[danielf]

Originally Posted by punky

But that's what i've been saying. The Tories are trying put the country first, the Lib Dems are trying to put themselves first. I don't care whether this is the best opportunity for them to do it, it's out of order.

There are at least a dozen things off the top of my head that are more urgently needed than voting reform

I don't think any of us are in a position to make statements about who is putting what first. Your perception may be that the Tories are putting the country first, but their reluctance on yielding on genuine electoral reform will be seen as putting themselves first by others. (I'm leaning that way).

The Tories have made numerous concessions, and I understand they don't have a clear mandate to govern. However it appears the Lib Dems are being patently obstructive here.

Unless you are privy to more info than I am, it's not clear at all what concessions the Tories have made.

Its the Tories that have offered the referendum. The Lib Dems haven't agreed to that yet. The Lib Dems want to bring AV in unconditionally whether the public want it or not. So if the Lib Dems get their way (and they have ALL the power at the moment) I won't even get a chance to vote. Labour have offered unconditionally to introduce AV. So if they form a coalition I still won't get a say in it.

Where did you get the info that the Lib Dems want to bring in AV unconditionally? I've certainly not seen that anywhere.

I know people keep saying "this happens all the time in ............. it's fine" but the fact that we can have 3 years of one unelected prime minister and then 5 more years with another unelected prime minister backed by a coalition of the 2 least voted-for parties puts us on par with a banana republic IMO.

This doesn't happen all the time in ........, but it can happen. However, we don't elect Prime Ministers in the UK. It's a parliamentary Democracy. We elect a parliament. Having said that, I'm not that keen on Lab-Lib myself, I don't see it lasting very long.