be looked upon more fondly? Not that I’m any great fan of them, I just don’t have any confidence in a tory majority being anything other than utter c***s! 😆

Will people miss the tempering effect that the lib dems had as it becomes more obvious as time continues?

I’m sure in 5 years they will be back to a raft of impossible policies based on the idea that they sound great but are impractical and impossible to implement but hey who cares we have jumpers with elbow patches 🙂

I don’t think so – the LibDems couldn’t temper their way out of a wet paper bag, as the electorate just explained to them in clear and concise terms.

They were right to give it a shot, but they seem to have failed on all fronts. In particular, the alternative vote referendum, the sin qua non of the yellow party, got absolutely panelled – ironically just at the time when voting reform is more relevant then it’s been for 80 years. They had no idea how to assemble the political capital you need to take on big legislation like that.

The absence of them from the government will make it far easier for the Labour Party, when the Lib Dems toned down the Conservatives Policies Labour struggled to find any way of biting into the Conservatives record (in the electorates eyes).

IMO over the next few years the opportunities for the Gov to alienate large sections of the populus are far higher, on that basis sections of society may look back favourably at the Lib Dems efforts.

Agreed! The LibDems spent five years making the Tories look good and paid a massive price for it. Looking forward to them bounce back in 2020! 🙂

As I wrote somewhere else about the LibDem influence on the last goverment:

“We will now find out if the “spineless” LibDems did just sit in the corner and do what they were told, or if they did manage to reign in the Tories to be just nasty, compared to evil and nasty.”

after 5 years of a tory majority anyone will be looked upon more fondly

remembering something from another post..

I suppose it depends on whether you view them as having been a limiting factor or if you saw them as being an enabled for the Tories. It looks like the electorate went with the latter which, combined with a sense of betrayal from those that voted for them and the turnaround on tuition fees, accounts for there destruction in the polls.

They’ve suffered so badly I think it’s going to be a long hard road back for them.

not sure but they got what they deserved

I’m not sure they got what they deserved. The next 5 years will show a lot of people how much the lib dems capped the worst of the Tory excesses. We’re going to get both barrels now.

They’ll be rump party in control of a few local authorities; nothing more.

We’re already seeing what the Tories are like without the Lib Dems. In less than a week we have their immediate statements of intent, making it harder to strike, abolishing the Human Rights Act, “getting tough” over migrants coming to Europe.

The UK population isn’t used to coalition government and doesn’t generally understand how it works. Lib Dems are paying the price for that. BTW Lib Dem membership is now growing.

I suspect their own MPS will get more concessions from Dave that The Lib Dems

The tories would have done far less had they been a minority govt with the Lib dems able to veto EVERYTHING rather than enable everything and tinker at the boundaries

I agree by the end they were moderating them but the deal they struck was a dishonourable capitulation of the platform they stood on

I also think vote fir us and we might support the tories or support Labour depending on how you all vote is someway from a principled stance and led folk to [ and I quote ernie here] view a vote for them as the lucky dip of Uk politics.

shermer75 – Member
Agreed! The LibDems paid a massive price for it.

see that’s what I find weird, people punished the lib dems for going into coalition with the tories, by voting tory, wtf?

Junkyard – lazarus
lucky dip of Uk politics.

that is fair comment, possibly explain the above some what.

I think they were treated overly harshly by the electorate, possibly as people don’t seem to accept that in a coalition you have to compromise far more on policy than when you have an outright majority.

In 5 years time will the Lib Dems

be walking round a zoo
With the sun shining down over me and you
And there’ll be love in the bodies of the elephants too
And I’ll put my hands over your eyes, but you’ll peep through

We’re already seeing what the Tories are like without the Lib Dems. In less than a week we have their immediate statements of intent, making it harder to strike, abolishing the Human Rights Act, “getting tough” over migrants coming to Europe.

Their manifesto commitments. We are not alone in regard to Med migrants, the EU pulled out of the rescue mission last year leaving Italy to handle it alone.

It was in my memory that the Liberal party had 5-10 seats. It was interesting to hear Simon Hughes say on Newsnight he though they may drop the Democrat bit, that in itself having come about due to the Labour party spin off of the Social Democratic gang of 4.

