Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Conservative-Lib Dem Coalition Is Illogical &Unsustainable

It increasingly looks as if the Liberal Democrats won't go into coalition with Labour but with the Conservative Party.

This may in some sense seem like the logical choice since Labour and the Liberal Democrats couldn't get a majority of their own, but would be dependent upon separatist parties from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while by contrast a coalition of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats would get a majority.

But that appearance is deceptive, as the fact is that on economic policy, the Liberal Democrats are in fact to the left of Labour, while the Conservatives of course are to the right of Labour. This means that either the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats or possibly both will have to betray their ideals and the policies they pledged before the election.

It is difficult to see how that sort of arrangement could last. And even if it did, voters would almost certainly punish the parties involved, especially since Britain now faces a period of probably not too popular austerity measures to bring down the huge budget deficit.