The 2010 General Election ? Final round

[Dragon_Phantom]

Hung parliment ey! Someon people been lying!

[Bald Bouncer]

Here's how I see it thus far:
Can't see an agreement between the Libdems and Tories without the Tories agreeing at least a vote on PR as it was the Libdems top policy.
Can't see the Tories moving on the offer of a committee to look at PR which really is a token gesture and will achieve nothing other than cost huge amounts of money.
Can't see Labour agreeing to drop Brown as leader as a prerequisite to any agreement as they won't allow another party to dictate who will lead them and in reality I can't see them just sticking someone else in and the public wearing that.

So unsure what will happen next but should be interesting

[TwoPlAnKs]

That and a referendum on an AV+ / PR system and I'd be a happy man

That's about my thoughts too now, I'd be happy with that.

I'm starting to tell myself the Tories could be OK with some nice Lib Dems keeping them under control. Partly because they will obviously be taking control now and I'll go insane if I don't accept it, but also because they are the ones that the biggest number of people want and everyone can't be wrong. Here's to a positive future of ConDem* balance.

*credit GTI

[Waka]

Someone needs to get that unelected squatter Brown out of Downing Street.

W.

[TwoPlAnKs]

ConDem.... you heard it here folks

Bad news I'm afraid GTI, noticed people are talking about ConDem a lot on Twitter and it started 13 hours ago, a full 5 hours before your post.

http://twitter.com/marcbubb/status/13538076712

[Freddy]

Bad news I'm afraid GTI, noticed people are talking about ConDem a lot on Twitter and it started 13 hours ago, a full 5 hours before your post.

http://twitter.com/marcbubb/status/13538076712

Thanks TP.

@GTI: I've removed my thanks. Thieving bastard.

[GTI]

Thanks TP.

@GTI: I've removed my thanks. Thieving bastard.

And I made my views on Shitter known a full year ago... so I can't possibly have nicked it.

So there

[pumpman]

The Condem coalition as BB mentions relies on the libs sticking to their guns about voting reform and the Tories agreeing to it, but it has also been mentioned that Clegg may not enter the coalition as when the next election comes up he may be unpopular with the Lib Dems themselves.
But will Clegg see it that way having appeared to be popular this time round and not doing any better so the lure of power may make him agree to the Condem government

Labour can only do it with the Libs and the rest ie PC and the SNP which is comical given all we have heard from the scum that call themselves Scottish Labour (no relation to labour of old) was that the SNP have no mandate in Scotland , that the vote for Labour in Scotland was in reaction to the Scottish Parliament being run by the SNP etc etc, even though their main thrust for the election was vote Labour or else you will let the tories in, well they have done it .

As much as it pains me to say it they will all be forced into making a decision quickly because the pound is starting to slide and the cost of borrowing is going to go up for the government because even though we have bailed out the financial system, they are holding a gun to the heads of Europe, the UK and next on the list will be the US.

Either way, I see it as being favourable for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2011 , if they can have a referendum on voting reform, then surely they can't turn down the independence referendum , at least that way the question can be answered once and for all.

[CzarJunkie]

From what I've read it appears David Cameron is now considered an abject failure by the Tory rank and file. He's the man who couldn't beat Gordon Brown. He is going to have to make huge concessions to the LibDems if he is going to be the next Prime Minister, which will infuriate the grass root Tories even further. It's shit or bust time for him now, because if Nick Clegg walks away from this deal, his political career is over.

[blacklisted]

yep u r wright

[4me2]

Lessons from New Zealand in art of coalition building


New Zealand, which switched to proportional representation in the 1990s, may be able to teach the UK some useful lessons in coalition government.



It is a far-flung outpost of the Westminster system, with a capital that bears the name of a former British Prime Minister and a parliamentary chamber adorned still with the British coat of arms.


Winston Peters, kingmaker in 1996, may have overplayed his hand

But Wellington, New Zealand, deviated from Westminster in the mid-1990s when it adopted a system of proportional representation, known as the Mixed Member Proportional system or MMP for short.
Since the 1996 election, the first under the new system, no single party in New Zealand has been able to command a majority.
So Kiwis have come to regard elections as a two-phase affair: first, the voting; and second, the period of government formation that follows afterwards which often takes weeks.
So are there are lessons to learn from New Zealand if the UK election fails to produce a clear-cut result?



Horse-trading

Senior British civil servants appear to think so. In Wellington for a recent gathering of public servants from Australia, Canada, Ireland, Britain and New Zealand, the British Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell paid very close attention to a document called the Cabinet Manual.


