http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12056554

Kind of has to now doesnt it? Or am I delusional for expecting politicians to have morals.

15:47 today

Or am I delusional for expecting politicians to have morals.

Yes

The Libs dems that matter will keep the coalition in place because if they don’t they won’t have the faintest sniff of any power for another 50 years!

the doublespeak will do the damage but are you actually surprised by the news?

It isn’t. There’s just too much self-interest at work here. For everyone involved

And the alternative would be what? A Lib-Lab coalition with Ed at the helm. WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO. Thats something to look forward too

We’re doomed! Doomed I tell you

Alternative would be a minority tory government which I’d be much more in favour of.

And the alternative would be what? A Lib-Lab coalition with Ed at the helm. WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO. Thats something to look forward too

Compared to what we have it is.

It’s not going to collapse now. As good as that would be, Clegg is not going to give this up any time soon regardless of what his party and his (ex) voters want. It will happen, but there needs to be a bit more unrest from the lib dems, maybe even a throwing out of Clegg as leader.

yes clegg is loving the power for sure and his word [pledge] is worthless he will cling to power as long as he can drag his MPS with him.

The Telegraph has a very specific axe to grind in its willingness to attack Murdoch – it has taken its expenses exposé a step further, and is now seeking to drive a wedge between the two parties of the Coalition.

However much this means that it gets to go to war with Newscorp in the print and, to a lesser extent, in the online arena, there is a bigger picture here, and it is dangerously close to a pyrrhic victory.

Cable (and other ministers recorded secretly) are now going to refuse to deal with the Telegraph in any way. While this might then push us towards a single party Tory government (which one would assume was the traditional purpose of the Telegraph), I can’t see how we will avoid the increasing dominance of the news and content agenda as driven by Newscorp and its real and shadow subsidiares like BSkyB.

so if the coillition collapses the alternative is? Tory minority, that isn’t going to work is it! Labour, my sides, A new election? will anyone bother voting, the opinion of politicians is low anyway, but.

Murdoch gets his way the media becomes his, the bbc is broken up etc.

Great!

yeah surely the telegraph have left the door open for murdoch, if cable says no to his majority buy out of bskyb murdoch and the 30% of the press he owns will make it look like a stitch up and appeal

i reckon the coalition will last

the lib dems know its their only chance for power

and the torries are more than happy for the (partisan?) media to keep slinging muck at the painfully innexperienced dems
while the cons sit safe in the houses of parliament as they privatise the country and screw over us plebs

Mmmmmmmmm coalition crumble

Alternative would be a minority tory government which I’d be much more in favour of.

Hmmmmmmmmm. Not so sure how about that. If the core labour vote needed galvanising, then I reckon that Gideon will have managed that magificently over the last 6 months.

So any election now will be a good old fashioned labour v conservative ding dong. The libs are finished. Minorith (5%) staus from now on

I certainly wouldn’t assume a Tory Victory. Remember: they didn’t ‘win’ last time. Do you think they’re more popular now?

Would there need to be another election if the coalition split?

one other detail the tories would not hold an election until after the boundaries are redrawn if it is at all possible, and even if the coalition were to break up, i see this being pushed through anyway as in interests of more than just tories.

as for lib dem support collapsing, i don’t see there being a labour alternative in much of the south west.

Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. This coalition will limp on manfully with each side secretly( or not so) loathing each other.

Would there need to be another election if the coalition split

Technically no but the queen asks someone to form a governemnt she could technically ask anyone in parliament – however the PM must ask for an election iirc
They could limp on with a minority govt. By convention though if beaten in a confidence vote they ask for an election – not sure how/what applies in a minority govt tbh. Anyone?

With the distribution of seats as it is at the moment, and the bitterness and back-biting that a coalition collapse, every commons vote would become a confidence vote.

A minority government wouldn’t last five minutes. A fact I’m sure everyone, especially Dave and Nick are all to aware. There would have to be an election.

The lib-cons will do the full five years IMHO

I’d assume labour will do everything they can to avoid an election. It would be catastrophic for them if they won it (as it is for the current lot).

A Lib-Lab coalition with Ed at the helm.

Oh god no. Anything but that.

and round and the merry go round you go.

it won’t get better no matter what is trying to run this place.

just a different way to screw it up.

oops

The LibDems have a particular vested interest in prolonging the Coalition – it’s the only way to get to the refererndum on AV (and with it, the only chance to maintain their current status in political terms).

As has been said above, a minority Tory government won’t last, so the Conservatives have no option but to put up with the arrangement too. However, from a PR perspective, they haven’t done badly out of it (mainly because everyone who hates them still hates them, whereas the same people like d the plucky LibDems until they got into bed with the nasty party).

So, they will do their best to patch things up post Christmas, and rumble on. I do wonder if the pace of change and policy announcements will slow, or if the Osborne and Cameron will continue to push their agenda so fast no-one will know what has hit them.

Alternative would be a minority tory government

Oh God no, anything but that!

Anything but labour.

It’s clearly a campaign by the Torygraph to weaken LibDems influence in to coalition, not actually break it. The Tory’s need the LibDems to stay in power.

It’s a fair journalistic coup by the papers journalists to get Vince to give his real opinions (which I agree with). But it’s not nice to see a partisan national newspaper so blatantly interfering.

Shun the Torygraph

backhander – Member

A Lib-Lab coalition with Ed at the helm.

Oh god no. Anything but that.

But why? I first thought that anything would be better than the last lot, but as I become older, i become much more liberal in my views. If Labour returns to spend spend spend – and gives us all jobs back again then is that not a good thing.

I know people say we don’t have the money – but seriously no-one has money – it’s not like there is £100 in the world and today we have £1.21 and tommow on 99p. It’s all relative – and if we just make money and don’t give it to other people where is the harm in that?

Radical thinking –

So what would happen if the UK decided to default on its debts?

I give you
weimar republic
Argentina

I can’t see Ant & Dec falling out to the point that they bring down the coalition any time soon

It’ll take a bit more than we have going on now, I personally think that a Europe issue will do it sometime in the future

I’d rather they stayed in for the next 4 1/2 years TBH – the way the world economy is now & for the foreseeable – the incumbents are always going to look bad by then & I’d rather the Tories & the Libs see this period through

Personally I think it’s pretty naive to believe any party doesn’t have a large amount of MPs that don’t agree with the policies their own party is trying to put through.

That’s the whole idea of the whip – vote for <insert party name here> policy or you don’t get reselected come next election, regardless of what you really believe.

There’s rarely a vote where MPs are allowed to vote with their own convictions (rightly or wrongly).

As people say self preservation will sustain the coalition for quiet a while yet. The LibDems will probably use it as a bargaining tool to get their way on a few minor things.

backhander – Member
A Lib-Lab coalition with Ed at the helm.
Oh god no. Anything but that.
backhander – Member
Anything but labour.

Would it not have been easier if you just said you wanted a tory govt ?

Comparing us to the Weimar republic – they had a few other issues as well dont you think really is comparing chalk and cheese. You claiming if we default we will get Hitler????
Argentina may be a fairer but we were someway from defaulting whatever the Tories would have us believe that we were the next Ireland/Greece – we were still treble a rated – though that was under threat for example

Junkyard, not at all, the Weimar is a little OTT, this is more a thought experiment. We are told that the UK must meet its obligations to the banks. But what happens if the UK decides it is not going to honour its international commitments? We are told that we must pay the debt down, so if we don’t what actually happens?

Argentina is pulling out of a hole now, the current attempt has seen a c25% devaluation in sterling and we are still barely treading water. We are told the bankers matter, so call their bluff?