The Tory/LibDem coalition – my thoughts

So, the election's over, and after several days of negotiations, we are to get a new government. Like many people, I was disappointed with the results of the election, in that the LibDems went down in number of seats. It is worth pointing out, however, that we went up in our share of the vote - a full percentage point, in fact.

I hoped that it would be possible for the next government to be a LibLab coalition. I rather like the Labour party as a whole, and personally I don't think that Brown is such a bad guy, but I recognised that he would have to step down as part of any LibLab pact - as I've been saying for some time now, he's a liability for his party, despite his ability.

But a LibLab coalition would not be only a LibLab coalition - the two parties alone would have given them 315 seats, meaning that at least one, probably two, nationalist parties - Plaid Cymru and the SNP - would have to be brought in. Aside from the obvious national imbalance in favour of Wales and Scotland, that would simply make the whole enterprise too unstable to last.

So, despite my hopes, there really was only one viable option in some sort of Tory/LibDem deal. Like many LibDems, this irks me to say the least. I find the Tory party as a whole an insult to much of what I stand for - removing necessary services for those who need them in favour of tax cuts is my primary reason to despise the Tory party, but treatment of sexual minorities is definitely another topic for contention. I'm going to be starting a secure job in 20 days, and the Torys, despite the attitudes of their party members, wouldn't be able to reverse the fantastic (but admittedly incomplete) job that Labour have done in advancing issues of equality, so in terms of simple self-interest I shouldn't care. But they're still an insult to much of what I stand for. Yet we do have common ground with our foe. And they did gain a large share of the vote. And we do need a government that is stable. So this was the only real option.

I am glad that it is not simply a deal to allow a budget and Queen's speech to pass. We have a full coalition government, most likely with Cabinet seats for a few LibDems, maybe even Clegg as Deputy PM. This means that Tory policies can be tempered with liberal attitudes, blunting the axe that cuts away at lifelines for the needy, perhaps even diverting it. And that has already happened - I gather that the Torys have been very generous with the compromise necessary to make this work.

My thoughts on coalitions and PR

We had no decisive winner in the election, and it took a few more days before a government was formed. The press wanted us to think that there was all this chaos going on, that if it went on any longer then the UK would cease to exist or something, but in reality it was just a few more days. That government won't be able to hold up all of the manifesto pledges of either party, and which pledges stayed or went was negotiated behind closed doors, but I'm okay with that. Yes, I voted for the Liberal Democrats and their manifesto, but compromise and cooperation are important facets in ordinary life. I trust that my party (I really should actually join the party I think) did its best to uphold the core values that the party stand for, and that I believe in, and I'm sure that the Torys did much the same.

A lot of people are afraid of coalitions. They shouldn't be. In other democracies, they are common, yet seem to work just fine. The reason that they seem alien to us is that our electoral system gives parties an easier time getting a 'majority'. But this does not mean that they have a majority, more than 50%, of the votes. Even the Labour landslide in 1997 only garnered 43.2% of the vote - so 56.8% of the voting population did not want a Labour government in 1997. With proportional representation (PR) a government has to have a majority of the votes, which inevitably means coalitions. This does not mean weak government in the slightest. This means compromise and cooperation between 2 or more (but with our current party layout, probably just 2) parties, each keeping their core values and giving way on lower priorities. This means that we don't see big changes if a new party comes to power, we see a more gradual change to the way of life. But most importantly, we see the core values of more than half of the voters brought forward. And that can only be a good thing.

That we have a full Tory/LibDem coalition makes me happy for another reason - this will show those who are against PR because of coalition governments that they can work, that we can still get a strong government through cooperation. That there is nothing to be feared. Between them, they represent 59.1% of voters - more than 15% more votes than Labour's 1997 landslide. How is that not a good thing? When this government's term is up, and we've had 4(?) years of stable, strong government, I predict that there will be a lot of changed opinions on PR, even in Tory ranks. That we have this coalition, despite only getting a referendum on the alternative vote (AV) system, we will make a huge step towards PR in the long-term. And as a result, this election has been a huge win for democracy in our country.