I think it will be a long hard road back for the Liberals. Looking at my local elections they still polled very well there, I can see a period of consolidation in local politics before they can emerge again. The 50+ seats they got in 2010 was I believe a record by some margin. The money they have lost in terms of MPs salaries and office expenses will be very difficult to replace. Simon Hughes made reference to the many people who will lose their jobs as a result of the defeats.

I think they were treated overly harshly by the electorate, possibly as people don’t seem to accept that in a coalition you have to compromise far more on policy than when you have an outright majority.

Personally I think they sold their soul for a referendum of PR AV. had they at least had a referendum on real PR it might have been worth it, that IMO was Cleggs biggest error. The tuition fees was a disaster for their core vote, a big issue of trust to have voted for that having said they would not.

[see that’s what I find weird, people punished the lib dems for going into coalition with the tories, by voting tory, wtf? ]

More like a perfect storm…. I don’t think they were voting to punish them more a case of being caught in the cross fire

We’re already seeing what the Tories are like without the Lib Dems. In less than a week we have their immediate statements of intent, making it harder to strike, abolishing the Human Rights Act, “getting tough” over migrants coming to Europe.

I’d say that this seems to be the way of it

Nope, as far as I can tell people’s memories to have a reverse-rose tinted effect when it comes to politics – Margret Thatcher and Tony Blair seem on level pegging in the hate stakes at the moment, yes each has a few fans who might offer a more balanced opinion, but in my estimation they both have a lot more detractors than fans, and the people who dislike them REALLY dislike them – but both won major victories in their first election as Leader of the Opposition and both had long careers as Prime Minister and neither lost a General Election.

John Major is either completely forgotten about or labelled dull and boring, but IMO whilst he was boring, and on the wrong side of the fence for my person taste, he was far from a bad PM

Poor old Gordon Brown, got passed the PM role with the most brutal of hospital passes, and even through some of the most renowned Economists in the World have said, on record, that if the US had taken his advice on Lemans we could have avoided the Credit Crunch (but not the recession, which was inevitable) and they equally say that his plans post crash was the template that all major nations followed, AND that he was Chancellor during the longest period of continus growth in British history – he’s labelled a crap Chancellor.

Given all that, what chance have the LibDems got? did worse than expected in 2010 despite the most charismatic leader they’ve ever had, off the back of TV debated he won hands down – only to be the Tory excuse bucket for 5 years.

I voted in a constituency which went from LibDem to Tory, there it was very clear from the numbers the Lib Dem vote went to the Tories. I am 100% certain ( JY 8) ) that was in part due to the anti Labour/SNP coalition message of the Tories.

The 50+ seats they got in 2010 was I believe a record by some margin.

If you ignore the 62 the got the previous parliament! 😆

you being 100% certain and it being true is a set that interacts most infrequently 8)

It was interesting to hear Simon Hughes say on Newsnight he though they may drop the Democrat bit, that in itself having come about due to the Labour party spin off of the Social Democratic gang of 4.

I seem to remember that the Libs are a joining of David Steel’s Liberal party of old and the Social Democrats.

be walking round a zoo
With the sun shining down over me and you
And there’ll be love in the bodies of the elephants too
And I’ll put my hands over your eyes, but you’ll peep through

It’ll be fun fun fun!

😆

I fondly remember the Spitting Image sketch where David Owen and David Steele were deciding the name and leader of their new party….

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwGvgC-r4IE[/video]

Good grief Jambalaya you are really are ill informed, the LibDems lost seats in 2010 (not many but a few), they also lost another four councils and over 400 councilors this year. Over the course of the last parliament, they lost nearly 2,000. They are a shell of what they were in 2010 when they were a major player in local government.

@mefty – was looking primarily around Hampshire, in Eastleigh they got 12 of 14 seats up for grabs and lost the MP by 10,000

@footflaps 🙂

Cannot see the sketch at work but i still remember the one word from min and one word from yours joke

Which was a loss of 2 seats

Oh how things come back to haunt them….

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VNmHmNUOO4[/video]

JY a diagram for you, hat tip to Cougar 😀

😆