Tuesday 11 May 2010

POLITICS: A LABOUR/LIB DEM GOVERNMENT?

Well, personally, I hope so and I'm sure no-one is surprised by that.

There are a number of good reasons for it, primarily that the Lib Dems have far more in common with Labour than with the Cons (an appropriate contraction of the name because they were clearly trying to con the Lib Dems who haven't bought it). It might have been fair to initially enter into talks with the party that had the most MPs but in practice Labour was always a better bet. 

The biggest attraction for Clegg and his party is the offer of legislating the Alternative Vote system before the next General Election with teaser of a referendum on on full proportional representation. The Tories would never do this but would prevaricate and obfuscate until they felt they were in a position to go to the country and win without the LibDems. Labour was always a better bet for their cherished reform of the electoral system.

Apart from the fact that I don't want Cameron and his cronies in power, I'm a strong believer in proportional representation because it will enable all voters to feel that their views are being represented which is what democracy is all about. And, yes, I am aware that it will also give a strong voice to people with views I find repulsive like the National Racist Scumbag Party -sorry, I mean the BNP- but that is what democracy is all about. More likely is that it will see an upsurge in support for more positive groups like the Greens. This will revitalise British politics making it more flexible and adaptable to the new era we find ourselves in and actively engage the interest of a previously cynical population. 

The world is changing in so many ways that an antiquated system like our first past the post just doesn't work properly any more. Our country is far more diverse than when I was growing up and our system of government should reflect this. Simply having more female, openly gay, and ethnic minority individual as MPs isn't the same thing.

We live in interesting times. Let's hope they are about to get more interesting.

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