If I was the Tories, I'd try to make some meaningful concessions to the Lib Dems that could produce a coalition strong enough to last a full term. If that wasn't realistic, I'd go as a minority government and call an election ASAP. As many commentators have pointed out, Labour have been shying away from taking the required action on the economy, but we can't delay much longer. If the incoming administration takes prompt action, it will be electoral suicide - unless the electorate get another chance to vote. Voters are fickle and hypocritical enough to call for action, but they aren't going to like it when it comes, no matter who is in office.
I actually think the best option for the Tories is to let Labour / Lib Dem come together, and rule for 8-18 months, and then when the next election is called, Tories would have a landslide.
Tory seem too far away from lib dem in terms of policy. How many times did Gordon Brown ("nose") say "I agree with nick!" during the debates? Certainly buttered him up. Its gonna come down to Ireland Scotland and wales now. Unionists here are open to blackmail so thats 8 seats, sinn fein have 4 (so far 1 still out but i expect it to be sinn fein) but they swan off in protest, SDLP have 3 but they're with labour and alliance have 1 but they're with Lib Dems. Not sure how Scotland and wales work but they could potentially get a sweet deal out of this. Clegg did say he would support the strongest party since it was a mandate and who the public voted for. Tho as I said, consertive seem on their own compared to what most other parties want and would have to give up the most.
Scotland is mostly labour with a solitary torie, 11 lib dem and a mere 6 to the SNP. This is generally where resentment comes in, an almost complete lack of Conservative MP's mean that Scots always feel unrepresented by a Conservative government in Westminster, though devolution has gone some way to appeasing that i can still see the SNP pushing harder for independence and if the Conservatives do any thing daft they might just get a second term and with that a referendum on the issue if nothing else.
Just watched the excellent press conference from Cameron: It's our time for government... ...the outgoing Labour government ...open offer to Lib Dems Could choose to run with a Tory minority government, but collaboration with other parties might prove more stable ...bulk of manifesto to be implemented, but... ...compromise will be made [All-party] Committee to consider electoral reform I don't think the commentators were expecting such purpose - expected him to waffle and stall for a bit longer. Liberal Democrat Baroness Williams says David Cameron's statement was "impressive". Might be preaching to the converted, but I was impressed. To be fair to all leaders, they are all looking pretty good, considering they haven't slept for 36 hrs and have been running on adrenaline for 4 weeks.
Large turnout creates interesting results. A little back-of-the-envelope mathematics reveals that even had every single person who didn't vote had, and had voted for a party other than the conservatives, they'd still have won my area. This rather confirms my decision not to bother.
Speaking of interesting did you see Fermanagh and south Tyrone? Unionists agreed on one candidate for the area to take on Sinn Fein and did they run it close........Sinn Fein got the seat in the end after a recount. Final result was 21304 to 21300 votes. Four votes in it!! Doesn't get much closer than that. Tournout for that area was down by 6.9% with only 68.9% showing
Well, as I predicted: Cameron is reaching out to Nick Clegg, and Nick Clegg is making responsive noises... Foregone conclusion, almost. A Tory goverment tempered by Lib Dem may actually be a Reasonably Good Thing. If Nick Clegg doesn't do a Tony and gets his head turned by the glamour of the powerful.
See this is where i would expect a swing to occur and see cleg side with labour in order to take a higher percentage of seats to get their party policies across. Its a numbers game...
Won't happen. By siding with a minority party to create a majority rule Clegg would piss off the Lib Dems seeking proportional representation --kind of goes against the principle.
The irony being, by ignoring principles on this occasion they may be able to achieve the greater goal of proper proportional representation. The saying "cutting off your nose in spite of your face" comes to mind.
we have state elections going on here for senate and governor.. it's the biggest joke ever the republicans have a fake republican running against the ceo of ebay.. he is really corrupt and out of control.. then our current governor arnold swartenegger who is unbribeable with his movie money has done everything possible and can't get the job done were just cruising along screwed.. I hope you guys are doing alot better than we are
If Clegg and the Lib Dems vote through a Conservative budget or legislation that they didn't fundamentally agree with, or even abstain from a crucial vote, they will have lost all credibility as a major party. Based on pledges given before the election, there is no way that the Conservatives would be able to vote through any radical changes to current legislation or significant taxation/public spending changes.
I couldn't agree less. The Lib Dems will lose credibility when talking about electoral fairness if they prop up a Labour government that has lost the support of the people - a government that *doesn't* even support their views on electoral reform . Such a coalition would still likely be a minority in parliament so it would still struggle to complete a reasonable parliamentary programme. So they can either join the Tories, making the Tories compromise on certainly key policy issues whilst accepting that they in turn will have to settle for less than they wanted, or they will have to have to allow the Tories to go it alone as a minority government. As Cameron stated on Friday, the Tories are prepared to press on with a minority government, but they recognise (as the Lib Dems do) that a *stable* government would be preferable - so they are willing to compromise in order to have the Lib Dems join them in a majority government. We've heard a lot on here about some people thinking the Tories having the right ideas, but others not trusting the Tories, despite what they are promising. I would have thought that a Tory government with the Lib Dems alongside ('keeping them honest' or providing a balance) would be the best of both worlds. If you think that the Lib Dems should never, ever join with they Tories then we are in trouble - any sort of PR would all but guarantee a hung parliament every election - it's just the way our populous is split - and therefore the only means of a majority would be a Lib-Lab coalition. This would be democratically disastrous - the only possible stable government would be the same two parties every time.
PR is good but the only problem I have with it is how the ministries are carved up. An example of what comes to mind is some one votes Labour based on its key policies in say education,health and justice. Yet due to certain ministries being easier than the others, they avoid all three of those. You vote for a party based on policy and you don't know which of those policies are gonna be no starters. I would never vote lib dem (Or BNP for that matter in the extreme case) based on their stance on Europe yet they could be left with that ministry. Yes PR works when wanting to represent views but that is my only major concern over it
Sorry, but i never said that Labour have earned the right to govern for another term or that the Conservatives don't have the right to try and form a government. What i did say is, that each party outlined their broad views on a range of issues and if the Lib Dems suddenly decide to compromise on fundamental policy issues, particularly on issues not directly related to the economy, then they will lose credibility. As for electoral reform, Labour of the two is the only one to promise a referendum on the issue. The Conservatives have indicated that it isn't a major issue for the public. I say let Cameron be PM in a minority Conservative government, without a Coalition, see what his policies are then and lets see if he can pass a Queens Speech or budget. If not, well it is time for a re-think on the electoral system or he will need to review his programme of 'change'.
