Liberal Democrat voters thread

[Madsometimes]

Who do you think that Clegg should go in with?

It is obvious that Labour and Tory voters each have their own ideas, but if you voted Lib Dem on May 6th, what do you think?

I have said elsewhere on MN that I think they should go with a LibCon coalition.

This is because I believe that the Tories have the strongest mandate from the electorate, and because I believe that the the party should not be putting their own interests first. I am also unconvinced by how stable the rainbow alliance will be.

I am not sure how many actual Lib Dem voters we have on MN, I know that we have lots of Labour voters. I also know that we Liberals are a diverse bunch, so I know that there will not be one single answer.

Paddy Ashdown was on the news today saying it won't need to be a rainbow alliance - a Lib-Lab coalition would work on its own, as for it to be defeated would require the Nationalists all to vote with the Tories, something they would never do.

It would still be pretty tight. Assuming Nationalist abstensions, the balance would be 315 on the combined Lib-Lab side and 307 on the Con side. All it takes is someone to be off sick, seeing Miss Whiplash that day or abroad on Foreign Office business, and the vote is buggered!

Tory coalition if they'll hold a referendum on STV.

Confidence and supply for Tory minority government if they won't.

I think Lib/Con.

I don't actually care who has more in common with whom. If Clegg is going to convince me that coalition politics can work, it means putting together the parties that get the biggest number. That would logically start Con/Lab, but since that is never going to happen Con/Lib. I think that all this scooping up tiny parties will result in the pork barrell politics that shames the US and that it lacks a mandate (I don't care if Lib/Lab got more votes than conservatives, Tory/Lib got more votes that Lib/Lab).

Since my instincts are more Labour than Tory, it is also relevant that I think this coalition could well make the Labour party look so bad that they collapse before electoral reform and there's a Tory landslide.

I also agree with a Lib Con coalition.
This might be because I am a frustrated Tory voter (I'd actually have liked to vote Tory this time but there is little point where I live and our LD MP is very good).

I think Labour's ideas on the economy are disatrous. I also think that a LibLab coalition would be more about Labour wanting to cling to power than any democratic principles. It is times like this when I think (again) that politicians are exactly the people you don't want working within our democratic system. Their ideas of fairness do not appear to be mine, even though they use the word "fair" an awful lot.

I voted lib dem this time (and have always voted lib dem) and they had better sort out a lib/con coalition in the national interest today or I will be furious and they will look like a bunch of self serving idiots who will lose all their seats at the next election.

If the lib/con coalition goes ahead with a guarantee of a decent length parliament there is a good chance it could work and be a successful government. Even the labour party (blunkett etc) are saying a lib/lab coalition would be a disaster.

The fact that mandleson and campbell engineered Brown's departure says it all. Do we really want those two running the country for a few more years. If the lib dems are stupid enough to fall in with new labour they will prove themselves not to be so bright after all.

Although my bias is much more towards Labour than Conservative, I would prefer a Lib-Con coalition. Much as I would love to see proper PR, I think it is more important that there is a reasonable coalition so that it lasts, and to demonstrate that a hung parliament can be a good thing. A hung parliament situation is on trial here, and if it isn't seen to work, we have no chance with a referendum.

Plus I think it is important to get past the idea that the Lib Dems can only work with Labour. If we want proper 3 party politics in the future, the Lib Dems have to be able to work with either side, otherwise there is no point in them being a separate party.

A Conservative government held in check by Lib Dems is frankly much better than what I had feared, which was a Conservative majority. I can live with that.

Hope Nick Clegg is reading this!

My heart says Lib/Lab, with a strong preference for leaership from Alan Johnson. My head says Lib/Con. I think that there is an issue with the extent to which Lib/Lab has a mandate from voters. Also, if Callmedave has offered a referendum on AV (which I think I favour over STV)then this will hopefully be the last time we are in this situation. Presumedly by the next election, the tories will be even less popular because of their 'swinging'cuts,labour will have more coherent leadership and the LibDems will have a higher profile and greter political legitimacy- thus perhaps opening the door to a more equal and legitimate left alliance.

To be honest, I think that Dave would do or say anything to get an alliance at the moment, because although it may not be best for the party, if he doesn't pull it off, it's curtains for him.

It's a vote for LD confidence and supply agreement with the Tories, with the condition of tax reform and a referendumon alternitive vote (or STV) from me.

I don't know; I don't really unerstand politics.

It's interesting though.

