dune

A Lib-Lab pact is a minority coalition. It can't work!!!!!

I still believe that Clegg only has two choices: 1) Join a Conservative coalition but with no PR deal. 2) Allow the Conservatives to form a minority government. Option 2) is still the most likely. It's completly and utterly unthinkable that he'll form a Lib-Lab pact. But if he does it'll send a clear message to the country that he cares nothing for the will of the people, and he cares nothing for the economy, but that all he cares about is the voting system and his own party.

It’s late autumn, 1976. Britain is facing yet another sterling crisis. In less than two years the pound has fallen from $2.40 to $1.60. Investors have no faith in the British economy, or the government that runs it. The Budget is a mess — vital public spending will have to be cut. The plummeting pound pushes the economy to breaking point. Prime Minister Callaghan is told that unless a solution is found, Britain can no longer afford to be a nuclear power. In desperation, the government finally acts. In December, Labour Chancellor Denis Healey takes a drastic step. He borrows £2.3 billion — the maximum allowed — from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The above was a nightmare scenario for Britain. But it happened. The question is, could it happen again? If a Lib-Lab pact is formed the answer is YES.

Good news for the Tories - YES, but very bad news for the country. I fully expect a run on the pound in a matter of days if the Tories and the Liberals don't announce a deal PDQ.

Too right it's unlikely to last. It'd be a complete dereliction of duty for minority coalition government to be formed. It'd be utter carnage for the country until the inevitable collapse. If, and it's a big If, this does happen then at the next election (which won't be far away) it'll be wipeout time for the Liberals in the South and this will be just what they deserve.

He's just given a live address outside Number 10.

As it says on the tin. Brown has said he'll resign and a new Labour Leader will be in place before the September conference, and that his grubby party is entering negotiations with the Liberals. The upshot would be the unlected Prime Minister relinquishing power to another unlected Prime Minister. No doubt some will say we live in a parliamentary democracy and not a presidential democracy, but it's disgusting imo.

All this talk is academic because it's not going to happen. And I say good.

What is the likelihood that Proportional Representation would deliver a majority government In Briatin?

What about Belgium? Hasn't their coalition just collapsed? I just don't want it because I believe that strong majority governments are best.

If you want strong majority governments then the current system is the best. It can be tweaked, and i'm sure David Cameron is willing for some changes to be made. I support UKIP and PR would deliver us seats, but i'm not selfish like the Liberals and I recognise that having strong majority governments is best for Britain.

The biggest problem with PR is that it will mean the end of majority governments and the aftermath of every election will be just like the here and now.

It's in the British psyche to back the underdog.

Arrrrrrgh, get it into your head that Labour cannot deliver PR because the Tories + The DUP + more than enough Labour MP's would throw the motion out. It's impossible to get PR through a Lib-Lab pact.

PR is not the big issue. It might be to you and it might be to other minority parties, but it's not the big issue to the electorate. If it was such a big issue and the public had really wanted a hung patliament the Liberal vote would not have collapsed. On polling day the Liberal vote went up by 1% when all polls said you'd be getting an 8% rise. Your party made no tangible ground in this election despite Cleggmania. You really need to get PR out of your heads because it's not going to happen. Labour can't deliver it and the Conservatives won't deliver it.

I think Swindon or Millwall deserve it the most because they've both achieved the most with the least resources.

Lefties out of touch???? No, never.

You are under the impression that we're out of the woods. We are not, and thanks to Brown running a budget deficit because boom and bust was a thing of the past the cupboard was bare when the first recession hit us. If we are hit by another recession we have no chance of it not turning into a depression. Brown behaved like an 80's yuppy supping champagne, buying flash cars, snorting charlie like there was no tomorrow - all on a giant credit card because the good times were rolling and nothing was gonna change. No credit at all can be given to labour when it comes to the economy because a prudent government would have run a budget surplus during the good times to pay for the bad times.

Clegg: I'm ****ed. The only choice i've got is to let the Conservatives form a minority government.

I don't see why the Liberals can't understand what we're saying. They're not in the real world if they think they can get PR through a Lib-Lab pact, they're not in the real world if they think they can form a lib-lab pact that won't collapse, they're not in the real world if they think the public won't give them a bloody nose in a subsequent election for siding with the party that lost.

Look to seats like Winchester and Eastleigh, they're Tory seats that have dipped their toes into the Liberal bath, but they are historically Conservative seats. The vast vast bulk of Lib Dem seats are like Winchester and Eastleigh and if Clegg dares to form a pact with Labour it'll be total wipeout in the south for your party when the Lib-lab pact collapses. The Liberals had better start using their brains and get behind the Conservatives or they'lll be very sorry.

Get real. The public don't want a Labour governement. The public (especially in England) want a Conservative govt. If the Liberals form a pact with Labour it'll be a minority govt and it'll be a disater in the economic storm and I tell you what the Lib Dem voters in the Lib-Con marginals (got any %ages as to what proportion of seats this is) will be furious and your party will be destroyed at a future election, and make no mistake the Lib-Lab coalition won't last last long before the public get the chance to vent their fury.

Hindsight??? FFS, this is the man who declared that boom and bust was a thing of the past. This is the driving principle that governed the way Gordon Brown acted throughout his time as Chancellor. Oh well, we all make mistakes. FFS, Brown is an utter moron for discounting historical precedent. Those gold reserves had been built up over centuries. Gold is and has always been the safe haven in a storm. Don't talk about hindsight like Brown made a silly mistake - he made a monumental mistake that is beyond excuse.

Clegg may well get support from the desperate Mr Brown, but if he goes with Brown he'll be propping up a minority government that the public don't want and it'll be catastophe for the economy. And in any case he won't get PR because Labour won't be able whip suffient MP's to support the motion and those Labour MP's + the Tories would be enough to defeat the motion. Get in the real world. Clegg has two choices - join the Tories and get a couple of seats in govt. or allow the Tories to form a minority govt. and support them in their economic policies. Forming a pact with Labour would be economic and political suicide for him, his party and most importantly for the country. A new election would have to be called (with no PR) and the Liberals and Labour would feal the wrath of the electorate for defying their will at this election.

I realise that Britain is on the brink of economic meltdown and that the public want a government to deal with this issue. The economy is the big issue in the real world.