Sunday, October 03, 2010

Fringe TODAY!: Should There Be An Electoral Pact With the LibDems?


You are cordially invited to attend a Total Politics Fringe Meeting at the Conservative Party Conference


SHOULD THE TORIES ENTER A LONG TERM ELECTORAL PACT WITH THE LIBDEMS?

And should the coalition be extended beyond 2015?


Speakers: Nicholas Boles,
Fraser Nelson,
Editor of The Spectator
Iain Martin
Wall Street Journal


Chaired by Iain Dale


Today, 5.45pm

Jurys Inn, 245 Broad Street, Birmingham

19 comments:

Old BE said...

What a fantastic idea! Let's decide now with four and a half years to go until the election!!

Will 883 said...

Sorry to be dismissive but this event and discussion is completely pointless given that you need two parties to agree and electoral pact, and it is not even a remote thought for the Lib Dems.

Anonymous said...

Stupid idea. Though Cameron clearly would like to see a merger. I mean we already have a Liberal Conservative Government. Just merge and then real Conservatives can form a new party for Britain.

Mirtha Tidville said...

I like Bryan Rose idea....

Unknown said...

No there shouldn't.

Unknown said...

No there shouldn't.

Anonymous said...

Bryan Rose's idea is to perpetuate a Labour govt ...
We do not have a Liberal Conservative government - if we did why are the stories all about unhappy libdem delegates?

Its going to be interesting to see how the Tories and Liberal Democrats fight the next election. They will have been taking joint responsibility for everything for 5 years.

In order not to look daft they will have to come to some arrangement.

Of course it would help if the LDs decided what they were - a centre left party or a left of centre party?

jas88 said...

A case-by-case tactical alliance to keep Labour out in seats where there's a risk of the pro-Coalition vote being split would be a good thing: in seats where one Coalition party is a distant third (or worse), why spend resources diverting support away from the other partner's candidate who might otherwise stand a chance?

As a Conservative voter, if my constituency were a LibDem-Labour contest, I would want the LibDem to win to keep the debt party further from power; to vote differently would be an empty gesture at best.

David Skelton said...

Looks an interesting fringe. Hopefully the Ryder Cup will have finished by then.

I posted a blog on this matter a few weeks ago:

http://www.platform10.org/2010/09/we-should-consider-carefully-the-idea-of-an-electoral-pact/

Michael Heaver said...

Nothing for the Tories to gain from such a deal. Most people who agree with the cuts will vote Tory, most people who disagree will vote Labour, leaving the LibDems are dead in the water.

Oh, and the informed will vote UKIP of course. :)

Julia said...

It would all become moot anyway if AV is adopted (in which case good riddance to tactical voting). I guess you are all assuming it won't...

Libertarian said...

Sorry,

But to me a totally pointless question. There is virtually no difference between Tory, LibDem and Labour offerings. They are all big state, big government, tax and spend EU worshippers

We need something new and truly radical in this country not the 3 tired old regressive parties.

Did I really hear that only 9% of eligible voters in Lab leadership election voted. Is it really true that ONLY 200 people out of 17,000 voted in the Tory CF election.

This tells you all you need to know about the relevance of the "regressive 3"

Tim Johnson said...

It is too early for them to do a deal at the moment - more likely a year or two before the next election - but unless the coalition has fallen apart, I would be very surprised if there was not a deal between the two parties.

They not like the idea much at the moment, but the coalition will go through tough times ....

The Grim Reaper said...

Iain said "And should the coalition be extended beyond 2015?"

Depends on what the electorate thinks, wouldn't you say?

The Grim Reaper

Anonymous said...

James - there would be no point voting LibDem if they were then going to turn around and form a coalition with labour. Which is why some notions of an arrangement would be helpful.

We are in new waters well new this side of WW2. What would be the policies of the LibDems at the next election; would they be a plausible basis for a pact? Will 5 years of government change their outlook?

I repeat are the LDs centre left or left of centre?

Either way again - the economy will have been run by both parties for 5 years - they can hardly be critical of each other on that front.
I would find it plausible to speculate they would not stand against each other where the coalition has a sitting tenant. The LDs might find this extremely attractive.

Keir Hardie said...

Very little concentration on what the coalition means for local council elections and, for example, the Welsh Assembly Election next year.

Take Kirsty Williams, LD leader in the Senedd. She has a majority of 5k, 18%, from the second place challenger, the Conservative. Knock 2.5k off, and I believe this to be a conservative number, the majority for those who voted LD last time but are either disgruntled former Labour supporters, Labour tactical voters, or 'left wing lib dems' and all of a sudden the leader of the LD group seems a little less safe.

Added to this, if I can do the maths, so can Transport House, and a seat like that is ripe for a bit of a decapitation strategy with activists working it hard. Add a 1k to the Labour vote for those who otherwise wouldn't turn out and all of a sudden its a yellow blue marginal.

Now the chances of Labour winning that seat are remote, but if the Lib vote peels off then it is definately in play. Would the Tories, on a case by case basis, withdraw candidates where it could hurt their coalition partners?

golden_balls said...

I think more people are interested in the ryder cup including fraiser than your conference.

ukipwebmaster said...

Should There Be An Electoral Pact With the Lib Dems?
Err...There already is isn't there?

Tom said...

Pity Fraser Nelson had to duck out, but I enjoyed it!