I wonder how much the libs would moderate a tory govt though. The tories freak me out.

I don't know; I don't really unerstand politics.

It's interesting though.

I wonder how much the libs would moderate a tory govt though. The tories freak me out.

sorry it went funny on me.

condemnation- if you don't understand politics, how can you have such strong views on the tories?

I have what you might term suspicions

The ins and outs of it are right over my head, but when it comes down to it I think the tories like people who are already well off and tend to make poor people suffer more than is necessary

that's what I do understand, of it all.

I am a member of a 100% working class family, and have always voted tory. I don't agree with you. It would be good if you could provide some evidence for your opinions. Labour have been brilliant at brainwashing voters to hate the tories.

I haven't been brainwashed by labour, I have felt this way since I was about 7 when my father explained left and right wing politics to me;

I'm not sure if I am right, therefore there isn't much to disagree with.

Maybe someone else will come along and have a nice argument with you.

Another heart Lib/Lab, head Lib/Con because the numbers really don't add up for the Lib/Lab/everyone else coalition.
But I do wonder - the Conservatives destroyed much of British industry (or sold it off abroad) last time, what have they up their sleeves this time?

I've always voted LibDem - I think a LibDem/Con coalition would be best, although my heart says 'NOOOOO!' to the tories, it also screams 'NOOOOO!' to Labour, and Tories do have the majority. I just hope the proposed referendum on electoral reform goes ahead, and that George Osbourne is in some way demoted. Not going to happen, but he irritates me enormously - reminds me of pompous overprivileged debating types at uni

I didn't vote Lib Dem because I don't live in a constituency that they have a chance in, but I would be a natural Lib Dem supporter and I would prefer a pact with the Tories.

To get proportional representation they need to show that coalition governments work and a Lib Con government offers their best chance.

With regards to helping the poor, the Lib Dem 10K personal tax allowance which would take the poorest out of the taxation system altogether would probably sit very well with most Tories. I don't think that is something that the current Labour government would do given that they got rid of the 10% tax band and have made income tax far more complicated than it ever has been.

Yes, Prole, saw that referenced last night - I did think 'oh shit', but if it's true, it probably depends on which department. Would be scary (and a coalition dealbreaker) to have an anti-European in the foreign office for example. There are a few departments where I wouldn't mind so much - as long as they stayed a minority in the cabinet. I would hope that the Lib Dem negotiations would seek 'clarification' on that one!

Proles - that's the kind of story that always makes me think it's spin from the other side! With all the negotiating he's doing, I'm not sure Cleggy is daft enough to have that put past him.

I am perhpas not representative. I'm a Lib Demmer by default really. I didn't want to vote Tory and I dislike my local Labour MP with a passion, so it was them or the Greens.

TBH, I am unimpressed with the lot of them. I want to like Labour, but I think that they are a shambles at the moment. I would like a party with their basic sensibilites, but less flinging of token money (CTF, HIP grant), more genuine tax reform and a proper resolution to the West Lothian question. Oh, and I've never been able to accept someone as PM who spent 10 years plotting to overthrow his own party leader.

I guess the way I see it, the Conservatives are close enough to a majority on their own that they wouldn't be prepared to make very many concessions to the Lib Dems, and any that they do make I can see them whipping away when it suits them.

As much as I can see that a Lib/Con coalition holds more "legitimacy" in a sense than a rainbow coalition, I just feel that siding with the Conservatives will do nothing other than alienate a generation of Lib Dem supporters for nothing. Any referrendum on electoral reform will come at the price of a huge negative campaign from both the Tory-led media and official Conservative policy announcements, which will set the potential for PR back for goodness knows how long. And while that might have been an acceptable loss if the country got sorted, the fact is, Liberal and Conservative plans for the economy differ so wildly that I can't see the coalition playing nicely. About the only thing the two parties agree on is that education needs looking at, and even there the plans are different, with Conservatives wanting to hearken back to 'core' subjects.

The coalition would fall apart and look bad for the Lib Dems and coalition governments in general, and the Conservatives would push through their most dearly-held plans anyway. I can see that being the 'big society' malarkey, which would leave the poorest in the lurch while the rich get along fine.

For me, a Lib/Lab/rainbow coalition holds no less legitimacy, and would lead to a far better future for Britain. The Lib Dems would have a greater amount of power, and so could cut the Labour red tape that has built up over the years, and it would be in everyone's - even Labour's - interests to show that the coaltion could and would work, which would be a far better argument for PR and a successful referrendum.