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Post by larsti on May 9, 2015 10:32:57 GMT
I have never understood the idea that Nick Clegg betrayed Lib Dem voters. They should have been pleased the Lib Dems had some influence and Cabinet seats. Its obvious that in a coalition you can't fulfil your manifesto promises. Would they rather have had just back bench MPs??
I thought his resignation speech was very moving and dignified. I think history will look kindly on what they did.
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Post by milly on May 9, 2015 11:08:53 GMT
I voted Labour, I usually do but have a lot of sympathy for the Liberal Democrats. Our constituency was one that lost its Lib Dem MP to Labour which made me feel at least my vote led to a new MP of my choosing (while at the same time feeling sorry for the incumbent Lib Dem).
I enjoyed the drama of it all in spite of not getting a result I liked. It is strange to think of those career politicians who have lost their seats and now have to rethink their lives. Shows we all need to avoid complacency.....
My main interest in education - we are used to continual change but I am still gob smacked by the wholesale changes the Conservatives have made in recent years - what's worse they seem to have been made on a whim without any real consultation. It's as if they are harking back to their school days and thinking this is 'how I would have liked it / how it was for me so therefore it must be right for todays' children'. Madness.
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Post by serrakunda on May 9, 2015 12:16:11 GMT
I think the lib dems curbed the worst excesses of the Tories but I think may seem to have gone a step too far for many people, Danny Alexander always carme across yo me as George's lapdog, which is probably unfair but that's how he appreared to me.
Personally feel a bit miffed as I was hoping a new education team might result in some different job opportunities but I suspect now the only opportunities will be in the academies and free schools teams. I am so fundamentally opposed to these that I don't know if I could work in them
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Post by pingu on May 9, 2015 14:15:58 GMT
What puzzles me is where did the Lob Dem vote go. What I mean is, if people stopped voting for them because of the coolition ( ie because they betrayed their own principles as Lib Dems) then why did the conservative vote increase significantly? One would have expected them to either not vote, or vote labour if the coolition bothered them. So why such a massive swing to conservative?
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Post by serrakunda on May 9, 2015 15:47:08 GMT
There wasn't a swing to the Conservatives though, the BBC has a really good results page which gives you a comparison to 2015.
Labour actually increased its share of the vote by 1.5% and the Tories by 0.8 %. Lib dems were down by over 15%, UKIP s share went up be over 9%. If we had proportional representation there were would be a lot more UKIP MPs now.
The real swing was in Scotland were there massive swings to the SNP, over 30% in some constuencies.
The lib dems have 8 Mps off 7.9 % of the vote, SNP have 56 MPs off 4% of the vote
That's first past the post system for you
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Post by mudlark on May 9, 2015 21:09:23 GMT
Lib Dems probably voted Green or other independent candidate as protest vote... that's why we cant see where their vote went.. ( I'd be very interested to hear from any Lib Dem supporters on their view)
I think it was short sighted of Nick Clegg to agree to coalition government, I don't think he progressed any Lib Dem Policies, and I don't think he made any significan or lasting impact on Tory policy... a five minute wave of their hands in the air...
I agree his resignation speech was dignified and appropriate it is just a shame he could not have brought that same gravitas to bear over the last 4 years. You could argue he was bailing out...you could argue he should have stayed and fought his corner...but maybe that's just old fashioned idealism!
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Post by kstar on May 9, 2015 22:40:28 GMT
I'm not sure about this, I feel reasonably certain that the Lib Dems tempered the worst excesses of the Conservative government, and that Nick Clegg essentially sacrificed his political future for the sake of a more moderate government. Media coverage seems to bear this out, particularly interesting is the broadsheets' general opinion (I have now seen three different articles from different sources) that Clegg tied Cameron's hands on drastic cuts to mental health services... I fear that austerity will now bite deeper and harder for those of us in the middle. I earn a damn good salary, I know I am very lucky in that - but yet I only just about hold my head above water due to energy prices, petrol prices, food... I can't bear to think how much we could be struggling in a year or so. I have already started to research private health insurance for us, particularly for Starlet, to see if I can find something that will help us out with any possible future mental health/FASD issues, as I can't see us getting any help on the NHS. And I need to do some serious thinking about my future in education because I disagree so profoundly with Conservative policy. And now watching the coverage of the protests in London and people being injured... It feels like something is simmering under the surface ?
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2015 7:41:57 GMT
The voting system needs a complete overhaul. They need to bring in proportional representation like they have in Ireland where every vote counts. Then maybe the no voters would actually get out there and vote if they felt their vote really made a difference. The present system is a farce and does not represent what the voters are actually voting for. Think that's why so many people don't bother to vote, they are disillusioned and don't feel their vote matters. I do think it should be like Australia where it is compulsory to vote, or at least say "if you haven't voted in the last 5 elections, you lose your right to vote". That would make them sit up and take more of an interest and actually vote. There really is no excuse for not voting other than apathy and ignorance as it is so easy to do it. Postal votes mean you don't even have to leave home apart from putting it in the post box of course and they are talking about a system where you could vote online or from your mobile. I wonder if the Torys will implement any of this, I don't think they like change and certainly not anything that might mean they don't get it next time. God forbid we might get a result tbat the people actually voted for. I hate the Etonian patronising attitude towards us as if they think they are superior by being from wealthy backgrounds. 5 more years of this, deep joy.
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Post by serrakunda on May 11, 2015 9:20:13 GMT
Don't hold your breath Jmk
They do have plans with regard to the the electoral system, however it is to reduce the number of MPs to 650. This will entail redrawing boundaries, and this is likely to increase the number of Conservative MPs
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Post by corkwing on May 11, 2015 15:47:33 GMT
As some of you have said, the Liberal Democrats went into coalition with the Conservatives for the sake of the country: we were in a mess and they wanted to give us a period of stability. I thought that was incredibly noble of them. They also did it knowing that the smaller partners in coalitions almost always get hammered at the next election (it happens regularly in places like Germany). I have great respect for them because of that and I really don't think that Nick Clegg should have lost his position because they got hammered - although maybe he'd had enough and wanted to go anyway.
I heard people complaining that they didn't put their policies into practice and accusing them of lying. Come on! The junior party in a coalition CAN'T put their policies into practice. And neither can the senior party put all of theirs into practice. That doesn't mean that either are lying: it's just how it is.
With regards to the voting system, we had a referendum on Thursday 5 May 2011. 68% of those voting chose to continue with the first past the post system. I'd forgotten we had that referendum, and I suspect that many other voters also forgot that, and that it was one of the Liberal Democrat policies that DID get implemented.
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