Negotiations Continue

I have been watching the news regarding the formation of a possible coalition (or similar arrangement) by the various parties after last Thursday's election that produced no overall majority.

As those following the news will have discovered, some Labour folk (most notably Union boss and husband of Harriet Harman, Jack Dromey) are clinging to the idea that an alliance of almost all the losing parties in the whole House of Commons can between them form the next Government.

Fortunately there are enough realists within the Labour ranks for a number of others to have accepted that Labour must now move into opposition. Their party has been lucky (or else managed to rig it: see my previous post) to have come second rather than third, which seemed to be on the cards at one time, so can at least be Her Majesty's Official Opposition.

They should be content with that, rather than go against the clear wishes of the people to have the Conservatives in government, even if not alone. It would be truly outrageous for Labour to even attempt to stay in office in any form, as The Orange Party outlines (along with a collection of other salient matters).

It is bad enough having to have any kind of coalition or suchlike; though it does have the advantage of educating those in Britain who have never experienced such a scenario before. They are about to find out the reality...

Gordon Brown apparently didn't do himself or his party any favours when discussing his own intention of a coalition with Nick Clegg, especially when it was made clear (by Clegg) that he'd have to stand down. Remember, with Gordon it's all about Gordon and no-one and nothing else, except purely incidentally.

Although (as always) spokesmen have tried to deny the "diatribe and rant", it's a fairly safe bet that it happened as reported. Apparently, Messrs Clegg and Brown have since met for face-to-face talks, so perhaps the situation wasn't completely irredeemable...

As for what has been on the table during the "convivial" talks between the Blue and Yellow teams, obviously little concrete is known while negotiations are still under way.

The one thing that must not be agreed is a change of our electoral system. Yes, we need electoral reform, but only in sorting out constituency boundaries to make all votes as near to being of equal value as it is possible to get them; plus dealing with the numerous known issues with the Electoral Commission. Beyond those two items, looking again at whether to have a completely elected House of Lords could also be agreed between the two parties, but that's it.

A change of voting system is not necessary or a good idea, as a number of commentators have explained very convincingly and truthfully. Perhaps the easiest to digest is this post by the delightful and very with-it Emily Nomates, who is not only a sharp cookie but also can write in a concise and easy-to-read manner.

We should find out some actual detail of what has been offered and accepted if a deal can be reached, probably in the next day or two. Here's hoping it will turn out to be a good arrangement that the vast majority of our citizens can live with!