A Question of Democracy

Make no mistake, we are now in completely uncharted waters. Five days on from the general election, we still don't have a government; the Prime Minister has resigned, though with the caveat that he is staying in place until a new leader of the Labour Party can be elected,in September and the Labour Party continues in government, despite having lost 91 seats and achieved a mere 29% of the vote.

Until late yesterday, it appeared that the talks between the Lib Dems and Conservatives were bearing fruit and that a deal was imminent. Even when David Laws, not unreasonably, announced that his party were seeking clarification from the Tories as to certain funding issues, the option still seemed to stay in play.

Gordon Brown's announcement that he was stepping down - albeit in a postdated sort of way - was almost inevitable; the Lib Dems were never going to give truth to the Tory attack that if you voted Lib Dem on May 6th, you got Brown. It was a measure of the turbulent political waters we're in that the Prime Minister's resignation was the least important of the two things he said. That Labour were now entering formal talks with the Lib Dems was the big issue.

Let's be clear about this; ignore the politics, look at the maths. A coalition between Labour, Lib Dem and assorted minor parties is neither stable, nor in many cases, a majority. Policy would be gridlocked, progress on the deficit almost impossible. Another election couldn't be far off and the electorate would take their vengeance on those who propped up a government rejected by the electorate.

For that is the nub of the matter. Nobody won this election, but Labour clearly lost it. Any attempt to keep them in power would fly in the face of the electorate's wishes. Think of it this way; more people cast first preference votes for the Conservatives than for Labour - proportionately, a coalition without the Conservatives would lack democratic strength, especially as the next Labour Prime Minister wouldn't even be someone chosen by the public.

It is perfectly acceptable for Nick Clegg to seek talks with Labour to understand the lie of the political landscape but in a sense it is wrong, as even many Labour MP's are now saying, for Labour to do so. Decency dictates they should quit the field as any Labour participation in government would lack legitimacy in the eyes of the electorate. Arguments that there is a progressive majority are flawed; 51% of people voted Lib Dem and Labour; that doesn't mean 51% of people voted for them to form a coalition; people vote for myriad different reasons and this suggestion works on the presumption that all Labour and all Lib Dem voters chose opposition to the Conservatives.

More people voted for change, either of the Liberal Democrat or Conservative variety than for the status quo; therein rests the democratic answer to this question.