Comments on: So what now?

By: Spoke too soon | Anonymong

Spoke too soon | Anonymong — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:00:11 +0000

[...] to play Labour and the Tories against each other to secure the best advantage for the LibDems and sod national interest. Of course it seems likely that if the LibDems do get to power via the Labour Party that [...]

By: Disenfranchised of Buckingham

Disenfranchised of Buckingham — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:42:20 +0000

INAL but I don’t see what manifestos have to do with the Lords in a coalition government.

After all the argument is the public voted for the manifesto so it over rides the wishes of the Lords. Jo Public hasn’t voted for the mongrel of a lib/lab (or lib/con) coalition and certainly said coalition doesn’t have a manifesto.

By: Charlotte Gore

Charlotte Gore — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:16:12 +0000

Hmm, not quite. The promise was for a referendum, not direct legislation, so Lords approval would be necessary.

By: Simon Fawthrop

Simon Fawthrop — Tue, 11 May 2010 12:03:18 +0000

Minor point but if a Labour led coalition takes AV to the Lords it will have to go through as it was part of Labour’s manifesto and by convention these bills aren’t blocked.

By: Charlotte Gore

Charlotte Gore — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:03:37 +0000

Yep. I think I actually said on one of those House of Comments podcasts months ago that a Hung Parliament would be a nightmare for the Lib Dems, that there’s no possible outcome from it that wouldn’t end up with them losing millions of votes.

Do a deal with Tories? Lose anti-Tory votes.
Do a deal with Labour? Lose anti-Labour votes.
Don’t do a deal at all? Lose votes from everyone after forcing second general election.

What are they supposed to do? Their ONLY hope, and it’s a tiny tiny hope, is that the Lib/Con coalition is somehow incredibly popular and well loved. It’s not going to happen – they’re going to have to be brutal with the public financies. It’ll be great news for the Tories to have someone to share that burden with, to show that it’s not just Tories doing what Tories always do.

It’s an extreme long shot for them, but that’s all they can do – look statesmanlike, look serious, look like they’ve got what it takes to Govern and hope the electorate understands the decision they’ve taken.

By: Rod

Rod — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:58:31 +0000

Supporting ConLib may well cost the Lib Dems millions of votes – particularly on the Celtic fringes. But I really wouldn’t want to be an English Lib Dem MP defending the propping up of a discredited Labour government through a LabLib deal either. That deal will end up costing millions of votes too. Welcome to the new politics.

By: Tony Butcher

Tony Butcher — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:57:23 +0000

I know it is a difficult choice for many Lib Dems to get into bed with the Tory’s but I beleive that it will be better for them in the long run if they do so. Lib Dem Parliamentary success has usually come on the back of local government success. If the Lib Dems in PArliament can show the can participate in running the country it may inspire more people to vote for them in the future.
Unfortuantely a coalition with Labour is rocky at best, and worst it gives the electorate the impression of propping up a failed Government, which could be very damaging in any future election.
It Is The British Electorate Who Are Truly Progressive: http://wp.me/pRHY4-V