There is no room for rejoicing at the failure of a progressive coalition to secure a parliamentary majority. Whilst some of the grey beards in the labour party have wisely cautioned that such a coalition would be hamstrung to minority groups such as Plaid Cymru and the SNP, the alternative prize of sitting back and waiting for a Tory / Liberal coalition to implode within months seems now a more distant possibility.
Showing in full technicolour glory is just how far the power hungry opportunistic Liberals are prepared to go to salvage, not their manifesto commitments, but their own self-aggrandizement. The ‘deal ‘ secured by Clegg has raised a commitment on parliamentary reform but also a number of ‘grace and favour’ seats in Ministries across Whitehall, with the fatter salaries attached including, of course, Clegg's own 30 pieces of silver for the defunct post of Deputy Prime Minister.
With just 57 Lib Dem MPs it is hardly surprising that they appear to have accepted the deal. They have about a 1 in 5 chance of making it to Ministerial level! The Liberals first concession has been on what we all feared. The £6 billion of public spending cuts to take place this year.
Despite his campaign protestations that he did not believe that this was possible without hurting front line public services and the economic recovery Clegg has been prepared to offer this up as a sacrifice for Parliamentary and electoral reforms.
Reforms, which include, the imposition without a referendum, of a fixed term Parliament. This is a fundamental constitutional change on a country that has the most stable constitution within all of Europe. But more cynically it will ensure that the Tories remain in office no matter what. It is a naïve move by the Liberals.
Is this their kind of ‘new politics’ one where a defunct government can’t be removed from office? Where the electorate has had no say and a minority party can dictate the terms of our constitution? The Labour Party rushed into supporting Parliamentary and electoral reform and there has been little genuine debate about what that might mean in the long term.
Scaremongering reports, such as the one circulated by Compass at the last Labour Party conference, predicted that without reform Labour would be forever consigned to losing elections – patently not true on the election results we have just seen.
Coalition arrangements are commonplace in councils throughout the UK and in other countries but the stakes are high. In the case of the Liberals the highest stake of all was their own survival and it is that which will take precedence over any moral thinking when it comes to a slash and burn approach on public sector spending.
This is less a Tory /Liberal coalition and more an illiberal coalition forcing through constitutional reforms that the electorate has had no say in and unacceptable cuts in our public services which will hit our members square in the face.
