Mandate

Today Nick Clegg spoke to Andrew Marr on the BBC. One of the inevitable subjects was about a hung Parliament and what the Lib Dem position would be. Quite rightly we have said it is for the British people to decide, not us. Nick has spoken before about working with whoever has the strongest mandate. The trouble is, we have a voting system so unfair, that it is possible for Labour to get less votes than either us or the Tories, but still end up with the most seats. This is clearly madness, and utterly undemocratic. Even senior Labour figures have had the good grace to look embarrased by this. But sadly, both of the two old parties, the Tories and Labour, have perpetuated this ridiculous system. They both talk about reforming politics, but only want to tinker around the edges. Let's get a system that delivers a democratic result!

One Poll Does Not A Hung Parliament Bring

A Mori poll in the Observer today has shrunk the Tory lead to just 6%, with a poll rating of just 37%. Andrew Rawnsley and others have seized on this as signs of a hung parliament at the next election. With the huge swing the Tories need to get an overall majority, that is not without its merits. However, with many months left before the election, I remain to be convinced. For a hung parliament, we will certainly need to see a strengthening of support for the Labour government, which is certainly not evident in Spelthorne. The voters that gave them a clutch of seats in the late 90's have long deserted them, ans recent election results show them to be dead in the water. So I remain sceptical of the prospects of a hung parliament at the moment, until we have more than a single poll as evidence. What I am sure of, is that the election in Spelthorne will be a straight fight between the Tories and the Lib Dems. Labour can't win here.