The new system because has generated a better policy process, a more representative parliament and probably better policy outcomes


Professor Jonathan Boston, director of the Institute of Policy Studies

It lays down the procedures and conventions which come into effect in the event of no single party gaining a majority.
So important has the document become that in a land bereft of a written constitution it is treated as a quasi-constitutional document, though it is not legally binding.
Some of the key elements of the Cabinet Manual are:
• It emphasises that the politicians should be left to their own devices to bargain and horse-trade, without outside interference. Civil servants can assist the negotiation, but usually to provide advice on areas of policy where they may be potential conflict or potential convergence.
• It stresses that there should be a level playing field. That is to say, silver and bronze can band together to beat gold, and the party with the biggest number seats does not get to go first in attempting to form a government.
• It also lays down very clear procedures for the operation of a caretaker government, for the weeks that it normally takes to strike a deal.
The New Zealand civil service does not like to use the terminology hung parliament because it implies paralysis. It believes that it has come up with a workable model which ensures smooth transitions.
Professor Jonathan Boston, who is the director of the Institute of Policy Studies, is adamant that the new electoral system has produced stable governments.
"We've managed perfectly well with our new electoral system, and many would say that it's been an advantage to have that system because it has generated a better policy process, a more representative parliament and probably better policy outcomes," he says.


There is PR and there is PR - you can design it to increase the chance of single-party government


Professor Simon Hix, LSE



10 lessons from the world of PR

He says that the Cabinet Manual, which has caught the eye of Whitehall, has provided a useful guide.
"It's helpful. It provides the rules around what caretaker governments can do for example and has some general principles around government formation. But the art and craft of government formation is a primarily a political art rather than a constitutional art.
"The New Zealand rules around government formation are very loose. They have been described in the international literature as freestyle bargaining. We have very few constraints on what the party leaders can do on the way they go about shaping a new government."
After the 1996 election, the period of uncertainty dragged on for more than a month, as the kingmaker, Winston Peters of the New Zealand First party, continued parallel negotiations with the two major parties, the National Party and Labour.
Since then, the periods of governmental transition have been smoother and less troubled.



Bumpy ride

Rodney Hide, the leader of the small libertarian party, the ACT, which helps keep the present government in power, says that politicians now act in a more grown-up manner.
They know that leaders who overplay their hands eventually get punished by the electorate.


We have learned some lessons as politicians, that the the country expects you when you are elected into a position of influence to use it well


Rodney Hide, ACT Party

"In the early days, it was tough," says Mr Hide, who has a ministerial post in the government, though not a seat in Cabinet.
"We went from one-party rule to parties actually having to work with a third party. They hated it, and the third party loved it, and played their hands as big kingmakers, and there were a few problems.
"It took a while for it to settle down. It was a bit bumpy. But they got punished for that experience.
"Since then we have learned some lessons as politicians, that the the country expects you when you are elected into a position of influence to use it well and to use it wisely and respectfully."
Even though elections under the new system have always produced hung parliaments, New Zealand does not always end up with coalition governments.
Sometimes it produces looser arrangements. At the moment, Prime Minister John Key of the conservative National Party remains in power because of what's called a confidence and supply agreement with two smaller parties, the ACT and Maori Party.
It guarantees that the budget gets passed, and that it will survive motions of no confidence.
At the next election in 2011, New Zealanders will also get to vote in a referendum whether they want to persist with the present system. The expectation at the moment is that they will.
In the meantime, the common-heard message from New Zealand in the event that the UK election produces no clear winner is curiously British: Stay calm and carry on.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politi...10/8665835.stm

[charlievarley]

what about a Raptor support party

i'd vote, gotta be better than the muppets we have to choose from now

[casio]

since Gordon Brown announced that he's stepping down I cant help but think about a conservation I had with my family the day after the hung parliment was declared, I said 'if labour and the liberals get together I'd like to see Nick Clegg as the PM with Gordon moving back into no11 as the chancellor' which was the role he excelled in,

Fingers crossed labour and the liberals get it together because although I voted lib dem in the national elections (and labour in the locals), i'd rather have a labour-liberal coalition rather than the tories.

[jimmy mumu]

oh well back to being kicked in the nuts from the tories then

[jimmyboy]

ok

[pattikins]

ok

Clearly a man of few words. Or as Father Jack Hacket would say Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!

[Twickersw]

Hi all,

I have read the points of view, arguements and comments of the posts on here.
I did not vote this year as i personally have come to the conclusion that No Party is looking out for the people who live in this Country.
Politics has never really been something i have cared for, its more of a "What can i get out of it" from the MP's.

[BBK]

I did not vote this year as i personally have come to the conclusion that No Party is looking out for the people who live in this Country.

Each to their own, but isn't this just basically accepting you are going to bend over and let them fuck you up the arse and you won't even fight to stop it happening?

[Chuckie]

Get Castro in! lol!

[bobbobb]

well i think sad day for us working men this result