I have been left of centre for a while. I lived through the last recession as an unemployed man and I as such, I was able to listen to Peter Lilly blame the unemployed for being unemployed and declare that the 'something for nothing society is coming to an end'.
In the last two recessions the policy of letting the markets sort it out was brutal with unemployment rising massively even after the recession was over. This time it has not been so. Maybe just maybe that is something to do with having a slightly more caring government at the helm. I don't relish the thought of the man who assisted Norman Lamont then, moving into Downing Street now.
Many people want to see progressive government. This includes many Labour and Liberal Democrats. Indeed in this part of the world for both those groups the Tory's are the common enemy. So it is natural for them to seek some sort of Lib-Lab coalition. Or to sit in opposition.
But as I sat in the Stag's Head on election night two things struck me. The Politics society had issued everyone with a sticker on the way in in their chosen party colours. I noticed how there were hardly any red stickers in the room...but there weren't many blue either. There was a whole bunch of yellow. It was a fact that the student vote this time seemed to have gone Lib Dem. The second thing I noticed was the look of horror that crossed one of the Tory voting students face as he listened to the news that his party had not only come fourth in Scotland, it's share of the vote had actually gone down.
I worry about a minority conservative government. Because it will disenfranchise too many people. Not just the students with yellow badges. The blue party has not sufficiently broadened it's appeal. There are still swaths of the North of England, Scotland and Wales, a lot of inner cities, and minority groups who still do not feel David Cameron represents them. And if he does a deal with the DUP and thus protects that part of the UK from cuts he will further damage the Union.
But while there are many areas in which the Conservatives do not have a mandate, in some they do: In defence in, dealing with immigration, with regards to the EU and the Euro, in poll after poll, the Conservatives came top. We live in a democracy so I accept that (with, of course, my palm clasped repeatedly to my own forehead). And while there is growing support for electoral reform, at the moment those wishing for PR, are far from the majority. And finally, the conservative are far and away the biggest party in England.
We are in difficult times as a country. I rainbow progressive coalition would be weak and, missing out the largest party, would lack an obvious mandate. We need a strong Government. However the Conservative Party should not make the mistake of thinking strong government is synonymous with a Government that implements their policies. You cannot completely implement that which only 37% of the voters agreed with. But a genuine compromise backed by nearly 70% of voters could lead to a new beginning.
Which is why I want the Liberal Democrats to put Mr Cameron into Downing Street. And I want Mr Cameron to compromise as much as is necessary.
I know first hand how difficult this will be for local Lib-Dems. After all we have just lost one of the finest MPs on the South Coast, which is painful. It took me nearly a year to get over loosing my nan, it took me 6 months to get over my first broken heart but I don't think I'll ever get over loosing Sandra Gidley as my MP.
But we have to do this. Because if we don't, if we refuse to be in Government, or if we form a coalition of the loosers then we will with give the electorate no choice but to give Mr Cameron a landslide victory.
And this is about the future. I voted for the future on Thursday. There is no doubt in my mind that it will be better if it is built on some Lib-Dem policies.
5 comments:
"I worry about a minority conservative government. Because it will disenfranchise too many people. Not just the students with yellow badges, but because the blue party has not sufficiently broadened it's appeal. There are still swaths of the North of England, Scotland and Wales"
However, the opposite applies if there's a 'progressive' (I don't see how Labour fit in that - this time around, they are surely conservative, lack of change, stifling progress) - there are larger swathes of Southern England (SE and SW government regions) where the Labour vote was proportionately lower than the Tories in Scotland. They didn't fair too well in the Eastern region - less than 20%. The SE region (twice the population of Scotland) had a 49.9% Tory vote - to impose a rainbow on them, because of the Tories' lack of votes in Scotland and Wales seems to be rather hypocritical of those suggesting it.
In a similar vein, you said this: "You cannot completely implement that which only 37% of the voters agreed with." - that's a larger amount than elected Labour in 2005! OK, they didn't get quite what they wanted (screw ups and the Lords amending bills helping stop their regimes' plans). Labour gains massively from FPTP - the only system that helps them more is AV, which they are calling 'voting reform', when it's really "feather our beds".
A 'change' coalition, or an 'anti-authoritian' (OK, the latter doesn't work quite as well with the more economically authoritarian (often called 'left-wing') and the more socially authoritarian (often called 'right-wing' - aren't those labels silly!) in the coalition and in my view) Con-Lib coalition is, I agree with you, the best solution. Their manifestos agree on far more than Labour agrees with either of them. OK, the parties aren't quite coming at things from the same direction and the bases are spread out in different directions, and there's some serious disagreements on some things (marriage, breaking nuclei for power/weapons, the EU, immigration, electoral reform), but it's as stable as we can hope for.
I guess a 'statist' coalition of the whole bunch of them (despite what the Tories want you to think - big society is controlled by the state so it's the society they want - it was that that made me vote LibDem at arms length, rather than the Tories at arms length - they both suck, but they suck less badly than my other options and my local Lib Dem sucked a tiny bit less than my local Tory).
Imagine this happening every time - power away from the people and to the politicians and parties. Proportional Representation (depending on how its done - the EU elections have a system - large number elected in each area, party lists that remove accountability as whips will control the lists, and the link between MP and constituents goes) will mean this non-result and no one getting what they voted for every time (unless you vote Lib Dems, who will become the king makers every election in my cynical dystopia and thus will very rarely, or even never, be out of power, like the FDP in West Germany).
Our reality of Politics needs to be reshaped to get away from Big Party politics.
The Green Party have a vision for the future which might just swing things a little more towards the agenda that you look to.
I know that you love Yellow, but in these times, perhaps a compromise might be in order.
Sandra Gidley wan't even my MP, and I'm not really a Lib Dem either, but I'm still sorry to see her out of Westminster. Hope she'll be back one day very soon.
No wonder the Anglican Church is dying when its ministers back the party led by an atheist which opposes church schools.
I guess that believing in God is not a strong factor in who you vote for?
@TGR Worzel
After seeing nothing but swathes of bitterness spouting from her Twitter feed (including referring to one of her electorate as a 'prat'), I sure as hell won't be voting for her again.
Which is a shame, really.
Whether I vote LD again or not depends greatly on how they do with this (what I consider to be) good opportunity.
Good luck Mr. Clegg!
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