How on earth a Liberal party can form a coalition with the Conservative party? Aren't they supposed to be poles apart, as their respective names suggest?
It seems not; Nick Clegg is a happy deputy of David Cameron while "rebel" Vince Cable is working in perfect harmony with George Osborne.It is the new politics, they say, the thing that the country needs at the moment. Then why weren't the voters told about this before the election? If the parties have indeed so much in common as they both are claiming now, then why didn't they form a pre-pole coalition? At least the voters could have made an informed decision. Isn't that the democracy is all about?
I am not at all convinced that all this is for the sake of providing a stable government; to me it is just a case of utter opportunism and sheer lust for power. And among the two, it is the Lib Dem who looks more ugly in this unholy matrimony of Con-Lib.
Conservatives at least have won most seats and were very close to securing majority in the house. So it is expected that they would try to make some deals with the other parties, which would mean a little compromise but would secure five years in the Westminister. This is exactly what they did.
But why the Lib Dems made such a political harakiri is beyond me. In the next election why would anybody vote for them? If someone actually likes Tory policies s/he will directly vote for them; while anybody with anti tory political views will have no choice but to vote for Labour; because any vote cast in favour of LibDem will be a proxy Tory vote. The cost of sharing power for five years will be too dear for Lib Dems to bear.
And I do not buy Clegg's argument that Lib Dem had no other option but to form this coalition. True, Labour have been rejected by the voters and hence siding with them would have been incorrect. Also the arithmetic was against them..... a Labour-LibDem coalition would not have the sufficient number. A multiparty coalition with Labour, LibDem, SNP, Green and some others would have been a too fragile coalition of looser.
But LibDem could have just remained neutral and let Tories form a minority government. They could have abstained from the first motion of confidence in House and then could have given policy based support to individual issues. They could have supported the bills like educational reforms, ID card abolition or banking reforms. But could oppose the Trident or Immigration bills. There is no reason why a minority government can not function like this, as long as all oppositions are not bringing a no confidence motion together against the government. But a responsible opposition should reserve this option as a last resort against any disastrous decision made by the government.
Lib Dem would have looked much more respectable in this arrangement and the voters would not have felt cheated. And by next election there could still be a party called LibDem, a sensible alternative to Tory and New Labour.
