There is an interesting article in the Independent today from Steve Richards, one of those commentators worth reading as he doesn't have an agenda of his own to pursue. He is convinced that an alliance with the Conservatives would not deliver electoral reform but would result in an early election which could see us fall back further. He favours an alliance with Labour to bring in voting reform as he says another hung parliament is highly unlikely.
Looking at the BBC website the arithmetic is interesting. Labour and the Lib Dems would have 315 votes together. If the Green and Alliance MPs were persuaded to come on board, the arithmetic is quite encouraging. The Conservatives and their likely allies, the DUP, could muster 314 votes to this 317. Once again, if we assume that the nationalist parties would be sympathetic to a change in the voting system which would be likely to deliver them increased support in future, and we remember that the 5 Sinn Fein MPs do not sit in Parliament.the chances of voting reform in this Parliament are quite good. Compare this with the Conservative offer of a commission...
Steve Richards points out how unpalatable it would be to prop up the Labour government but he thinks this is a once in a generation opportunity to change things. He has a point.
Fascinating times but also potentially desperate ones for the future of our party. Nick's up to it but I don't envy him the task.
No comments:
Post a Comment