SubJeff on 7/5/2010 at 13:46
Come on Cleggers, take the offer!
Cripes! Look how the percentage of votes hasn't translated to the percentage of seat at all! Lib Dems deserved much more.
Matthew on 7/5/2010 at 13:49
I'd love a LibCon government, but I would really like to see electoral reform held up as part of that pact.
SubJeff on 7/5/2010 at 13:57
Yeah, I can get behind electoral reform. Lib Dems getting over 20% of the vote but only 55 seats (so far) is very undemocratic.
Aerothorn on 7/5/2010 at 14:25
Of course, electoral reform would have seriously hurt the Tories in this election, so one understands their reticence, assuming they're completely immoral bastards.
Matthew on 7/5/2010 at 14:35
Which one does.
Brian The Dog on 7/5/2010 at 15:06
Big carrot from Brown to Clegg. Little carrot from Cameron to Clegg.
Which makes sense - Brown needs ALL the Lib Dems to vote with him all the time to get a majority. Cameron only needs about a third. Brown doesn't have to make a hard sell in his party over electoral reform, Cameron does. Bear in mind that all three have to sell their ideas to their own party membership, not just the MPs - this is a real problem for Cameron and Clegg.
They've both mentioned Constitutional Reform, but this is itself a bit vague - for instance, it could mean any of the following:
- Formal split between Church and State
- Fully elected house of Lords
- Proportional Representation in general elections
- First Vote Plus system in general elections
- Abolition of local councils
- Abolition of house of Lords
- Abolition of the monarchy
- Abolition of all forms of government and introduction of mandatory Cameron worship under pain of death (admittedly this might be difficult to sell to the electorate in the referendom) :angel:
I'm just saying Clegg should be wary of agreeing to a referendum on something he THINKS he's getting from Brown, and it turning out to be not what he wanted.
Edit - Can someone please explain to me why the Conservatives would hate PR? Granted it would reduce their seats, but it would reduce Labour's even more. Is it because every government would effectively be forced to have a coalition?
R Soul on 7/5/2010 at 15:07
The Liberal Democrats would gain more than 90 seats with the current vote, but I'm sure that's nothing to do with their support for PR. I'm sure they'd still support it if it would cost them seats.
And the BNP would go from 0 seats to 12, so be careful what you wish for.
ffox on 7/5/2010 at 15:20
Quote Posted by Brian The Dog
Can someone please explain to me why the Conservatives would hate PR? Granted it would reduce their seats, but it would reduce Labour's even more. Is it because every government would effectively be forced to have a coalition?
Yes - the posh guys don't fancy having to work with the common people.
Ulukai on 7/5/2010 at 15:36
Quote Posted by R Soul
And the BNP would go from 0 seats to 12, so be careful what you wish for.
This. Bit of a double-edged sword really.
It's not very democratic, but Nick Griffin can fuck right off and I don't want to see him with 12 party seats on a bus*, let alone in parliament.
*Unless maybe the bus in on fire and heading rapidly downhill towards a magma pit
