Comments on: Social Liberal Forum calls for a Government of National Unity

By: Social Liberal Forum » SLF statement on the opening of formal talks with Labour:

Mon, 10 May 2010 21:01:35 +0000

[...] people a say in how they elect their parliament. Needless to say, we also feel that the ‘red lines‘ spelt out by the Social Liberal Forum Executive this weekend still [...]

By: One Salient Oversight

One Salient Oversight — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:04:42 +0000

Simon,

The “rag tag” nationlists (sic) includes 1 Green (politically progressive), 3 Irish SDLP (ie Social Democratic and Labour party, politically progressive), 3x Plaid Cymru (who espouse Democratic Socialism), 1x Irish Alliance party (Liberal Centrist) and 6x Scottish National Party (who espouse Social Democracy). If you add those 14 seats to the 57 Liberal Democrats and the 258 Labour, you get a majority.

And to remind you again – those 14 seats are inhabited by MPs who, while Nationalist, are also progressive.

You can forget the 8 members of the DUP – they’re probably conservative. You can also forget the 5 seats won by Sinn Fein since they never turn up to Parliament.

In short there can be a coalition of left/centre left MPs to counter the Tories.

By: Felix

Felix — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:26:32 +0000

I am a Lib Dem voter and new member. I completely agree with the sentiment and substance of this statement.

By: Simon Thomson

Simon Thomson — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:08:19 +0000

I am very uncomfortable with the idea of a deal with the Conservatives, but the reality is they are the largest party and got the most seats and the most votes under our discredited FPTP system, therefore, logic dictates we should try and seek a deal with them. Hopefully this would provide the country with a strong stable government thereby reducing the need for an early general election.

Personally I would prefer a deal with Labour, but due to parliamentary arithmatic this is not tenable. It would also mean dealing with a rag tag of nationlists who would hold the country and any ‘progressive’ government to ransom.

By: One Salient Oversight

One Salient Oversight — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:54:58 +0000

If the forum believes that a) Britain’s public finances need to be strengthened in order to reduce the deficit and pay off debt, but b) do not support draconian spending cuts, then it follows that the forum supports tax increases.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it needs to be clear.

By: One Salient Oversight

One Salient Oversight — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:52:28 +0000

Why the need for a “referendum” on Proportional Representation? Surely legislation setting up a PR electoral system can be passed in Parliament without the need for a referendum. My personal preference is MMP-style but would ordinary Britons understand the differences between MMP, STV and others enough to make an informed vote?

By: james

james — Sun, 09 May 2010 22:58:03 +0000

Gee, what did the national government do in the 30s? Ah, yes – that’s right, it let ordinary people pay for the crisis caused by the greedy rich…

Come on guys – Tories and fairness?

By: Vincent Smith

Vincent Smith — Sun, 09 May 2010 16:24:55 +0000

A “National Unity Government” – what on a earth does this mean? And if it means an all party coalition why are earth – short of world war – would it really be necessary? How liberal is closing down political competition. Seems to me that this a rather desperate and, if you will forgive me for saying so, rather typical Lib Dem response ducking the real choice of allying either with Tories or Labour (+ minor parties). At least Nick Clegg seems to have bitten the bullet in clearly opting for the Tories. If he does, however, I think social liberal such as yourselves will have to start thinking about the long term future of the Lib Dems or rather your place in it.

Anyway, no more fantasy politics please…

By: Niklas Smith

Niklas Smith — Sun, 09 May 2010 11:12:11 +0000

On the post, I think the red lines are good, except possibly for the one against any real-terms cuts this year; if we can find something like ID cards that is not really in any sense useful to cut immediately that should be on the table. (And amen to electoral reform!)

On Nicola Farnworth’s comment: the long list you’ve just made shows how difficult that would be. The maths of the election result mean that forming a stable government excluding the Conservatives is frankly impossible. So either we go along the road of a national unity government (which I am personally not convinced by, but wouldn’t mind if it happened) or a Lib Dem-Conservative deal of some kind.

Also, what exactly do all these parties you mention have in common (even philosophically) apart from not being Tory? Just to take one example, Alliance want to slash Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland to attract businesses but the Greens want to increase the tax take from 36% of GDP now to 45% of GDP by the end of this Parliament.

It frustrates me that the word “progressive” is bandied about so much but is never defined. It seems to be the political hurrah-word of the twenty-first century.

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sun, 09 May 2010 10:25:08 +0000

So where’s the red line on civil liberties?