big\_dave wrote:This isn't too far from what they threatened last election in the event of Labour being involved in a coalition. While there wasn't much realistic hope of a Lib-Lab government last time, the sort of language thrown about at the suggestion of it was downright frightening after several decades of orderly electionsEven Conservative parliamentary historian Lord Hailsham described the British parliamentary system, an elective dictatorship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elective\_dictatorshipArticles in the Mail and Telegraph have signalled that the Tories are willing to perhaps even reinterpret the law in order to claim victory if it's undecided. Is going to be a very interesting election, for sure.

In the even tof a hung parliament this article outlines how the Tories may actually have the brass to attempt a coup with the media crowning them winners: If someone votes for an SNP MP in this election, or a Green MP, or a Plaid Cymru MP, then they can reasonably expect that that MP is going to vote to sack David Cameron and replace him with Ed Miliband ” because that s what they have said they are likely to do. If that is true for the majority of MPs, then the democratic outcome is for Ed Miliband to be Prime Minister, even if Labour on its own has a slightly smaller parliamentary group than the Tories. The precedent for who gets to govern if Parliament is hung is complex, as outlined here, but ultimately boils down to who can pass budgets and win votes of confidence, which has nothing intrinsically to do with being the biggest single party.However, this is not how the Tory press will interpret the election. If they can possibly get away with it, they will find any way they can to declare Cameron the winner, even if it s going to be almost impossible for him to command a parliamentary majority. In doing so, they will seek to make it impossible for Miliband to govern. This circumstance would in effect be a coup by newspaper proprietors against the people of the country. Because our constitution is written not in statute, but headlines, this is perfectly possible.The newspapers are preparing for a coup, and Labour is doing nothing to stop themMeanwhile, Miliband needs to prepare English voters for the fact Labour, whilst not going into coalition with the SNP, will effect a voting block to lock the Tories out of power, something that Alex Salmond has already said they are prepared to do. Question is, will Nicola Sturgeon be invited to be PM?* Scotland will certainly get another referendum, especially as they're on track to win 50 of the 59 seats in the Scottish assembly. Conservatives slam Salmond's 'sinister' threat to install Miliband in Downing Street*I'm fairly sure she'd decline, being a Scottish politician and all, although there is a precedent for this.

Labour, 22%. Why?! Person: So, Labour, how will you justify reducing tuition fees and supporting parents with childcare? Labour: We'll tax the rich! Person: OK. But the rich will emigrate if you raise the tax threshold. Labour: Fine! We'll tax the general public a bit more, including Joe Bloggs who works his socks off to earn twenty thousand a year. Person: Hmm. But doesn't that mean taking more from the general public (Bloggs will complain by the way;) then bribe them with their own cash? Labour: Oh yeah, duh! OK! We'll borrow more money! Lol. 2 + 2 = 5Economic growth is the way forward. Not increasing dependency, The Nanny State or public spending. Ed wants to be your happy warrior, unfortunately it's a false promise. Also, Wallace has two kitchens and old money. He will never relate to being working class, Joe Bloggs or food banks.

The threat of stalemates and uncertainty seems to be casting a nasty smell over what has been (so far) a tepid election campaign. There's a little bit of desperation and greed at play (especially from the minor parties and Scottish Labour), but fear seems to be the dominant factor.Debt, deficit, the NHS, pensions, housing: the numbers are terrifying and nobody (quite fairly) has any idea of how to resolve these issues without pissing off substantial chunks of the electorate. How could any party try to win this popularity contest by admitting that living standards are likely to fall for the vast majority of the population?I had hoped (naively) that the threat of compromise and coalition would mean that some stronger political argument might motivate the discourse: so far it's been like watching various shades of middle management types compete for a promotion that nobody really wants.

Thank fuck for the Tories then! Now there's a bunch of down-to-earth, honest, caring and sharing types.

I really wouldn't bother, BD.

If Labour, as Miliband seemed to signal in the challengers debate, aren't going to do a deal with the SNP to lock the Tories out of power for a generation, then they're over as a party. They've yet to realize that the Labour Party only represents parts of England: VICE: Last Night's Leaders' Debate Was a Vision of the Clusterfuck That British Politics Is About to BecomeRiding a wave of public support following her popularly-opined win in the previous seven-way debate, Sturgeon held off trying to persuade non-Scottish voters that the SNP come in peace and this time cut straight to the chase, asking Miliband if he'll compromise with the SNP in the likely event of a hung parliament in order to lock David Cameron out of Downing Street. With the Tories and Lib Dems out of sight and out of mind, this was the central issue most viewers will have had in mind when they tuned in “ and despite the histrionics of the right-wing press, it seemed a popular outcome with the studio audience at least.

Can't really believe the SNP scaremongering on the BBC News.

http://www.vice.com/en\_uk/read/queen-pa ... uitson-345

Probably gonna vote Green. I am in a very safe Labour seat, so safe that the Labour candidates don't even bother canvassing or attending hustings. I quite like the idea of an anti-Tory left wing coalition. My hope is that a minority Labour government propped up by the SNP and others would also curb the free market/centrists excesses of Labour.Fuck austerity.