Cameron said vote liberal and get labour - did he really mean vote tory and get liberal?

Question

No increase in inheritance tax - tory flagship policy shelved
Increase in tax free allowance - lib dem flagship policy taken forward
Increase in some capital gains tax implemented - suggested by lib dem's opposed by tories
Tax avoidance policy - suggested by lib dem's bitterly opposed by tories
Voting reform Alternative vote system and PR in the house of lords - both opposed by tories
Increase in spending in real terms for NHS and Education - both dept's had a freeze in real terms in tory proposals.
Premium pupil payment for disadvantaged children - proposed by lib dem's opposed by tories.


All Cameron got out of it was the keys to number 10 and a headache of how he is going to pay for it all and cut the deficit at the same time.

Answer 1

The problem with it all is that Cameron will most likely end up implementing all the things he wants to. My reasoning for this is that the pact is forecast to last for 6 to 12 months maximum before Cameron calls an election, and they are even money favourites to win it, after that they can do what they wish. Clegg believes he is going to get a referendum on electoral reform and that the people will vote for it, the only problem with that is I don't believe the people will. They probably would have before he sided with the Tories and I for one would have voted for it out of fairness, but now all bets are off. As far as I'm concerned, Clegg has put himself before his party, there is no way that his core supporters would ever have jumped into bed with the Tories. He is spinning it as though he did what was best for the country, well, that won't wash. So, when the referendum happens the Tories will obviously vote against reform, and now, many Labour supporters will also vote against reform, so basically Cleggs party will end up worse off than they started, because many people will now see a vote for the Libdems as a vote for the Tories, but I guess that's the price you pay for sleeping with the enemy.

Answer 2

I don't know the answer to this for sure. I do hope it works out though. Hopefully both parties will be a check and balance system one on the other. Maybe that way we won't end up with a completely tory or labour govt.(which in effect the libdems are) as that would have spelled disaster for the country. I note that all the politicians keep spouting this rubbish about how they did things for the good of the nation when in actual fact if you keep up with things they are only truly interested in what is good for them and the party they support or are a part of. Both of them sort of remind me of labour in that you can't believe anything they say and you shudder to think what they will do.



Lets hope that the situation they have put themselves in actually spells good for the country and its people. That is our best hope I think. If it goes wrong they won't last long anyway.

Answer 3

Strange I heard that the Labour party was urging people to vote Lib-Dem to keep the Tories out. However until Cameron and Clegg find out how much the Labour party have really saddled us with I doubt that any policy will be kept.

Answer 4

No, what he actually said was vote Clegg, get Brown.



He meant that people could vote for Clegg but they had no realistic chances of getting him, and that they would get Brown instead. At least people who voted Tory will get some Tory, all be it with Liberal mixed in.



On the bright side, both the Tories and the Liberals want to slash public spending. Which is the opposite of What Labor were intending to do. At least some of their shared policies will now be put in place.



This is what you get when you have a multi party system like in Europe. You don't get this kind of thing in the US because of the two party system and the Presidential system.



I guess that it just goes to show, democracy only works when enough of the people all think alike.



The moral of this story is that if you increase choice you have to reduce democracy in order to get anything done. Like in the US where you only realistically have two choices. Left or right. It's not particularly democratic, but at least it produces a clear winer every time.



There's no such thing as a coalition president.

Answer 5

Since the cabinet posts began to be announced I'm wondering if they are more telling than early apparent compromises on policies.



They've put Clegg as deputy, which is fair enough, they've put David Laws as chief secretary of the Treasury so he's the one who's going to have to make all the cuts and get the stick for it. Cable as business secretary, maybe similar. Chris Hulne for energy where he probably can't do a lot of harm, and the other whose name I've forgotten is the Scottish secretary.



All the important ministers like foreign secretary, home secretary, chancellor are mainstream Conservatives, and they've kept Gove for education and brought in IDS for work and pensions who will each want to push the Tory flagship policies on welfare reform, free schools etc.



Maybe it's the opposite, all the LibDems are going to get out of it is propping up the Tory government without having a great deal of influence in it.

Answer 6

Vote LibDem get LibDem. Always support the party you most support and believe in. For me the LibDems, or rather the Classical Liberal-wing of the Liberal Democrats, are the party I most support. The LibDems are to the Left of the Tories and have quite different views to the Tories and will work to put the views that I and other LibDems support into Government policy.

Answer 7

An interesting way of asking the question. I would say. Lies are lies and theft is theft. Extremism as a label is often used to silence people but what should be debated is the actual effect of a policy if put into operation (or at least the results that could be forecast) All politicians practice the art of trying to say as little as possible whilst appealing to the widest possible potential audience. It is prudent to examine the aim and meaning of all even though some of us may feel we know what those aims are. It is one thing to sound reasonable in sound bites quite another to disguise the effects of a policy when it has to be expanded upon in open debate.

Answer 8

Your list of compromises suggests that this is exactly what is happening. How far can the Tories bend over backwards before something anatomically impossible occurs ?

There's a certain retrospective irony as well, if we remember the big Labour voices warning us : Vote LibDem get Tory. Well sort of.

Answer 9

Nick Clegg= Judas

Answer 10

Europe, Trident and Immigration were also key Liberal policies, all been shelved. Why not give it a chance, if they fail I will be one of the first to criticise. Labour offered them a vote on PR yet they still walked away.

They also never announced any freeze on NHS or Education. The election is over now, no need to continue with your scaremongering.

Answer 11

As a nation we got the government we voted for; a coalitione.





We can't keep voting until everyone gets the outcome they want.

Answer 12

For once I agree with you Hal, Cameron bottled it, he should have shown his metal and forced another election, we are in no mans land, and 3rd placed Old Nick cant believe his luck,

Answer 13

yes....& i wish SOMEBODY had told us that...never thought it could happen - Libs will never get my vote again...Nick Clegg has sold us all down the river just to get a seat in the Cabinet!!

Answer 14

u should be kissing camerons @ss hal because the frightening alternative was more of brown mendelson and ensuing bankruptcy