Quote: lofthouse @ 23rd May 2014, 10:57 PM BST

Would this mean the Tories could form a coalition with ukip, even though they won less seats than labour ?

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Well, no. To do that UKIP would need to actually win a substantial amount of seats. Which they won't.

Quote: lofthouse @ 23rd May 2014, 10:57 PM BST

The libdems look dead and buried

Which could be interesting

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Why they ever thought teaming up with the Tories would be a good long term plan is beyond me. If they hadn't, they would have seen their popularity continue to grow. They've f**ked themselves up.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ 23rd May 2014, 11:03 PM BST

Why they ever thought teaming up with the Tories would be a good long term plan is beyond me. If they hadn't, they would have seen their popularity continue to grow. They've f**ked themselves up.

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Tories were the only game in town; Labour did not have enough seats. You cannot hold the balance of power if there is only one party you are ever prepared to do business with.

Tragedy for the LibDems was not going into a coalition with the Tories, it was doing so when they were not in a position to dictate terms. And when the last Labour government had f**ked up the economy giving no room for manoeuvre.

Ulster unionists had 6 seats last election wenough to form a lab lib uu coalotion brown said no

Quote: Tursiops @ 23rd May 2014, 11:38 PM BST

Tories were the only game in town; Labour did not have enough seats. You cannot hold the balance of power if there is only one party you are ever prepared to do business with.

Tragedy for the LibDems was not going into a coalition with the Tories, it was doing so when they were not in a position to dictate terms. And when the last Labour government had f**ked up the economy giving no room for manoeuvre.

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The Tories were not the only game in town for the LibDems. The game that should have been played out was what the election actually resulted in - no overall majority but the Tories forming a minority government. It would probably have resulted in another election soon after which the Tories would probably have won but then there would have been a mandate. Instead we ended up with promises of a new type of politics - we got that all right, a coalition manifesto drawn up on the back of a fag packet, one that absolutely nobody had voted for. But they had the gall to tell us this was what we had voted for and this was democracy in action. In fact is was a total bastardisation of democracy, but they span it so effectively the public swallowed it.

Labour have so far elected more councillors than the Tories, Libs, UKIP and Greens combined.

Quote: Badge @ 24th May 2014, 12:09 AM BST

The Tories were not the only game in town for the LibDems. The game that should have been played out was what the election actually resulted in - no overall majority but the Tories forming a minority government. It would probably have resulted in another election soon after which the Tories would probably have won but then there would have been a mandate. Instead we ended up with promises of a new type of politics - we got that all right, a coalition manifesto drawn up on the back of a fag packet, one that absolutely nobody had voted for. But they had the gall to tell us this was what we had voted for and this was democracy in action. In fact is was a total bastardisation of democracy, but they span it so effectively the public swallowed it.

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That is how coalition politics works, you get a bit of what you want, not all; if the LibDems had been in a stronger position they could have held out for more. In first past the post you get the manifesto that sixty per cent of the electorate voted against. There really is no such thing as a popular mandate with less than fifty per cent of the vote. If we had been ruled by a majority Tory government with no restraining influence for the past four years the country would be more f**ked than it is now, and it would still be against the wishes of the majority of the electorate.

In any case, in practice all political parties are coalitions and all manifestos get shredded once a party is in power. Government is always a big wake up call for the opposition. I doubt things would have been hugely different if we had had a Labour government these last four years; all the parties are constrained by the same economic realities which they respond to with the same tired economic dogmas.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ 24th May 2014, 12:21 AM BST

Labour have so far elected more councillors than the Tories, Libs, UKIP and Greens combined.

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Yes it has been a good day for Ed. With luck he will form a majority government at the next election. With even more luck that government might even bear some resemblance to socialism, but I rather doubt it. The government has so little real power, and there is so little that separates the three main parties, that I am not sure it matters all that much which one you vote for. The Tories just seem to enjoy being mean that little bit more.

I can't see Edd winning anything.

The Cons got nowhere until they elected pretend nice, pretend liberal Cameron.

Lab need someone who doesn't have the mark on New Lab upon their soul.

Quote: sootyj @ 24th May 2014, 10:02 AM BST

I can't see Edd winning anything.

The Cons got nowhere until they elected pretend nice, pretend liberal Cameron.

Lab need someone who doesn't have the mark on New Lab upon their soul.

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True, Labour need a new generation of the leaders; problem is the current shower were the architects of New Labour two decades ago and are still only in their forties. We could be stuck with Blair-Brownism for another twenty years.

I hear Harriet Harman preaching about Jezzer Clarkson. And my one thought is why am I being lectured by someone, who not only criminally ripped off her expenses, but tried to use dodgy anti terrorism legislation to hide this, then avoided paying most of it back or going to jail.

She has the moral weight of an anorexic moth and I support Labour.

Gah.

The interesting thing about our politicians is how few of them are genuinely divisive. Labour voters casually despise Harman as much as anyone else; Osborne sends a mild chill down even Tory spines; LibDems shuffle with embarrassment at the mention of Clegg.

That is why Johnson and Farage enjoy such success; they are marmite politicians who engage or repel. Most of our politicians are low fat spread: groomed and media trained to the point where they might as well be holograms. I feel more of a connection to the lady at Kings Cross who advises me not take my luggage on the escalator than I do to most on the party front benches.

Well that is true, it's a highly disengaged system. You could add Livingstone and Galloway to that list of hi powered politicians.

But I dunno Pink Ed isn't especially good at it.

Get rid of miliband and balls and match Cameron's promise of an in out referendum

Labour win power with a clear majority

No question

Will they do it?

Nope

Do they actually WANT to win the next GE ?

I'm not convinced they really do....

The in/out vote is one policy of Labour I absolutely support.

A collosal waste of both time and money in which real work of government doesn't happen.

Being in the EU makes us rich, being out would make us poor. It would be just pandering to paranoia.