Blog:Why A Hung Parliament is Good

From Bolton Interweb

Myles Aweigh, Election Correspondent, 5th April 2010

Labour and Tory leaders are desperate to convince us that a hung parliament would be bad for the country. Cameron and Brown both claim that the UK needs a strong government capable of decisive action to solve our problems. So it is in our best interests to elect them with an overall majority. And the British electoral system is so contrived that usually this is what happens; hung parliaments are rare, the last one being in 1974 if you exclude Major's defectors which left him in a technical minority.

But look what "strong" governments have given us. Social division and economic mismanagement. Corruption. Wars we didn't want. Thatcher split the country, wrecked our manufacturing base, sold off the family silver to subsidise tax cuts for the wealthy. Major's government continued where Thatcher left off and a cabinet minister ended up in jail for corruption before suffering one of the worst election defeats in history. Blair took us into Iraq on a false premise. Brown destroyed the financial stability of the country and presided over the revelations about MPs expenses that has ended up with 10 of them facing criminal charges. They only got away with this because they were "strong" governments not answerable to the electorate except once in every 5 years. With a majority for one party it is near impossible to get rid of an unpopular government mid-stream, and that party can load the dice come election time by being able to choose the date and dabble in some bribery just before. Sometimes the latter doesn't work but it is a big advantage.

Of course Brown and Cameron prefer to have a majority and, therefore, unfettered ability to push forward their agendas using the whip system, with no worry about being answerable to the people for years. They warn us that the City, those bankers we all love and trust, are worried about a hung parliament because it would impede a solution to the financial crisis. But international bankers aren't worried by Germany and its coalition government, or the US where President and Congress are often opposed to one another and have to negotiate, or Switzerland, or dozens of other countries governed by coalitions.

The fact is that government by a party that has only won 40% of the votes cast is not representative of the people, is not democratic, is not fair on the 60% who voted against it. And I couldn't give a rat's arse what City financiers want, they only have one vote each like the rest of us and then only if they actually live here and not in some tax haven. Robert Mugabe had a "strong" government and that didn't exactly help the Zimbabwe economy. Mugabe, the man with more direct democratic credentials to lead his country than Gordon Brown personally has.

Coalition government does not mean weak government unless we are planning on an Italian model. It means strong government in the sense that more than 50% of the electorate actually support it. It means consensus between the coalition partners on the big issues which should make for far better and more thoughtful decisions rather than stupid ideas that get through because of a contrived majority of seats and a whip system of party control. It means good laws that have a true majority support get through and bad ones that can't get consensus get dumped. It would have stopped the Poll Tax, prevented the sell-off of the utilities that now make huge profits for foreign companies at our expense, probably have curtailed the financial recklessness that has left us in such a mess, and we would not have lost servicemen in Iraq. Coalitions work in Germany and Switzerland, and surprisingly in Zimbabwe (relatively speaking). Coalitions act against the potential for abuse and the favouring of particular interests. All these things are good.

So, on May 6th, do not be fooled by the nonsense about hung parliaments being bad for us, they are only bad for Cameron and Brown as they would need to start sharing power with us the people, and that might be hard work. On May 6th vote for a hung parliament and make your MPs work for you and not their megalomaniac leaders. If one of the party faithful traps you on the doorstep and tells you the City bankers don't want a hung parliament then do please tell them exactly what you think of City bankers and their qualifications to run the country. Frankly, if the Scottish Nationalists would put up candidates in the North West of England I'd vote for them. Vote for proper democracy not dictatorship by the minority dressed up as democracy.

By the way, why are both Labour and Tories spending their limited advertising budgets on posters depicting their opponent's leader. A poster with Brown saying I screwed the country, vote for me, is obviously designed to take votes away from Labour. But take those votes where exactly? Quite likely to the Lib Dems, BNP, or UKIP, as much as to the Tories. Norman Clugg, sorry Nigel Clogg, no, Nick Clegg, that's right, must be delighted that the Tories are funding the Lib Dem campaign. Ditto the other way. How thick are the Tory and Labour campaign managers?

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© Evrose, 2011