Wednesday, May 12, 2010

 

Reasons to Be(a bit more) Cheerful

It's taking a bit of getting used to and I was initially a bit down about it but, as my last two posts indicated, I couldn't see any future for a Lib-Lab coalition. And when one looks at the situation there are a few reasons to be a bit cheerful, or at least not depressed. My reasons are listed below.

i) We have a government which is needed given fragile and nervous markets.

ii) Lib Dems will moderate Tories and neutralise their wild rightwing which has been strengthened by the election. Maybe this is the most valuable reason to be cheerful as it ensures the 'nasty party' tendency remains in its kennel.

iii) Fixed term parliament is long overdue. Tories would never have gone there on their own.

iv) Beginnings of another go at reforming voting- I know it's not much but what if the dominant voting moves right of centre? Then it might even suit Tories.

v) Wright reforms look like they may go through to strenghten MPs against govt.

vi) Elected House of Lords on the agenda

vii) Gordon has gone-hooray!

vii) Labour were only defeated not obliterated as I feared.

viii) Conservatives and Lib Dems have a hell of a job to do and Labour best sitting this one out and saying how useless they are. Which they will, though not sure they are.

Press reports on the Labour side of their talks with Clegg and co, suggest ther likes of Ed Balls were not too receptive to the LD offers, explaining why the wind came out of the possible deal even while negotiations were in progress.

Comments:
The fixed term parliament is incredibly cynical. According to the Lib Dem press release they'll do this by introducing a rule that a 55% majority is required for a no confidence vote to succeed. That would mean 14 Tories would have to vote against the government.

So Cameron will be safe even if the coalition collapses.
 
And in year one, the Libs can have their fun. Year two onwards... that's when the fun starts.

Let's see how 'cheerful' you are then!
 
Oh Bob, give over with your Old Labour doom-mongering! My point is, this is nowhere near as bad as it could have been from a months back and it leaves Labour in a reasonably good position for the future.
 
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