The Conservatives don't want proportional representation not only because they are worried about having to work within a coalition. The other reason of course is that they fear the centre left ganging up on them in a rainborrow coalition.
Labourites forget that the Liberal Democrats are not only socialist with a small 's' but we are also Liberals. This Labour government has been far from liberal. The Conservatives with the Liberal Democrats could fix the police state developments. If the Liberal Democrats always sided with Labour we may as well all join the Labour party. Fact is Labour don't have the same principals as the Liberal Democrats. I'm not even sure if Labour are as progressive as the Lib Dems.
So to Liberal Democrats its not quite as easy as lets go with Labour because their more centre left, Conservatives do have there good points for Liberals too.
There is another reason to work with the Conservatives. We need to prove to Conservatives that coalisions work and that parties would work with them in a coalision. These would help the tories to fear proportional representation less.
Todays link is to Power 2010 who protested outside of the Liberal Democrat meeting on saturday.
Completely agree, if we are always going to side with Labour we might as well just form a "liberal" movement within labour...which there probably is.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same yesterday. The only way to get the Conservatives to support PR is to show that even if they get 40% of the vote, that they still have a chance to govern.
ReplyDeleteIf we were to always support Labour, then we might as well go back to two party politics and FPTP.
The big vote for the Tories was a rejection of the international socialists and was no vindication of the Gleggie agenda. The Dim Libs lost seats. Their policies were rejected. And to top it all it arrived via a 3rd world Zimbabwe-type election process.
ReplyDeleteWe now have a dystopian outlook of a LD/Tory deal that will point us down the road of sandle-wearing coffee-coloured EU debt slaves riding to work on bicycles to our employment in building windmills and then going home to a dark house because there is no power and worrying why we might get nuked tomorrow by a country from the axis of evil.
Yes in fact I am a bit fed up with it all.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteJust a thought (respect to others in the bloggsphere who mentioned it first) -
Will a referendum on a PR electoral system be decided by PR, FPTP or APV?
I feel that the Lib Dems have been too eager to have coalition talks with the Tories. The tories may have won the majority of the seats, but labour, lim dems and the other parties got 64% of the collective votes. The Tories only got 36% of the votes.
ReplyDeleteA lib/lab rainbow coalition would actually be more representative of the electorate than a tori/lib dem would be. Also, putting aside political values etc, it seems really unfair that the party which came second (Labour) may loose out on power to the party which came 3rd.
I am a proud member of the Lib Dems, and I am very excited that they are going to have some influence in goverment. It will however be a hollow victory, as the electoral system has failed all the parties, and does need to be changed.
As for the current hung parliament, and the widely anticipated Conservative/ Liberal Democrat coalition of some sort, all I ask is that Nick Clegg and the negotiation team ( all Men btw, same for the Conservative team. Interesting.) don't sell out the values that have been fought for so gallantly.
Kate you could argue that Tories and the Lib Dems had an even bigger share of the vote together.
ReplyDeleteIts not everyone V them if it is then this would damage all the parties more so and leave the Tories stronger as the British people would see this as ganging up.
A rainbow coalition would be harder to hold together. I also think that Labour is not very liberal. If only Labour got more of the vote but effectively the country has rejected them. Its hard for us but this is only a tempory measure we are not just a pressure group.
Also what would the SNP/PC want from us I would worry about that.
BTW its a big shame that its all men. Britain is nnumber 68 on the list of women to men in parliment. Under PR countries tend to have more women.
A Conservative/Lib Dem coalition share only 59% of the vote, opposed to a rainbow coalition of 64%. Overall the electorate would be better represented by the latter coalition.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a tori/lib dem deal would be easier to hold together, as there are only 2 manifestos to compromise. The rainbow option, would consist of a much more fragmented coalition, with all the parties involved having to comprise their policies a lot more.
But just because this option would be more challenging, does not mean it should be ruled out entirely. I am very concerned that the Lib Dems are going to bow to the pressures of the Tories and the Stock markets, and end up selling out on certain policy areas. This would be a real shame, and would definatly put into question, Nick Clegg's pledge of clean and transparent politics.
I really hope that I am proved wrong.
The LibDems have three choices.
ReplyDeleteSupport the Tories - A lot of people voted LibDem in an attempt to keep the Tories out, they won't be happy.
Support Labour - There's not really enough seats to create a coalition against the Tories.
Do neither - Probably the worst possible thing for the LibDems to do, they have to show coalitions and working together "works" as this is the sort of thing that'll happen more often in a PR system.
It's an unenviable choice. However unpalatable it appears I think they have to go with the Tories for now.
There is an interesting article in the New Scientist that I have been trying to find the time to blog about.
ReplyDeleteThis contains a link to the Banzhaf power indexwhich you may find interesting. Creating a system that is fair to all is very difficult.
So Limp Dims, it's now in your hands. Can you really play with the big boys and get somewhere? I think not.
ReplyDeletedevolution for England is the only way ahead
ReplyDeletedisenfracnhisement of the English voters in the current system is a much bigger problem than PR
We one day the Libs Dems have to give it a go, cant just leave a government standed when Britain needs a strong government.
ReplyDeleteAlvin Thanks for the link , hope you can find time for that blog.
Steve yep looking like the Tories.
Kate, I think its all going to be ok, I think the rainbow just involves too many people and would not be a good advert for PR. how would you share out the cabinet posts?