Nobody ever really wants to pick Nick for the team
Mark Reckons has commented on David Cameron’s proposal of a Tory / Liberal Democrat alliance. (Here’s the link to that)
In his piece, Mark shrewdly challenges Cameron to “prove it!” (Something the media tend to forget) and suggest that if the Tories are serious about an alliance, they should back Proportional Representation, no, sorry; he says “a proportional voting system”.
The problem is that Mark has ignored the fundamental problem with Lib/Lab/Con relations.
Nobody ever says they want the Lib Dems on their team and really means it.
Nobody wants to come to my Party
The Lib Dems were going to enter a Lib-Lab pact in 1997, (until I think my MP Don Foster made some remarks on the Today show and brought the whole thing crashing down?) and the Lib Dems demanded some sort of PR. The response was “I’m sure we’ll get round to something.”
Now, the Lib Dems are offered a Lib-Con pact… they want some sort of PR! It might just be their only aspect of continuity.
This is the problem with a 3 party system; it naturally screws up the balance of power. Labour and Conservatives can always find one bit of common ground, the Lib Dems should not be in the position of Kingmaker where the government is formed by whoever they support. Coalitions are naturally unsustainable that way. Perhaps if the Greens were more powerful we would see the cycle of Lab-Green coalitions against Tory-Lib ones, though I suppose that’s down to PR.
Cameron’s message at the moment is hardly friendly, if the Libs want to become a Gvt/Opp party, making our party system match with that of Canada, then their best way to achieve it is not “Ally with the Tories so we can become their enemy in the future.”
Nick Clegg has been sensible enough to reject Cameron’s poisoned apple. His best strategy is to continue being Lib Dem and try to collect the rag-tag bunch of “other” voters, instead of trying to fight the big boys in the sixth form.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
You virtually say it yourself that PR should see more parties in the Commons. The Greens would have seats, as would UKIP and perhaps others with a commensurate reduction in the number of MPs for the two big parties.
It is by no means definite that the Lib Dems would end up in permanent coalition. Is that what has happened in Wales or Scotland? There could well be a realignment in one or more parties but one thing is for sure there would be much more choice and better representation with every vote counting.
I repeat my point though, if Cameron is so convinced that there is so little between LDs and Cons then what does he have to fear from a proportional system? He has ready made coalition partners as far as he is concerned!
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Hadleigh Roberts Reply:
September 24th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Cameron doesn’t want Liberal Democrat MPs, he wants Liberal Democrat votes. By sounding buddy-buddy he can both appeal to what Lib Dems like then add it the possibility of actually doing something about it.
Looks like you couldn’t put a cigarette paper between the two of us on your point!
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Bevan Reply:
September 24th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
For one he doesn’t actually believe you are that close which I know is your point. The Lib-dems would never make reliable king makers because half of the party (the left side) will side with labour and the other half will side with the conservatives. Therefore if Lib-dems did agree to a coalition half of the party would become alienated and then the party would probably split more or less back into social democrats and liberals.
Also any pact with the conservatives would undermine Nick Clegg’s call to become the progressive party of the centre left which is essentially code for “we are going to steal labour’s centre left voters”. These labour voters would never change to lib-dems if they were in a coalition with a conservative party that, despite the leader, is still very much socially conservative. It would be practically like supporting a conservative party.
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