From: xxxxajh@brunel.ac.uk (Alan J Holmes)
Newsgroups: uk.politics,soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Don't let the other side win (was Re: Simple message)
Date: 7 Apr 92 12:11:04 GMT
Reply-To: xxxxajh@brunel.ac.uk (Alan J Holmes)
Organization: Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK

In article <1992Mar27.140541.4294@city.cs> simon@cs.city.ac.uk (Simon Brock-Gunn) writes:

>There are two reasons why they shouldn't:
>
>1 The Liberal Democrats have as much chance of forming a government in
>  their own right as do the Monster Raving Loony Party.  Therefore, if they
>  are to be taken seriously, we must know their intentions with regard to
>  their only possible role - in a hung parliament.  It is not patently
>  obvious from their political views which of Labour or Conservatives they
>  would join with, so there is only one way of finding out - ask them.
>  Since we don't get a reply, we just have to keep asking.

It would seem that I have been watching the wrong interviews,  I thought
that Ashdown had made the Party position quite clear.  As I understand
the position,  the Liberals are willing to support any other party
and which is prepared to work for the good of the
population,  all that the other parties want is total power, and this
is what happens where there is an overwhelming majority,  this does NOT
make for good government,  witness the fiasco over the poll tax. 

If the Tories get back we will have a second fiaso with the proposed
rating system, whatever they call it, this is just a return to the
old system of fixing rates,  based on the value of the property.  In
the current proposal the value will be assessed on the sale value of the 
house,  in the previous rating system the value was still a market
value, that of how much rent the property could command, so if you made
a small improvement such as adding central heating to make life a
little easier and comforable for yourself,  the Rating officer would
be on your back to upgrade the property.   Do you really want a return
to tha sort of taxation? 

The Liberal political idealology is neither to the extreme right or to the
extreme left, so there cannot be a prejudged conclusion.

>2 In a hung parliament, could you imagine Labour and Conservatives forming
>  a coalition government together?  Of course not.  Therefore, one or the
>  other would *have* to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, hence
>  there is no need to ask them about it, since it would be a foregone
>  conclusion.  

>Of course, since Labour and the Conservatives each have a realistic chance
>of forming a goverment in their own right, it is easier for them to avoid 
>the issue when asked, by claiming that they will win with an overall
>majority.  Any Liberal Democrat who said this would not have much chance
>of being taken seriously.

This indicates the problems of the current electorial system,  the Liberals
consistently poll a very large number of votes, but the Liberal voters 
fail to be properly represented,  I do wonder sometimes whether I could
have recourse to the European Parliament with the complaint that I do
not have a proper voice in Parliament.

It is interesting to note that whenever either of the parties with a large
number of MP's fails to reach a majority but have a large poll, they
also kick up a stink,  this reaction is however considered to be not
quite right when a Liberal voter complains.

Regards

Alan Holmes
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:6661 alt.society.civil-liberty:3519