The end of the coalition?

[Derek Smith]

Clegg has retaliated against Cameron giving into his backbenchers and has decided to pull the plug on boundary changes.

This is not going to make the backbenchers happy.

I expect this will be glossed over but this might well be a step to rehabilitate LibDem voters.

[Puggit]

They warned there will be consequences.

Of course - the biggest, and most devastating, consequence for the UK will be a Labour government.

[muffinmenace]

Was there anything unfair with the proposed boundary changes? I thought they we're aimed at representing an equal proportion of electorate over the country?

edit*: it would appear so: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8759664/M...

[Derek Smith]

Hunt has been quite placatory on Sky News. Not surprising now as for the leaderfship it must be damage limitation.

[Murph7355]

You would have thought the LibDems would be well up for this...

Cutting noses off to spite faces perhaps?

[andymadmak]

Just lost a chunk of respect for the Lib Dems. It was clear to anyone who had read the proposals for Lords reform that what was being put forward was badly thought out and horribly undemocratic! 15 year terms and no real accountability does not a democratic second chamber make! No one is saying what we have now is democratic, but bizarrely it works well enough to mean that if you're going to replace it it had better be with something that would bring tangible benefits and greater democracy without setting two elected houses against each other in the future. The proposed plans achieved none of these things.
No doubt the Lib Dems saw it as their vehicle to everlasting future influence over policy, regardless of which of the main parties was in power and have spat the dummy in the most appalling way. The Boundary changes were/are urgently required and the reduction in the number of MPs makes sense, so the fact that the Lib Dems would sabotage this reform simply out of spite is a measure of how low and desperate they have become imho

[jesusbuiltmycar]

I always thought the boundary changes were linked to the AV referendum - which we've had and the Lib Dems lost.

[Derek Smith]

andymadmak said:

Just lost a chunk of respect for the Lib Dems.

From your previous posts I have assumed you were not an avid LibDem suporter. If this is correct then your feelings on the matter are of no consequence to them. They are after dragging back some of their disappearing support. That is, I assume, what this move was about.

They have been forced into this move, but not, it would appear, by Cameron but by a mob of backbenchers wanting to increase their influence on the party. They chose the LibDems to attack, rather than one of their own policies (although Lords reform was one of their policies of course). Clegg had to make a response and the most obvious, and of course most vulnerable, was boundary changes. This will hurt the tories (and, from my reckoning, some of the backbenchers even more) so ws the perfect vehicle.

I don't think it was done out of spite but out of necessity. The question for Clegg is whether this show of strength is enough for potential LibDem returnees. I doubt it myself.

[martin84]

With Cammy and Cleggy arguing like children, Miliband must be rubbing his hands with glee.

[muffinmenace]

martin84 said:

With Cammy and Cleggy arguing like children, martin84 is be rubbing his hands with glee.

efa

[0000]

You wish, Derek.

[martin84]

muffinmenace said:

martin84 said:

With Cammy and Cleggy arguing like children, martin84 is be rubbing his hands with glee.

efa

Am I not allowed to state fact anymore?

[turbobloke]

0000 said:

You wish, Derek.

Sure does, all the time

[chris watton]

Yep, I think a further dose of labour is just the tonic the UK needs - we may as well keep borrowing to appease the public sector until the countries we borrow from lend us no more, only for them to turn and say 'All your country are now belong to us'

More seriously, I am past caring, really - I think the UK has already passed the point of no return, state spending-wise.

[Murph7355]

chris watton said:

...
More seriously, I am past caring, really - I think the UK has already passed the point of no return, state spending-wise.

Apothetically I think you are right. And see no workable means of us getting out of the mire.

[Fittster]

Murph7355 said:

chris watton said:

...
More seriously, I am past caring, really - I think the UK has already passed the point of no return, state spending-wise.

Apothetically I think you are right. And see no workable means of us getting out of the mire.

Default and trader barriers and we won't be the only ones.

"How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly - And the Stark Choices that Lie Ahead"

Although I might have spoilt the ending.

[Derek Smith]

0000 said:

You wish, Derek.

I'm sorry, that lost me. Remember, you can be too subtle for me. What do you think I wish for?

[0000]

It says it in big letters at the top of the page?

[AJS-]

A Labour government is what the country needs - bankruptcy, debt default, and the fantastic spectacle of a Labour government ]i]having[/i] to make big cuts to all their grandiose spending plans, as opposed the pitiful spectacle of a Con/Lib coalition not daring to.

[rudecherub]

Tim Montgomerie ‏@TimMontgomerie

Tory Cabinet minister: Everyone knows we gave LDs AV referendum for boundaries. At the earliest opportunity we must revenge Clegg's betrayal

Tim Montgomerie ‏@TimMontgomerie

Tories could complain at LD failure to deliver human rights or West Lothian reform. Deal was AV for boundaries, not Boundaries for Lords.