Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne have given interviews to ePolitix which, amongst other matters, covered their views on how to handle a hung Parliament:
Asked about what their ‘red lines’ would be on forming a coalition with either the Conservatives or Labour, they set out differing approaches.
Whilst Huhne said electoral reform was the key to “partnership politics”, Clegg said singling out any conditions would be “extremely ill-advised”.
Huhne said: “If other parties want to talk about partnership politics, about going into a longer-term relationship, then they have to be on the wavelength that allows that to happen.
“If you look at every other country in Europe bar none you find that you do have partnership politics because of election systems that are fairer, where every vote counts.”
But Clegg said: “I think it would be extremely ill-advised to single out a red line here or there – they just become hostages to fortune. You just get trapped by thickness of one red line over another and I am simply not interested in that.”
Clegg added that to “start playing Westminster footsie with one party or another now is something the electorate would not like and I’m not going to do it”.
“The electorate quite rightly wants to first have their say and then we can see where the parties lie,” he said.
You can read the full interviews on the ePolitix site: Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne.
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9 Comments
Am I the only the one that is concerned that Nick’s reply to everything contains a (thinly)veiled attack on Chris? It’s one thing disagreeing, it’s another putting down your opponent all the time. It’s putting me off Nick very quickly.
In a 2 horse election such as this no matter how hard each other try people will always read into what you say as an attack on the other. They have both been accused of this so far.
I really don’t like Nicks stance on this. Very wishy washy while Chris is sensible and positive
Clegg’s response seems to be a commitment for the UK Party to conduct coalition talks in the constructive and productive way in which the Welsh Party did their’s earlier this year. i.e. rule absolutely nothing out, avoid any kind of internal debate about what our red lines should be and then have a bloody big row in which we end up talking ourselves out of the process. Genius!
Oh, and it very much conforms to Jonathan Calder’s excellent observations about chess.
The Liberal Democrats need to prove that they are not the immitation of the other parties. If we go into coalition with one of the other parties it will no doubt be a painful experience. We HAVE to show the people who supported us that their vote made a difference. Proportional Representation has to be an issue that we stick to our guns on, even if the other parties cannot agree to it.
And Proportional Resentation does not mean the Alternative Vote (AV).
We must be up front and say this is where we stand. We caved in before (1976, Lib – Lab pact) and we will not do so again.
I read this as an attempt to avoid the (hopeless) debate about what we might or might not accept in coalition talks. Both candidates should rule out talking about coalition before a general election produces a balanced parliament.
Geoffrey – PR? Not Trident!
Fwiw, I thought both candidates gave good answers to the almost-impossible-to-answer-right question every Lib Dem leader inevitably faces.
5 and 7 – or civil liberties or devolution or a commitment to no aggression against Iran or a programme to tackle climate change or third world poverty?
PR is almost the LAST think we should be dying in the last ditch for since it will send a clear signal to voters that we are only interested in policies that benefit ourselves.