Lib Dems in crisis

Graham_Devon

I love all this kinda thing.

Labour hail it as a victory. Labour say its because of the cuts. Interviewer asks labour politician if they would have made cuts.....labour politician stalls and states its not the cuts its the speed of the cuts....interviewer says most of the cuts haven't started yet....labour politician says "yes but it's also the depth of the cuts"....interviewer asks labour politician what they would have done if these cuts are wrong....labour politician states the cuts are too fast and too deep.

RJP33

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I love all this kinda thing.

Labour hail it as a victory. Labour say its because of the cuts. Interviewer asks labour politician if they would have made cuts.....labour politician stalls and states its not the cuts its the speed of the cuts....interviewer says most of the cuts haven't started yet....labour politician says "yes but it's also the depth of the cuts"....interviewer asks labour politician what they would have done if these cuts are wrong....labour politician states the cuts are too fast and too deep.

Yeah it’s just fascinating to watch the complete lack of substance (still) from labour and Miliband in particular. The Darling cuts were only slightly less than the Tory ones anyway and labours answer is pretty much we against every cut. No mention of what they’d actually cut at all, just we’re against everything as it’s wrong and terrible. People should see through it.

Really disappointed in Ed so far.

macaque_2

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

They did have a choice. They could have let Cameron form a minority government and support it on a confidence and supply basis. They could have agreed to form a coalition and continue to speak and act like a seperate party with their own ideas and views.

Instead Clegg has gone for the assimilation strategy where he supports absolutely anything the Tories say or do regardless of what he and his party said or supported prior to the election. Remember that the coalition was initially popular, so its not that forming a government did it for Clegg.

No, its how he's doing what he's doing. People have stopped trusting his party and he as been transformed into this anti-talisman figure who is responsible for everything people dislike.

At the time of the last election, the economy was at the edge of a cliff (still is). Pulling back from the brink required heavy cuts to public spending. A minority government could never have done that. If the Lib Dems had refused to do a deal, the idealists in the party would have patted them on the back and the Lib Dems would have remained irrelevant for another 100 years.

StevieJ

macaque wrote: »

At the time of the last election, the economy was at the edge of a cliff (still is). Pulling back from the brink required heavy cuts to public spending. A minority government could never have done that. If the Lib Dems had refused to do a deal, the idealists in the party would have patted them on the back and the Lib Dems would have remained irrelevant for another 100 years.

You mean, as opposed to disappearing into the abyss?

Rochdale_Pioneers

macaque wrote: »

At the time of the last election, the economy was at the edge of a cliff (still is). Pulling back from the brink required heavy cuts to public spending. A minority government could never have done that. If the Lib Dems had refused to do a deal, the idealists in the party would have patted them on the back and the Lib Dems would have remained irrelevant for another 100 years.

I'm confused. On one hand the favourite line of abuse is "what would you cut, Labour have no plan to deal with the deficit". On the other hand the favourite line of abuse is "this is Labour's fuel tax increase" and "Labour's planned cuts would have kicked in next week so they are hypocrites to attack our cuts".

Which is it? Either Darling's cuts were kicking in next week, or they don't have a plan to cut. It can't be both.

On the economy front, remind me. What was the rate of growth Labour handed to the Tories in May, and what is it now?

Shakethedisease

I think Labour are probably playing it quite well.. stepping back, not committing themselves to anything too much..

..And letting the coalition hang themselves and implode on thier own merits, in-fighting and mistakes. Keeping their mouths shut and underplaying everything at the moment is probably best for them tbh so soon after the last election. It's a long way to go till the next (if the coalition last that long). At the moment Labour are getting blamed for everything re the economy, the 'what we inherited' line. It's starting to wear very thin. I'm sick hearing it. From foreign policy ( no aircraft ) to schools, tuition fees, to the NHS. And whoever said memories are short, you're right ! All people are seeing now is who are actually MAKING and implementing the cuts.

( I voted Lib dem last election ). That's how I see it anyway.

vaporate

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I love all this kinda thing.

Labour hail it as a victory. Labour say its because of the cuts. Interviewer asks labour politician if they would have made cuts.....labour politician stalls and states its not the cuts its the speed of the cuts....interviewer says most of the cuts haven't started yet....labour politician says "yes but it's also the depth of the cuts"....interviewer asks labour politician what they would have done if these cuts are wrong....labour politician states the cuts are too fast and too deep.

All politicians never answer the question. Cameron is guilty as sin also.

Orpheo

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

You want a general election every time the going gets a bit tough for whoever's in power?

The coalition reflects the fact that last May the electorate didn't want Labour, but weren't overwhelmingly keen on the Conservatives either. So what we've got are some watered down Tories. Cameron is fairly liberal for a Tory, and Clegg looks increasingly to the right of his party. Britain is somewhere in the middle of the tabloid extremes of the Mail and the Grauniad, so the coalition is probably a fairly accurate reflection all round.

The thing is, we don't have watered-down Tories. The lib-dems are so made-up with their govt appointments that nothing else matters to them. We have a full-on Tory govt who are taking their lib-dem ministers without lube... Danny Alexander appears to love it.

There was no point in the lib-dems, wherever they came in the election, going into coalition with the Tories if they were not to carry any weight. The 10K tax threshold, fair enough, but other than that the only thing they have insisted on is their precious referendum on AV. Don't give me any "governing in the national interest" crap, they are only interested in themselves. The irony is that the lib-dems have betrayed so many of their voters that, I believe, that they have done themselves damage irreperable. The lib-dems have been found out. Immediately following the election Clegg was in a powerful political position, he could have got more, but he fumbled it, he's certainly no Richard Neville.

A._Badger

A 'full-on Tory govt'? I hope for your sake you never meet any of the the vast number of Conservative supporters who feel betrayed by what they regard as the Cameroons' Leftism.

In such circles, iDave is regarded as being a closet Lib-Dem. On balance, I think they are right. He's certainly no Tory.

Nikel

A._Badger wrote: »

In such circles, iDave is regarded as being a closet Lib-Dem. On balance, I think they are right. He's certainly no Tory.

Is that a new iPhone app?