Sometimes, “No” is the hardest word.
In Scotland, the new Parliament has been chosen and… it’s a bit of a mix. But most obviously, the Labour have LOST seats and the Scottish Nasty Party has gained them – gained quite a LOT of them actually. Although it does not seem to be being reported that the Greens have actually lost MORE seats than the Labour!
If there is “no moral case” for putting the Labour into government because they have lost seats, then it is TRICKY to see the moral case for putting in the GREENS who have lost MORE seats!
Our own share of the vote held up, though because of a quirk of the almost-but-not-quite-proportional system we have still lost one seat. This is still rather disappointing – only a year or so ago we were doing really, really well and hoping to advance, but since then there has been a huge SURGE in the Nasties…
Anyway, now we have to do the difficult thing of deciding who will run Scotland for the Scottish people. And more important for us, will we join in.
The Labour have clearly lost, and a majority of people in Scotland have clearly rejected them as the government. What is more we are increasingly opposed to the Labour on a Britain-wide basis. Lord Blairimort may soon be gone but Mr Frown will hardly be a change of tune, and this may be a good time to be DISTANCING ourselves from them before they ALL disappear right down the plug hole.
I think that it would, on the whole, be better for us to say “thank you but no thank you” if they come asking for a coalition.
On the other fluffy foot, it would not be the most STABLE of governments if we went in with the Scottish Nasty Party either.
In the last parliament, we were able to form a coalition with the Labour because between us we had a majority with seats in hand.
OH, a small note for the BBC people – a “majority” means that you control more seats than all the others put together: in today’s parliament, the Scottish Nasty Party does NOT have a “majority” of one over the Labour. The word you are looking for is LEAD!
The point though is that even if we and the Nasties get together AND add in the Greens we will only have a majority of ONE. The first hint of a row, or if one MSP has a prior engagement or even if someone just steps out to the TOILET then the government falls over!
We know that we have BIGGER problems with the Nasties than with the Labour (not that there weren’t enough problems there!), and we would have great big blazing rows. Not good if your majority is WAFFER THIN!
Plus, we were part of that government that has just been rejected. We should be honest enough to put our fluffy feet up to that too.
So it might be best all around if we were to say: “okay, we aren’t going to join a coalition with EITHER of you. But we won’t deliberately undermine either of you either. If you can make a coalition with the Conservatories and the Greens – or with each other! – then we won’t FAFF ABOUT bringing you down every time someone takes a COMFORT BREAK.”
In Wales, the BBC lady doing the reporting kept saying over and over and over how the Labour will have to form a coalition “probably with the Liberal Democrats”. It cannot be GOOD if everyone just assumes we are a total PUSH OVER.
Whatever happens, our negotiating position should not be “TAKE ME, I am YOURS!”
Mr Black Peter, the Prince of Wales, has already made his
Of course, we run the risk of giving Mr Balloon the KUDOS of saying: “look, Conservatories are now back in government in Scotland and Wales!” On the other fluffy foot, we get the advantage of being able to say “LOOK the Conservatories are now back in government in Scotland and Wales!”
The Conservatories are of course busily turning themselves into the ENGLISH NASTY PARTY anyway, so NO ONE should be surprised if they would rather jump into bed with the Nasties than have any principles.
Mind you, the REAL natural coalition is between the Thatcherite Party and the OTHER Thatcherite Party – but does anyone speculate about a Labour Conservatory coalition?
We are NOT an adjunct to the other parties; we are not just the “me too” party. We are the alternative. And perhaps it is time we were seen to be OPPOSING.
3 comments:
That didn't seem fluffy at all!
Well, elephants are wise old creatures...
Good point about the Greens losing more seats than Labour... I'm sure you're right - bet if *they* end up in a coalition no one will be using phrases like propping-up, declining party, moral authority etc etc...
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