[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by Escapee

I am just sick to death of a system where my vote doesn't count, every time I vote in a general election it's a wasted vote.

Totally understand that.

My vote isn't as wasted in my current constituency of Cambridge as it was in previous ones, at least. The last two I lived in were ridiculously safe seats, where there wasn't really any point in voting if it wasn't for the eternally incumbent MP.

Originally Posted by danielf

Well, I think they should try to get more out of it as it seems to me that electoral reform won't be on the agenda for a while after this. If they agree to a half-baked compromise now and try to get more at a later date it won't look very good. Having said that, the Tories don't look likely to give them any more.

I should add that my preference right now is for a Lib/Con coalition, as the numbers for Lib/Lab are just too soft.

I do think they should try & get more, but I find it highly unlikely that that could be possible. I think even offering up AV was probably extremely hard for the Tories to stomach, & I'm quite surprised that they actually did.

My heart would be more for a "progressive coalition", despite my hatred of many things New Labour has done, but my head quite clearly says Lib-Con: as you say, the numbers just won't work for Lib-Lab. I cannot see a Lib-Lab-Nats coalition being even remotely stable. And we need a stable Government right now, which isn't going to fall apart. If that means compromises on both sides, then so be it.

Originally Posted by punky

The Lib Dems are peeing me off now.

The country continues to go to pot, The Tories want to get things started righting recession, deficit, unemployment... And all the Lib Dems care about is making sure they can feather their nests by forcing an AV voting system on the public.

Priorities, priorities.

They're not forcing anything on the public. You can always vote "No" in a referendum...

Why should the Lib Dems just walk straight into a coalition with the Tories without getting some sort of deal? The Tories have no mandate to govern - they need the support of the Lib Dems, whether as part of a formal coalition, or some sort of "confidence & supply" deal.

Originally Posted by Mick

No it is not weak Damien - A party which is in Government has the power to stop abuse of such a systems - the Labour party allowed it while they were in power and only apologised and reformed (Or so we are led to believe they have) the expenses system when their utter greed got found out.

Labour were hardly the only party tainted by the expense system scandal... Yes, they were in charge, but it didn't stop MPs of other parties taking the mickey with it...

Originally Posted by Escapee

The Lib Dems just need to make up their mind who they are going with.
I believe a Lib Dem/Con government has a chance, but a Lib Dem/Labour will be a short government before another election.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by Mick

They may not have a mandate to govern - but they did get 2 Million more votes from the British people - surely that holds a lot of weight - this is a clear message that the British people didn't want the Lib dems in power and that they didn't want Labour in power - all this messing about by all the parties, and the Lib dems thinking nothing but themselves haven't they shown their true form don't you think?

Is it any wonder why voter apathy in this county is so high when you get this nonsense going on for days on end. It's an utter farce.

As I mentioned earlier, under our system of government, the fact that they received more votes is irrelevant. The right to form a Government goes to whichever party or group of parties have (or can cobble together) a majority and so can "command the confidence of the House of Commons". Getting more votes than another party does not matter with respect to the system: The Tory party did not win enough seats for a majority, so it did not win... No one won.

If you want to talk about how many people did not want Labour in power, & how many people did not want the Lib Dems in power, then also consider this: 15.4 million people did not want the Tories in power (Lab+Lib), that's 4.7 million more people than those who did want the Tories. So surely that's a "clear message" that people don't want David Cameron?

Until we ever (if we ever) get rid of our current FPTP system, that's simply how it goes...Numbers do not matter, at all, other than the number of seats to reach a majority in the Commons. Anything else is irrelevant unless we have a proportional system.

Yes, it sucks! But that is how it is. That is the system. There is no rule, nothing at all, that says "Tories got the most votes = Tories get to form a Govt.", or "Tories got the most seats = Tories get to form a Govt.". Not unless they hit the magic mark of 326.

Originally Posted by ashgray

there even going to change the voting rules without asking the british electorate if its ok to do so.

I assume you do not understand the concept of a "referendum" then?

Originally Posted by ashgray

A minority party wants it changed,labour are that desperate to remain in power that they'll offer the libdems anything they want.

And the Tories are desperate to gain power that they are also offering the Lib Dems anything they want (well, within reason ).