The British Con/Lib Coalition

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I thought it might be a good idea now that we have a coalition government on the island next door to track (a) how the coalition is working (b) in comparison with the way the Irish coalition is run (c) might be a nice idea to have a thread where we can track and discuss the coalition politics as well as what they actually do.

In order to kick this off here is a useful and quick guide to policy decisions taken by the new government in its first few weeks in office;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8693832.stm

For those of us with a taste for more detail on planned policy moves here is the actual Coalition Programme for Government which is surprisingly readable.

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/medi..._coalition.pdf

Developments thus far; The coalition partners seem to have lost no time in reversing or announcing planned reversals of New Labour's notorious attempts at infringing civil liberties- biometric ID Card Scheme scrapped. Child database scrapped. Restrictions on possible use and storage of DNA records and a general philosophy of rolling back towards what are generally agreed to be traditional democratic principles in the UK.


Anyone got any early observations- what do people think?

[Sidewinder]

I'm liking the libertarian streak a lot. We'll have to reserve judgement until we see where the cuts fall - if the Tories can resist their "kick the poor" instincts and instead get stuck into the million non-jobs in quangos that Brown created, and attack pork waste instead then this could actually turn out to be a pretty decent Govt.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I'm a libertarian as well, with the proviso that no society can call itself civilised if it fails to protect the young and vulnerable or take care of the elderly.

I must admit that I remain deeply suspicious of Tories and their daft nonsense about vulture capitalism being a good thing- but I sense that the Tories in the main now get the picture where unbridled and unregulated capitalism leads.

New Labour wasn't so new. It was a repeat on a national level of the old mitant nonsense and corruption which was seen in Newcastle and Liverpool in the militant days; ie attempts to create a cradle to the grave bureaucracy and employ as many low incomers as possible in it to effectively gerrymander votes. There will now be a philosophical argument in British politics over Statism and Libertarianism I suspect but I have to say that the announcements made by the coalition in recent days are a fantastic relief.

The UK came within millimetres of becoming a police state. I'm inclined to believe that governments always attempt to amass more power as they move through legislative periods but the Cons and Lib-Dems seem to have been very purposeful in removing those elements of Statism.

It seems to me that the LibDems have struck ia pretty good deal but whether they can police that throughout the administration is a moot point. There are the beginnings of disagreements I think on House of Lords reform but it'll be interesting to see what happens when the relationship comes under the inevitable issue-led strain.

Still- I'd go 10/10 so far. 10/10 for publishing a road map and I note Cameron has just spiked a typical right wing salient in his party who could have pressurised the coalition- the 1922 club.

And Europe and the inevitable clash between the European Human Rights Act and a proposed British Rights Act could be interesting as thats where there is a definite fault line in the coalition.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Just a brief update on this subject. This BBC report (Coalition deal: Tories give more ground http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8695213.stm) looks at what concessions the LibDems have managed to screw out of Cameron this far.

[C. Flower]

Thanks for starting this thread Captain Con. I'll give it and the reading of those links proper time this evening.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

The traditional opening of Parliament took place this morning and the Queen's speech sets out the legislative agenda; Here is a short list of proposed legislative changes introduced by the Con/Lib-Dem coalition.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/b...eech-live-blog

There is a lot of attention focused on the plan to give the House of Commons power to dissolve Parliament after a fixed term and on the basis of 55% of MPs voting for the dissolution as far as I can tell. That will be a lively battle.

But there is something else included which catches my eye- the plan for devolving power to local authorities and the power to have regionally elected Police Commissioners and powers of veto by referendum to prevent large increases in council tax.

This is something that seems to have crept in under the radar. I know that 'localism' has been discussed in Britain in order to offset the creeping powers a centralised Treasury has assumed for itself over the past twenty years.

One to watch I think ...

[TaxationIsTheft]

the power to have regionally elected Police Commissioners and powers of veto by referendum to prevent large increases in council tax.

Excellent moves towards direct democracy. Something we need here as well.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

They've also included power of recall as well- that is sorely needed in Ireland as it would prevent scrotes like your man from Rathcormac refusing to do anything about leaky portakabins in his constituency as there 'isn't enough votes in it'.

If TD's are going to carry on like that then I'd suggest recall powers should move higher up the national agenda.

[DCon]

Seems that the Tories have done to the Lib Dems what FF did to the Greens.

Agree to some policies to sucker the smaller party into government then fail to follow through. No Lords Reform any time soon

[Slim Buddha]

Seems that the Tories have done to the Lib Dems what FF did to the Greens.

Agree to some policies to sucker the smaller party into government then fail to follow through. No Lords Reform any time soon

What the bigger party does to the smaller party every time. Even the nonsense that the Greens got through (the light bulb thing) was perceived by the public as "everything the Greens do costs money!".

Now the rebellous Tories are saying "Surely we have more pressing issues than reform of the House of Lords!" to kill this and it looks like it has succeeded. An interview with William Hague on the BBC Six o'Clock News yesterday was more or less confirmation of this.

It is not an issue that will make the LIb Dems walk now but after the failure of the referendum on voting reform and now this, there are voices in the Lib Dems which are sounding increasingly pissed off.

[DCon]

Cabinet shuffle across the way

[DCon]

Mail turning against the tories?