this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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UK Politics

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think the ideal situation would be a Labour minority government, with the Lib Dems as king maker to force PR through.

Of course, anything would be better than the Tories, New labour was so much better than the last decade of austerity. But I really dont trust Starmer and his constant changing of position/swing rightward.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

They got the AV referendum out of coalition with the tories and got massacred. Has enough changed that PR is vaguely plausible? Both main parties are weakened by factionalism but that will probably make their voters fear PR even more since it presents the risk of the "other" beating them. I just don't see how PR can be achieved without an actual implosion of a party. The tories are really teasing it but they aren't broken yet it seems (much to my surprise).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I find comments like this perplexing.

Liberal Democrats are effectively centre right. They propped up Cameron's conservatives which brought in the austerity years that irreparably damaged the country. They promised to abolish tuition fees, then voted to increase them. They supported cuts to the NHS and police that were still now feeling the effects of.

You also referenced LD as a party but Starmer by name, even though we don't elect a president. He is just a figurehead for the party. If PMs had as much power as a president, don't you think it would be a much bigger deal when any of the last handful of Tory PMs resigned?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

I find comments like this perplexing.

LibDems were always against it, but were a minority in a coilition and basically had no power. Tories were never going to vote against it, but were willing to put AV on the table.

They offered Labour first, but Labour didn't want a coilition. It was a gamble that could have changed everything, and unfortunately it was a gamble that the public didn't support because even Labour was against it.

Why anyone would vote Labour is beyond me, didn't they vote for tution fees in the first place?

[–] dimspace 4 points 1 year ago

As a (largely former) lib dem I'm not really sure we can be trusted to hold any sort of balance in power in a minority government

We didn't do so well last time