Everybody Loses: UK Voters Demand National
Unity Government to Face Economic Equivalent of World War II
Voters in the United Kingdom
went to the polls yesterday. The
results, with one seat remaining to be decided and 326 needed for victory were:
Conservative: 306 +97
Labour: 258 - 91
Liberal
Democrat: 57 – 5
Democratic
Unionist Party: 8 -1
Scottish
National Party: 6
Sinn Fein: 5
Plaid Cymru: 3 +1
Social
Democratic & Labour Party: 3
Green: 1 +1
Alliance Party:
1 +1
Others: 1
So, the voters are clearly
calling for a coalition government.
There can be no stable governing coalition without the Liberal –
Democrats; just look at the math. The Conservatives
need 19 more seats; the eight minor parties have a total of 28. There is one undecided seat due to the death
of a candidate, that will probably go to the
Conservatives. There is no way the
Conservatives can govern in a nine party coalition with a total of 336
votes. It would have to satisfy the
nationalist parties in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The Conservatives need the Liberal –
Democrats, it is that simple.
Labour, on the other hand, also needs the
Liberal – Democrats; but the two together only get 315, slightly more than the
Conservatives. Labour
also would then need some of the minor parties to lead at least a three party
coalition. It might be slightly easier
to find programmatic compatibility among these partners, but still the largest
possible majority is 343, a margin of only 17.
The Conservatives, Liberal –
Democrats, and the independent parties together would have 392, a margin of 66
but the tail would wag the dog, it would be a
government where the Conservatives would have to supply the votes for a Liberal
– Democrat and independent program.
From a policy standpoint, the voters did not give a
mandate to any of the parties.
The only hope of a government
stable enough to function is a Conservative – Liberal Democrat alliance. However, during the campaign Liberal
Democratic leader Nicholas Clegg repeatedly disparaged the Tories and said he
could work with Labour, but without Gordon Brown.
The United Kingdom, like the
rest of the world, is faring badly in the current economic crisis. The budget deficit is 11% of Gross National
Product. The Liberal – Democrats think
of themselves as progressives. The
Conservatives want to cut spending.
Basically, there is no political coalition possible that can make the
difficult choices between unpalatable options that are necessary to try and
right the economy. As along as there is
an opposition of any kind, the government will not be able to act.
So, by default, the voters
elected a national unity government. David
Cameron, as the leader of the largest party, should be Prime Minister. Gordon Brown should return to his former
position as Chancellor of the Exchequer, both because he was the steward of the
economy in the run up to the disaster and because he remained a member of the
government that led the UK into the unpopular Iraq war. Nicholas Clegg, with
his Spanish wife and experience as a former Member of the European Parliament,
should become Foreign Secretary. Then, the leaders of the three major parties
could do something that they rarely do – lead.
This is a national unity government
that would command the support of the vast majority of the voters in the United
Kingdom. For the past fifty years, the
United Kingdom has been declining as a world power and has become the
handmaiden to the United States through its special relationship.
The voters of the UK, in
spite of the obstacles presented by a deeply flawed electoral system, have a given
their politicians a unique opportunity to become a leader on the world stage
once again. It could give the phrase “Rule
Britannia” a whole new meaning. There is
an alternative scenario; the UK’s penchant for “muddling through.”
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