Monday 15 March 2010

Nick Clegg's coalition fence sitting is damaging democracy

Nick Clegg's reluctance to name the Party he would be prepared to form a coalition with in the event of a hung parliament is a direct threat to democracy. By not coming clean on which party he is willing to work with, Clegg is keeping the public in the dark. We are now going into a General Election with many voters not knowing which party they are actually voting for.

Many Lib Dems will not want to be connected to the Labour Party, and many will not want a coalition with the Conservative party. What Clegg is basically saying is that he will decide (after the election) which party the Lib Dems form a coalition with - not the voters. Don't Lib Dem voters have the right to know who they are voting for? The most likely outcome of a hung parliament would be a Lib/Lab coalition - that is the preferred option for the majority of Lib Dem voters - but nothing is for sure. How do those voters feel about forming a government with the Conservatives? A government run by David Cameron with a few token Lib Dems in the Cabinet?

As long as Nick Clegg sits on the fence, treating Lib Dem supporters like mushrooms*, those same supporters will not know if they are voting for a Labour or Conservative government.

It was Patrick Murray who said:

"Any political party that includes the word 'democratic' in its name, isn't."

Kept in the dark and fed sh*t.

2 comments:

TheBoilingFrog said...

I think the ill-disguised glee of the Lib Dems regarding a hung Parliament is misplaced.

In my view the mostly likely outcome of a hung Parliament would be for the 2 main parties (whichever one is largest) to tell the Lib Dems to sod off, and run the country as a minority Government and call another election a few months later.

Personally though I don't think it'll come to that, I believe the Tories will gain a majority albeit a small one.

Daily Referendum said...

TBF,

I think you are right. It doesn't hurt to point out Clegg's fence sitting though.