to think that St Vince Cable's halo has slipped..

[MulledWineandGingerbread]

.. and that he couldn't make a decision to save his life. First he'll vote for the tuition fee increase, then abstain, then for, then still might abstain...

He's making himself (and his party) look ridiculous.

I don't get why people say that the Liberal Democrats have betrayed their voters Clegg and Cable never made any secret of the fact that they would make large cuts in spending if they got into office

Ahem, Tuition fees and slower cuts starting at a later date, no increase in VAT.

Tution fees and the timing of cuts are concessions to the Conservatives but Cable didn't say he wouldn't raise VAT

I know they did a poster about the tories raising VAT but Cable never said he wouldn't raise VAT if he became Chancellor.

byrel, fair enough re VAT, how about "no more broken promises".

They had no need to concede anything to the Tories, the Tories needed the LD's far more thasn the LD's needed the Tories.

They had to make concessions to the Tories, they've gone into coalition with them that means that some Lib Dem policies would be implemented and some Conservative ones would.

He looks like he is wearing prosthetics, I keep imagining him ripping his face off and saying "ahh if it wasn't for those pesky kids....".

I suspect it is the colaboration with the Tories which irks a lot of people, most are well aware of the Parlimentary Tory party and the inner circle being at best the scum of the Earth. Most who lived through the vile times of Thatcher and her nasty little policies didnt want a rerun, well we are now going to have it.

I expect the Tories to be filth I dont expect the LD's to support them, I voted for them FFS and I feel betrayed

Rubbish. The tuition fees pledge was perfectly clear - Lib Dem MPs would vote against any increase.

FPTP has its flaws but good God, what we've got now is hardly an alluring advertisement for an alternative. I do hope the voters give the Lib Dems the pasting they deserve over the referendum.

The tories are the scum of the earth

As for Mrs Thatcher if she was so bad why did Tony Blair and the Labour Party abandon their socialist roots and pursue thatcherite principles if she was so bad.

(sorry, rubbish was to byrel's point re, oh, if it's a coalition all bets are off.)

edam, How can you form a coalition Government if neither party makes any concessions

byrel - compromise is one thing, a flagrant breach of a very clear election pledge is another. Lib Dem MPs signed a pledge to vote against any increase in tuition fees.

They don't have any right to 'compromise' on that particular policy. Parties generally have this quaint little tradition of taking manifesto pledges seriously and not immediately doing the complete opposite. The Liberals have clearly been out of government so long they've forgotten the most basic rules. Shysters.

The tories are the scum of the earth hmm, yes they are.

As for Mrs Thatcher if she was so bad why did Tony Blair and the Labour Party abandon their socialist roots and pursue thatcherite principles if she was so bad.

Because New Labour were entryists into a socialist party but were tolerated because Blair was a winner. He also abandoned his (suppose) principals.

The Tories and NL both have had their tounges stuck up the arse of Murdoch, big business and the establishment.

We often hear that the Tories have to repair the economy after labour but by Christ labour ALWAYS has to repair the damage caused to society by the Tories.

Is society any better now then it was in 1997 though, there are more people unemployed and educational standards have also dropped in what ways have Labour improved society.

Prolesworth This government is radical, but not more radical than Thatcher.

Actually their economic policy isn't that radical. The cuts are being made of necessity, not by choice - the difference in approach is quite small between all major parties. Under a Darling chancellorship, we would have made the cuts over 5 years; the coalition is making the cuts over 4 years. Not much blue sky between those positions!

Also, they are not doing nearly enough on competitiveness. They should get rid of oodles of red tape, get rid of the 50p tax rate as soon as possible, and disassociate from bonkers EU legislation, especially the social chapter, EU regulation of British financial services, the working time directive, and other nonsense.

No, where they are genuinely radical isn't on the economy at all. It is on social policy, public services, and in getting rid of State interference. Iain Duncan Smith's work on welfare reform is brilliant. Michael Gove is bringing choice to parents who didn't have choice before. The changes to university funding fit neatly into this shift of responsibility from the State to the individual.

I don't know why anyone should be surprised at the LD's lack of principles. When they went into coalition with Labour at the start of the Scottish Parliament there was a saying that they 'sold their principles for a ministerial mondeo'. Nothing much changed then.
What has surprised me is Vince Cable's apparent complete lack of understanding about the concept of collective responsibility. As a government minister he cannot abstain on a vote like this!

Is society any better now then it was in 1997 though, there are more people unemployed and educational standards have also dropped in what ways have Labour improved society.

That is bullshit:

Educational standards have improved not dropped that is just Tory propoganda.

More people are in work now than in 1997.

Do you remember Thatchers 1979 poster with "Labour isnt working" as the theme, there were 1.1 million unemployed at the time, within 3 years of Tory rule it had reached 3.5 million. The Tories LIKE unemployment it keeps wages down and is used as a form of social control.