Vote Lib Dem….Cameron for PM?

Darrell Goodliffe Posted by Darrell Goodliffe
Monday, 23rd November 2009

So many things wrong with Nick Clegg’s recent comments regarding coalitions that it is hard to know where to actually start. Clegg said that he would offer to his support to whichever party ‘had the strongest mandate’ from the British people. Most obviously, the current electoral system does not make that immediately clear and it is by no means true that the largest party will necessarily have the ’strongest mandate’. Even if we take Clegg’s comments to mean that he would weigh the votes cast this is by no means an indication of a strong mandate.

If David Cameron’s Conservatives fail to win a Parliamentary majority then there is a strong case that the British people are not sure in significant numbers to hand them the reins of power and neither should we. For example, although Chole Smith formally won a by-election for the Conservatives the reduction of the Conservative vote hardly implied a ringing vote of confidence.

Secondly, such remarks now mean that our opportunity for horse trading has been radically diminished; there is simply no incentive now for us to be offered, say, a referendum on electoral reform since we have already told both parties what they need is a strong mandate.

Electoral reform is the most likely casualty of Clegg’s comments because, quite simply, the Conservative Party is unlikely to swallow it and support for it within that party is restricted to the fringes. However, at least with the Labour Party, we can look to support from the Labour left for this historic opportunity to make a lasting difference in British politics.

Thirdly, our key target voters ie, those coming from Labour have essentially been told that a vote for the Liberal Democrats is most likely a vote for a Conservative government. Something that is likely to encourage them not to shift their vote as this government threatens to be one of the most right-wing in history. If we end up in coalition with the Conservatives then we are most likely to find ourself in the role of the ‘acceptable face’ of swinging cutbacks; something that you can see in microcosm in council coalitions with the Conservatives.

It seems odd and inherently wrong that we would demand nothing as a price of a coalition and as it is unlikely that the Conservatives will deliver any of our substantial manifesto commitments the wisdom of offering them that encouragement seems at best tactically unwise. In the long-run it could well split the Party…..if the party does split then Clegg only has himself to blame. 

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