Sara Bedford

Lib Link: How does David Cameron charm the Liberal Democrats?

By | Fri 13th July 2012 - 2:17 pm

Over at his day job at MHP Communications, Mark Pack turns his thoughts to how David Cameron should react to , stating that the Prime Minister has ‘two tricky problems to mull over’.

The first, and most talked about, is how to get his party to back some measure of Lords reform else risk seeing Liberal Democrats outside ministerial ranks (and even some inside) see it as open season on future legislation as it goes through Parliament. The sort of effective and tight whipping operations that saw Liberal Democrats in both Houses votes for a range of measures they did not like ‘because there were in the Coalition Agreement’ will be a distant memory if Lords reform fails.

However, there is a second problem too for Cameron. Even if he manages to finesse a way through Lords reform, the sight of so many Conservative MPs treating the Coalition Agreement’s contents as mattering so little will leave a serious long-term strain.

Mark continues “For the Coalition to run effectively for another three years requires a degree of reconciliation” and suggests two policy areas which are “both appealing to the Liberal Democrats and also not too unappealing to the increasingly troublesome right wing of his own party” – real action on party funding reform and the dropping of the draft Communications Data Bill.

You can read the full article here.

* Sara Bedford is the leader of Three Rivers District Council and leads the growing Lib Dem group at the District Councils’ Network.  

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This entry was posted in LibLink and News.
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2 Comments

  • libby 13th Jul '12 - 3:18pm

    Oh – two great issues that will really bring the votes in to the Lib Dems. I was down the pub the other day and the guy at the bar said “I wish they would drop the draft Communications Data Bill. And as for the party funding reform… well”

  • Henry 13th Jul '12 - 3:53pm

    No one mentioned Government bonds in the pub either… Doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter in what is purported to be a liberal democracy.

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