Who can best hold a Labour government to account?

[verdantverdure]

Just that really.

Which party do you think needs to get enough seats be in opposition and hold a Labour government to account?

Well the Tories are going to be the opposition and I think that's fine.

But to be honest, when any party has a large majority (whether it's labour next week or Johnson a few years ago) I think an informed electorate and decent journalism is at least as important as the opposition when it comes to holding them to account. Without that, it doesn't matter what the opposition does.

reform uk

I think the Lib Dems as the second largest party would do a better job of scrutiny and not just opposition for the sake of it. Especially in health and social care.

The quality of the likely remaining Tory MPs will be even lower than the average now, and well below that of say David Cameron's time.

Absolutely not a given that the Tories will be the opposition. Thankfully. What ground would they have to challenge anything Labour do after the last few years?

I'd like to see LD in opposition. I think then we would have a chance of moving back to a less corrupt, more facts based style of government and debate.

I agree. It would be so good to see a return to grown up, respectful politics.

Yes.

I often think of this old debate. Two men who fundamentally disagreed but were erudite, polite and skilled debaters. Those halcyon days!

I'm hoping for a Lib Dem Opposition I won't lie.

A few of the MRPs seem to indicate it's possible. There are a LOT of Lib Dem/Tory battleground seats where if they win them the Lib Dems not only gain a seat themselves but also reduce the Tories possible total.

Agreed on the second part, but I have hopes of a Lib Dem opposition.

How can the Tories, a party who presided over such a decline living standards and standards in public life seriously hold anyone else to account?

All Keir Starner's got to say is "You had 14 years to fix this, instead you made it worse. So sit down."

On the cost of living, on strikes, on interest rates, on tax, on the NHS, on HS2, on crime, on prisons, on education, on the environment, on energy bills...

The Tories haven't got a leg to stand on, have they?

So I think the opposition needs to be the Lib Dems.

What's the chances do you reckon?

I think similarly. It would be nice to have a Parliament with more cross party working together and less culture war division sloganeering.

Same. Fingers crossed. There are SO many seats on a Lib Dem/Tory knife edge.

Fact based? You are kidding right? Both Labour and Lib dems believe human beings can change sex.
They'll just be egging each other on with their nonsense.

We can but hope @Blossomtoes.

It's my biggest wish for this election.

What worries me is those shy Tories who don't admit to anyone that they pay a lot of money to lick the toilet of a dominatrix clean they plan to vote for the people who profiteered during a pandemic, put shit in our rivers, put our mortgages up, put out a budget that would've collapsed our pensions if the BoE hadn't stepped in with a £65billion bailout and routinely lie to them in slogans as if they are easily manipulated imbeciles.

People in abusive relationships find it hard to end them, don't they?

I'm not sure that's a fact-based account of either partiy's view @MistyGreenAndBlue but most importantly it's not an issue that influences how most of us vote.

I personally couldn't vote for the party that has increased taxation and reduced living standards because they've got a good slogan.

I judge on things like actions and results.

Outside of MN this really isn't a big issue. They're hardly going to be discussing it all day every day.

Have you seen the polls of what the great British public actually want to be discussed?

Oops didn't see that @verdantverdure had already posted an actual poll!

Not a chance.

Libdems should be in the best position to be official opposition and I hope they get enough MPs to give them that power. They don't have the same "baggage" as the Tories. If the Tories are the opposition, Parliament will just continue to be the mud slinging fiasco where Labour will just argue back against any opposition comments by saying how much worse things were when Tories were in power! Even worse if some of the existing Cabinet remain as Shadow ministers as their actions will constantly be reminded by Labour.

We need a fresh start. If it's Lib Dem shadow ministers arguing against Labour ministers, then Labour will have much less ammunition to throw back, so there is a hope that Parliament may become more professional and less adversarial.

The last thing we need is continual shouting matches across Parliament between Rachel Reeves and Hunt, arguing over what Hunt did/didn't do as chancellor, etc. It would just descent into a farce with no progress.

Most the Labour ministers will be "new blood" given they've not been in power for 14 years - there'll be very few ex Labour ministers from the Blair/Brown period. Likewise, there'll be very few Libdem MPs who've been in Parliament more than a term or two because there are so few of them at the moment. We have an almost unique opportunity to "drain the swamp" of historical legacy of past ministers/shadow ministers, and it would be a shame if we can't take that opportunity and start afresh.

I think we cross posted.

Even my hobby horse Brexit is higher up the ranks and nobody is talking about that.

Not even the "Sunlit Uplands Cheaper Food and Clothes" party.

Apologies if anyone has already said this, but surely, any tory candidate that gets voted in by their constituency after the last 5 yrs is likely to be very high calibre and a very good constituency MP at the very least.

Not sure about that. Ours looks fairly likely and she's the original chocolate teapot.

I don’t think you and I have ever agreed on anything ever before but I agree with every word of that.

Apologies if anyone has already said this, but surely, any tory candidate that gets voted in by their constituency after the last 5 yrs is likely to be very high calibre and a very good constituency MP at the very least.

@Droolylabradors Some places like the New Forest would vote for a Squirrel if it wore a blue rosette.

I'm fully onboard for a fresh start political reset @Badbadbunny.

I think we need it if we don't want to become like America.

A good opposition really needs to be a 'thorn in the side' of the government. They need to be the ones who say, 'hang on a minute...'

I think Farage/Reform would do that. He's notoriously outspoken and even if you don't agree with their policies, it's likely to bring a bit of balance to the proceedings.