conservatives (and the effect is exaggerated still further for the Liberal Democrats).
The idea that the public are the kingmakers is a noble one, but there’s a problem – the single biggest vote will be for the ‘couldn’t care less who wins’ party, that will make up anything between 40-60% of the eligible voters, making them the nearest thing to a ‘majority opinion.’
The real mandate is ‘do what you want, we don’t care, you’re all the same, my vote doesn’t matter anyway.’
Even if, say, the Tory and Lib Dem vote adds up to more than 50% of the votes of all eligible voters and they go into coalition, there’s still a problem: Neither party has a mandate from the majority for their policies, so how do you decide which policies to go with?
Or have we all got so used to the idea that the government doesn’t need a mandate from the majority (just a majority) that we don’t care anymore?
lee griffin said...
23 Nov 09 at 1:44 pm
he was ambiguous but he also did mention votes rather than seats. Hence why now labour mps like kerry mccarthy are making ridiculous comments about clegg being against the will of the public with his comments
Charlotte Gore said...
23 Nov 09 at 1:49 pm
Since when did a Labour MP get in a sulk because there’s a chance they might not go into coalition with the Lib Dems?
lol
John said...
23 Nov 09 at 2:06 pm
The idea that the public are the kingmakers is a noble one, but there’s a problem – the single biggest vote will be for the ‘couldn’t care less who wins’ party, that will make up anything between 40-60% of the eligible voters, making them the nearest thing to a ‘majority opinion.’
So? They have no right to complain they didn’t vote.
Nick said...
23 Nov 09 at 2:36 pm
No right to complain? How so when your vote can literatelly make no difference? Spider Jerusalem has it right.
“You want to know about voting? I’m here to tell you about voting.
Imagine you’re locked in a huge underground nightclub filled with sinners, whores, freaks and unnameable things that rape pit bulls for fun. And you ain’t allowed out until you all vote on what you’re going to do tonight. You like to put your feet up and watch “Republican Party Reservation.” They like to have sex with normal people using knives, guns, and brand new sexual organs that you did not know existed. So you vote for television and everyone else, as far as your eye can see, votes to fuck you with switchblades.
That’s voting. You’re welcome.”
http://bradtaylor.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/spider-jerusalem-on-democracy/
Roger Thornhill said...
24 Nov 09 at 11:55 pm
Not caring would not matter that much if the parties were all minarchist, for you could get on with your life much as you wished as long as you were not messing with anybody else’s without consent.
Alas, we have 3 Statist parties all of which want to interfere with our lives, all who have swallowed the Green Pill of AGW, and think the EU can be reasoned with*.
If we had a “none of the above”, that would be one way to differentiate between the “can’t be bothered” and “there is no point”.
If we get a hung parliament we will get something that looks like what you get if you mix red, blue and yellow together. Yup, a horrid brown that looks like it just exited from a dog.
Ann Arbor Community College 1974 said...
25 Nov 09 at 7:43 am
I want the Tories to legalize methamphetamine
Send food to Somalia, they put a teddy bear in jail for being a Christian, they get on a plane and ask for the Heimi and American passports.
I was on TV as a place-disability yank. We don’t do geography. I was asked for a talk show, in the street, if given the way the Libyan leader was a complete ragtop asshole, should we bomb Toronto, and I said ‘yes’. I fuckin meant it.
I once did do geography – see Carnaby Street, listen to the Clash. When Brixton was burnin’ a dude handed me a wrap, and said ‘lets kill all the white people’ and I thought, feckin swinging, I was on a roof doing a remix with an Greengate DS-3.
The Tories are becoming a pain in the arse as they try to put the sellotape on a parcel that is not really wrapped (yet).They’re not using a bow, because they too are naff. Margaret you could dance to. Do drugs, because Jerusalem can wait.
Pejorative Puppy said...
25 Nov 09 at 7:50 am
“Yup, a horrid brown that looks like it just exited from a dog.”
I’m gonna make a dog drink spastic flag paint to see if ya are right dude.
McShambles said...
27 Nov 09 at 10:00 pm
I honestly don’t there needs to be a mandate from the majority of voters, and in some cases, it’s undesirable. Many governments work better in coalitions under PR systems – look at Germany for example (although I do concede a number of seats there are awarded in a FPTP method). This country doesn’t need big government, it needs a government where new ideas aren’t ignored and neither are the liberties of its citizens. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day in the future there’s an alliance of the ‘left’ (Green/Labour/Lib Dem) vying with the ‘right’ (Conservative/UKIP) to form a coalition government. I put those political positions in quotation marks for good reason, which I would go into but it would turn into a five-page musing on the subject.
McShambles said...
27 Nov 09 at 10:01 pm
Great, I forgot to turn off the code for italicizing text… *sigh*