Time to Wake up for Moaning Lib Dems
Liberal Democrats should be joyous today – they are finally in Government after decades in the political wilderness.
After failing to reach a compromise when we last had deadlock in 1974, the Liberals haven’t come close to having any political influence at Westminster except when Tony Blair offered them a faint sniff of it in the 1990s.
Yet, this morning, I am baffled by the hordes of Lib Dem activists and voters despairing at what Nick Clegg et al have done with many threatening to join Labour.
But why do that? Are they mad?
The Tories are not that evil and scary – after all the Lib Dems now have five key cabinet seats and a Government which has adopted a raft of Lib Dem policies. Labour failed to compromise and couldn’t reach a working majority anyway! It’s a no brainer.
I do fear for the Libs that voting reform could be a dead duck for them now. Do not be fooled by inaccurate journalism and analysis, which I’ve seen in the last few days, calling the proposed AV voting system a form of proportional representation. It isn’t.
It is a majoritarian system used in Australia which can bring about more ridiculously strong parties than first past the post.
And if it is put to a referendum do not be surprised if both Labour and Conservatives campaign against it which will kill it dead.
Do we really want PR anyway? Look at the European elections where it rewards lunatics and nutters, as Nick Clegg may put it himself, like the BNP with seats. Is this what we want here?
So I call on Lib Dems to marvel in the work their leaders have done in negotiating seats at the big table despite losing five seats in the election. It is a remarkable achievement.
I sincerely hope that the new Government is a success but it will be tough. The first thing is to ensure Britain gets rid of its awful debt and helps people keep in jobs which are disappearing at an alarming rate.
