DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived Cleggeron era

and the rebel conservatives wd have to find some common cause with virtually all of lib dems and labour

Labour can just kid on they're outraged

http://dev.null.org/scrapbook/2005/1022_barley.jpg

Args for FPTP = "woe, hung parliament!"

By then, they'll be ready to offload the libs back into nopowerland...

Why are twitter / the streets not full of people shouting about this?

I've done my bit on Twitter and FB and now I'm going to go outside and knock a bobby's helmet off.

tebbit...

There is however another novel factor which will come into play when the coalition does come apart. If we have legislated for a fixed term Parliament, what happens then? What if no one can command the confidence of the House of Commons and there cannot be a general election to resolve the issue?

Liz 2 steps up

the conservatives may fuck up everything and the coalition may become comepletely dysfunctional, but even the hard right won't want to call (with lib/lab) an election they are likely to lose

the tories wd then govern as effectively a minority govt w/ day-to-day suppport until 2015

but even the hard right won't want to call (with lib/lab) an election they are likely to lose

they have tried it in the 90s. i think it's difficult to under/overestimate them.

"The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour government and roll back state intrusion.

This will include:

• A freedom or great repeal bill;

• The scrapping of the ID card scheme, the national identity register, the next generation of biometric passports and the Contact Point database;

• Outlawing the fingerprinting of children at school without parental permission;

• The extension of the scope of the Freedom of Information Act to provide greater transparency;

• Adopting the protections of the Scottish model for the DNA database;

• The protection of historic freedoms through the defence of trial by jury;

• The restoration of rights to non-violent protest;

• The review of libel laws to protect freedom of speech;

• Safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation;

• Further regulation of CCTV;

• Ending of storage of internet and email records without good reason;

• A new mechanism to prevent the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences."

Seems like all good stuff. What say ye?

the markets would not like that

xpost re minority govt till 2015

no 'freedom to make dumb tweets about blowing up airports' no cred

needs more stuff about evidence-based policy, but that there is your silver lining.

such as it is.

And they're going to make Miaow Miaow legal again...

they have tried it in the 90s. i think it's difficult to under/overestimate them.

as APC alluded to, that was after more than a decade of tory govt w/ will-to-power flagging and some of the 'let's regroup in opposition' sentiment labour have shown in recent days

could happen sure but i wouldn't think it a likelihood

with luck the civil liberties stuff will work wonders on labour: now they don't have to worry about an attack from the right on that, they're safe to move leftwards. but they might just as well decide that authoritarianism is their u.s.p.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47834000/jpg/_47834611_cameronandclegg226282in_get.jpg

David Cameron explains to Nick
Clegg where the wheelie bins are and
how often they get emptied

"those muffled cries for help you can hear are in fact just the wind, moving on..."

Yeah, really like that section. But:

• A new mechanism to prevent the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences."

with luck the civil liberties stuff will work wonders on labour: now they don't have to worry about an attack from the right on that, they're safe to move leftwards. but they might just as well decide that authoritarianism is their u.s.p.

this shit was about more than just outflanking the tories, on terrorist issue maybe but id cards were their own invention

sincerely share your hope tho

also oops for incorrectly initializing APS

Digital Britain? I'm guessing that one disappeared through the cracks *clutches YSI*

Did nobody point out to Labour that the Lib Dem's had a policy in their pocket that would have made a Rainbow Coalition's slim majority pretty much rock solid?

"Ending of storage of internet and email records without good reason" <- isn't this just the sort of thing that yr Tory small business owner rails against endlessly, what do I have to sign up to all this paperwork about not storing emails for, legislation gone mad etc? Or is this just for government? What is an "internet record"?

(yeah, I'm picking on the small stuff because the big stuff sounds charming enough, but the devil is surely in the details and I don't trust the Tories' idea of "civil liberties" to be new liberties across the board and not just for the big guys in suits)

that's talking about ISPs

Did nobody point out to Labour that the Lib Dem's had a policy in their pocket that would have made a Rainbow Coalition's slim majority pretty much rock solid?

:(

Which was?

55%

lest we forget
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/09/liberal-democrat-tory-coalition-threatened-eurosceptic

Did nobody point out to Labour that the Lib Dem's had a policy in their pocket that would have made a Rainbow Coalition's slim majority pretty much rock solid?

- Think the level of opposition to PR in the Labour ranks is pretty strong

- Imposing PR with a fragile coalition would be almost as much of a dick move as what ConDem are currently trying to do.

Also 55% is an awful policy no matter which party is imposing it. You can't just change the rules in order to prop up a fragile coalition government, it's undemocratic.

There's nothing in the Lib Dem manifesto about 55% that I can see, just fixed term parliaments. The 55% is new.

The 55% is because it's a coalition.

yep what matt said. five-year fixed terms are heinous whoever imposes them. shoring up this horribly formed coalition isn't sufficient reason to do it. a lib-lab pact would not have bee stronger -- given that it involved nationalists, it would probably have been weaker -- and i don't think that would have gone the half-decade distance either.

Will be interesting (nauseating) to see if the 55% thing has a time limit of this parliament.

The silver linings are the civil liberties stuff and the fact that the labour party didn't commit suicide.

What's this 55% thing?

why don't they make it 100%?

110%!!!

i want to see our parliament accept nothing unless everybody is giving 110%

mps can be recalled if they fall too low in the capello index

What's this 55% thing?

― Il suffit de ne pas l'envier (Michael White), Wednesday, May 12, 2010 4:29 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

they've imposed five year fixed-term parliaments and the only way to bring a general election sooner is to get a 55% result in the house in a vote of (no) confidence

MW:

Mr Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a five-year fixed-term parliament had been introduced to help guarantee stability: "We have done everything possible to lock ourselves together to avoid the dangers of instability and haggling that are of course present in any hung parliament."

The only way to remove a government before the five years was up would be in a vote of confidence backed by 55% of MPs. Current rules are that the votes of 50% of MPs, plus one, can remove a government. The Conservatives currently have 47% of MPs.

Tax break for married couples and civil partners (Lib Dems able to abstain)

http://i39.tinypic.com/24cs7s1.jpg

The silver linings are the civil liberties stuff

I'll believe all that when I see it, wait for the Chief Constables to start bleating and see what the Tories do then

nah I think there's room to cut back some of Labour's worst law and order excesses without pissing off the police and it makes for relatively cheap political capital. Looks good when you start cutting back all that awful health and safety and employees' rights red tape too.

Outlawing the fingerprinting of children at school without parental permission

what's this all abaht then?

no more finger painting

some schools use fingerprint scanners for library books, paying for school meals etc. opponents: http://www.leavethemkidsalone.com/

it might relate to the Tory-friendly Academy schools that run their security, libraries and school dinners using biometrics. How else are they gonna keep the Epsilons out tho?

In their manifesto, the Tories said they wanted to allow residents to stop councils raising taxes (by making it possible for them to make council tax increases subject to a referendum). This will probably be an area for dispute in the future.

I think they should talk to Arnie about that one.