Sunday, February 21, 2010

We'll all hang together

Apparently Michael (The Mace wielder) Heseltine thinks Ding Cameron's blandist Tories aren't going to get an overall majority in the general election, he may have a case in point, Ding has so far reneged on at least 2 key vote winning propositions (Lisbon and EvoEl) and there is some speculation out there that he actually doesn't want to win.

Telegraph.

David Cameron will not win a general election outright and will struggle to form a government, according to Lord Heseltine.

The party grandee stunned activists by claiming that history was against Mr Cameron’s hopes of securing an overall majority.
Instead, the former deputy prime minister said he would "put money" on a hung parliament, with the Tories the largest party. Mr Cameron would then be forced to call a second election later this year to seek a proper mandate to govern.
He might well be right, though my view on Heseltine is always coloured by his EUphile credentials and I'm alway a bit sceptical of what he has to say on anything.
However it seems the Celt Nats are also making plans too.

Scotland on Sunday.

Duncan Hamilton: SNP could get by with a little help from some 'friends'

AS IT turns out, learning lessons from the Welsh is not confined to the rugby field.
Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalists, have this weekend given us a timely reminder that there is much more to the debate on the future of Britain than simply resolving the question of Scottish independence. Plaid kick-started its General Election camp
aign with an approach which presents some big opportunities for Scotland in the years ahead.

Traditionally, Westminster elections are presented as a choice between Labour and the Tories as the two parties of government, with the option of the Liberal Democrats for those who want to register meek, if worthy, protest. But this time, two things have changed. First, there is a real prospect of a hung parliament, with the opportunities that brings. To be fair, Alex Salmond has been making that argument for some time in Scotland, and Plaid have now adopted it in Wales.

But the argument deserves to be explored more deeply, because this isn't about just Scotland or Wales acting in isolation, but rather about the potential collective ability of the nations and regions of the United Kingdom to seize the possibilities of a hung parliament and reboot a Westminster system and mentality which grudgingly granted devolution a decade ago.

If ten SNP MPs (half the party's stated target) were elected together with five Plaid MPs, that is a very useful block. But add in the 18 seats in Northern Ireland and you create real political clout. Not an official grouping, not an alliance formalised in any parliamentary way, but rather a coalition of shared interest on a few vital areas common to each devolved area, such as the vexed question of future public spending.
I expect somewhere in their shopping list of more money for their nations is a demand for referenda on independence (save possibly Northern Ireland who are currently more British than the British). Pity they wont be asking for a referendum on the EU either, though from what I can tell they think the EU will be good for them (Hah!) but if they do go I suspect they'll find England will leave the EU and the one of the biggest net contributors to the EU economy leaving will make the pot of available cash a lot smaller particularly for newcomers and other small fry countries.

I cannot imagine what the horse trading involved in a hung parliament might bring about, key to this might be the Lib Dems (most likely) but if the Tories are just short of a majority then the power of the Celt Nats might just come into its own and then wont we be living in interesting times.

 

 

2 annotations:

subrosa said...

More money QM? If we had our oil money, instead of London grabbing it, then we would be self-sufficient, but that's old news.

Have to agree with you about the EU. I'm not for Scotland being a full member of that but there seems little appetite for discussion from any party up here.

Quiet_Man said...

I don't mind you having the oil money SR nor the distillery money, your parties up there will only waste it anyway.
There needs to be a major rethink of the UK in general, whether it be federalism, independence, economic and manufacturing reform as well as social change.
The current crop of politicians both north and south of the border cannot and will not deliver this, they're too entrenched in the old system and far too corrupt in their ways.