In case you missed this week’s Question Time, here’s how the FT reported it:
Last night’s Question Time ended on an extraordinary note. The public are more in favour of a hung parliament than the Tories care to admit. But I never expected an audience to heckle and boo Liam Fox when he warned of an indecisive election result triggering a run on sterling…
This should be a salutary lesson to Cameron’s team. People seem to like the idea of politicians working together. The worm in the election debate shot up when Clegg spoke about a cross-party co-operation to tackle the deficit. And it took a dive when Cameron warned of the dangers of a hung parliament leaving Brown in power.
Full post and link to watch again here.
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7 Comments
I think people shouldn’t be concerned about getting a hung parliament. They should be concerned about getting either a Labour or a Conservative government, once again.
Alec Salmond is talking sense on this issue, I have to say. “Vote as you believe”! Apparently Ed Balls thinks that we’re called “the Liberals”, just like his master. Quite remarkably negative audience response to Liam Fox it has to be said.
Ah, but if there were a hung parliament, which policies would you like to see implemented?
But it’s not going to happen by itself. Lib Dems should be:
1- Pursuing every vote in seats where the LDs are first, second or a close third.
2- Voting Tory in Lab-Con micromarginals to make clear to Labour that they have had their last Commons majority.
3- Voting Labour in Lab-Con marginals where Labour start 10%+ ahead to block a Tory majority
FFS Hugh, have you seen the polls? There is no prospect of a Labour majority; there is, however, a very real prospect now of a Tory majority (or at least so close to one that Cameron can easily form a government on his own and no one can stop him).
This means there are no seats in which it makes sense for reformers of any stripe to vote Tory.
I don’t really believe your one-man campaign for a hung parliament has or will have any influence, but just in case I’m even a little bit wrong, would you please update your advice to reflect the changing reality?
I agree with Alec (Salmond that is)! Vote as you believe.
“Hugh”‘s been running around posting “vote Tory!” to every other comment thread for months. Best to just ignore him.
The popular vote is significant this time around, because electoral reform is so high on the agenda. That means there are no “wasted votes”; voting for a Lib Dem who can’t win is still building a clear case for proportional representation. Put all the old “tactical voting” nonsense away – that’s for Labour this time.