Lib Dem leader leaves door open to coalition with Labour
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey announced on Sunday that he would support a post-election coalition with Labor after last week’s local council results suggested the UK could be headed for a hung parliament. I left the door open.
Davie also said it was “very important for the Liberal Democrats” to change the UK voting system to a more proportional model, hinting at a possible price for a deal with Labor.
Labor leader Sir Kea Sturmer says he is on track to secure a full majority in the House of Commons in the expected 2024 general election, but that remains a tall order, according to last week’s polls. It was confirmed that
Sturmer explicitly ruled out a coalition with the Scottish National Party, but was more cautious about closing the door on a deal with Davie, who shares his goal of ousting Prime Minister Rishi Snack from Downing Street.
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, tried to close the discussion on the BBC’s possible Lib-Lab deal. Sunday with Laura Kuensberg“We’re not in the ballpark of talking about the Union.”
Davey is also reluctant to discuss potential deals, knowing it could play into the Conservative narrative that the country may be headed for a ‘confederation of turmoil’ in a hung parliament. target.
However, he said on the same show that the 2010-15 coalition between the Liberal Democrats and the Tories could not be repeated.The deal cost the party political support.
Asked about a possible deal with Labor, he said: I don’t know what will happen after the next election. We do not take voters for granted. ”
Last week’s British polls saw Labor gain significantly, but the results implied that Sturmer would struggle to win an overall majority in the House of Commons. Labor would need about 120 seats to win her one-seat majority.
Sir John Curtis, an election expert at Strathclyde University, extrapolated from local results an overall UK vote share of 35 points for Labor, 26 for Tory and 20 for Liberal Democrats. The Green Party also voted well.
Curtice said it was the biggest local election for Labor to beat the Conservatives since the party lost power in 2010, but said the tally was “no better than the scores in last year’s local elections”. rice field.
However, Davey’s party’s victory in the Tory ‘blue wall’ in the south of England makes it more likely that the Liberal Democrats will play a key role in the outcome of the next election.
The Conservatives have no natural coalition allies in a hung parliament, so Sunak faces an uphill struggle to stay in power. Widespread tactical voting by anti-conservative voters could exacerbate his problem.
Labor and the Liberal Democrats share many goals in areas such as the environment, improving public services and repairing some of the damage caused by Brexit, but Davey’s demands for electoral reform are key. It may become.
Many Liberal Democrat MPs see changes to the proportional voting system as essential to reshaping politics, giving a big boost to their party’s representation at Westminster.
Streeting said he doesn’t think PR will be part of the next Labor election manifesto, but many party activists support electoral reform (last year’s convention voted in favor of it). ), which could be the price the LDP demands to support Mr. Sturmer.
Culture secretary Lucy Fraser has recognized that the Conservatives need to “do more” after losing about 1,000 seats last week, but Snak is on the economy, the NHS and immigration on small boats. He said he would redouble his efforts to fulfill his promise.
The local election sharpened the focus on the issues facing Sunak as it crafts a manifesto in the upcoming election that could put together the 2019 Tory election coalition, which was put together by former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Northern Tory lawmakers want to build more homes, but some Southern MPs, including former cabinet minister Teresa Villiers, say Sturmer is building improperly on green spaces, arguing that snacks are not. It wants to open up a “new front against labor”.
Another controversy has erupted over taxation, with right-wing Tories calling for drastic tax cuts from the Sunak and Tory MPs defending their seats with a “red wall”, with rulings on their respective fields. hopes for further investment in
But the idea of ditching Sunak is only entertained by the party’s small fringe – described by one Conservative minister as “some hard-line Boris and Liz antics”. added like
