Esk

On election night itself, I was painfully disappointed. The Lib Dems had lost seats, of all things, which struck me as yet another indication of a broken system. We held Ceredigion with a huge margin (>8000 votes) which made me feel like my vote counted for a lot less than it did in 2005, when we won it from Plaid by a mere 200 or so.

As the final result of a hung parliament emerged, I was unsurprised. Evey poll for the last month had pointed at it, and the exit poll was equally sure. What I didn’t expect was the LibCon (or ConDem for haters) coalition that we now have. Going back over the last few days, I first expected a Con minority government, no deals, because the numbers didn’t really allow for a LibLab majority unless they cobbled together some sort of fragile rainbow which, to me at least, seemed much more unstable than a simple minority goverment. And of course, there was no way the Tories could work with the Lib Dems, was there?

Talking to other people convinced me of at least a chance that a progressive alliance could work, but I fairly consistently pointed out that whilst the party similarities might allow for it more easily, the balance of seats just did not.

Many Lib Dem voters, especially those who voted for the Lib Dems for reform rather than because they actually supported their other policies, may be angry at Nick Clegg. He’s done a deal with the devil, in their eyes. But to those who wanted reform, as has surely been pointed out by now: this type of government is exactly what you are asking for! This is a test run of what you will get if we reform the system to be more proportional — even AV will make some headway towards it. If you don’t like it, you should have voted for whichever party would oust the party you don’t like. Tactical voting is much less of an issue in AV or STV. More equally sized constituencies will also help a bit. No, we’re probably not going to get Proportional Representation. But isn’t any electoral reform that genuinely comes from within the system going to be an impressive step forward?

From the sounds coming from the media and more importantly the Lib Dems, Labour never really had a serious plan for coalition. What was it that you wanted Nick Clegg to do, exactly? Go back on his word and refuse to deal, resulting in a Conservative minority government and no hope of reform? This way the policies of each party to be implemented are set out in a manifesto-like way at the beginning. It remains to be seen whether the promises will be kept. But I tell you what, surely if you’ve got yourself a deputy prime minister and another 4 cabinet positions, Lib Dems, haven’t you won? Surely this was the best possible outcome?

No, I don’t really like David Cameron. He’s smarmy. His general attitude galls me. But if more people voted Tory and more Tory seats were claimed than for any other party, he deserves a bit of a say-so, doesn’t he? And what, so do Labour? Yes, and they’ll get to have their say as the opposition, which ought to be fine. I don’t want to say they’ve had their turn, but they have had a very long go at running the country, outcomes have been some good, some bad, and now the country wants someone else or some other system, ideally both.

It’s not going to be an easy ride for anyone. What the Lib Dems have achieved is to make David Cameron’s job really really hard whilst not giving him much option to avoid doing it. He’s going to be unpopular within and outside his party, most of the time. There’s a chance it’ll lend him a bit more humility, and it’s certain that he won’t be able to run sweeping conservative changes across the country in the manner he would have if he’d got a majority.

If all my other arguments have failed, then just remember this: the coalition Nick Clegg and David Cameron secured was possible because they were able to compromise and behave decently. That they were able to do this despite glaring differences in ideology is a glimmer of hope for fair and honest government. Just a glimmer, but at least a glimmer, of hope.