Matthew Jenkins' BlogA blog about Worcester, politics and the environment

With the coalition government nearly a week old, the question many people are asking is if this is the start of a new politics. A full coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats took most commentators by surprise, including myself. The key to the coalition forming was the agreement to have a referendum on the alternative vote. Both parties moved away from their chosen positions to compromise on this. It will upset a large number of their own members, as has been seen by those leaving the Liberal Democrats to join the Green Party or the Labour Party.

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The Liberal Democrats have a difficult choice to make over this weekend. Do they:

1. Form a coalition with the Conservatives
2. Form an agreement with the Conservatives to work together in some areas, but stop short of forming a coalition
3. Form a coalition with the Labour Party

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With the general election result now in, this is the start of a new kind of politics. One which is less adversarial and more cooperative. The two main parties’ are losing their grip on the political landscape of Great Britain. It is highly likely that at future elections no single party will manage to gain an outright majority. The question is, should this be viewed as a bad thing?

My answer would be that it shouldn’t. It must be seen as an opportunity for politics to move away from the type of politics typified by Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, to a politics of debate, negotiation and compromise. Most other countries seem to manage this, so why can’t we?

We need a hung parliament because the present first past the post system fails to give the electorate a fair say in how this country is run. Neither of the two main parties have carried out true parliamentary reform when they’ve had the chance. Some form of proportional representation is required to allow people to vote for the party they support, rather than having to vote tactically or not at all. Ideally, reform needs to include not just the voting system for the House of Commons, but also an elected second chamber and the restoration of the power to scrutinise legislation in the Commons. Read the rest of this entry »

Following the first televised election debate between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, in which the latter was rated the best by viewers, the Liberal Democrats have seen a huge increase in their opinion poll ratings. One poll even has them in first place.

What does this say about UK politics that as soon as a party, other than the big two – Labour and Conservative – gets some decent airtime, people suddenly take notice? Due to our first-past-the-post electoral system and the adversarial nature of the House of Commons, invariably the focus is on the government of the day and the official opposition. Read the rest of this entry »