Clegg says Cameron won it

Don't like to say I told you so, but Nick Clegg says The party with most votes and seats has a right to govern.  That is The Conservative Party. He is right in so much that a coalition with Labour, as Brown is seeking, would be unacceptable to the majority of people in England and the press there.  But if Cameron has a right to govern England for that reason, it follows that he has no right to rule in Scotland, something that has never crossed Clegg's mind. As I said in my last post, Scotland is completely without a voice within the UK Union now.

I notice Clegg mentioned electoral reform today, having translated it into "clean up politics" during the campaign - it always came fourth on the list of pledges. That must have led some people to question his integrity in the last few days of the campaign and resulted in his party's poor performance. 

Might he consider a formal coalition with Cameron? It's possible, and senior Lib Dems were certainly preparing us for that last night. Alastair Carmichael was quite shameless in an interview: running down Labour, saying how they lacked any progressive policies (how come you governed with them in Scotland for so long then?) He then seemed to suggest that Cameron was something different, a man they could work with.  Later, in the early hours, I shared  a radio studio with a Scottish Lib Dem who also tried to defend moving into government with the Conservatives, when they had found it impossible to support the SNP in Holyrood. "So you find the idea of coalition with the SNP repulsive but would enter talks with the Conservatives?" asked Derek Bateman. He assented, blaming the referendum. That referendum now offers three choices, including more devolution which the Lib Dems are suposed to support. So it's really democracy they find repulsive.  As I said before,totally without honour.

Comments

[Mogreb-El-Acksa]

Neil

They weren't my friends, they were hundreds of people going to vote at a polling station. I tried to convince them otherwise.

In my post I said I didn't understand why Scotland had voted Labour to keep the Tories out whilst the North of England and Wales didn't. Perhaps the answer lies in the difference between the Scottish press and the press in the rest of the UK. Have a look at the Daily Record on 6th May, a two page spread titled "Only A Labour Vote Will Ensure We Don't Get The Tories" penned by Gordon Brown.

[Neil]

The Tories made it clear that they would regard any vote for a unionist party as a mandate to govern in Scotland. If your friends were so desperate to keep the Tories out they should have voted SNP.

[Mogreb-El-Acksa]

Many people told me they voted Labour to keep the Tories out. Some strongly wanted to vote SNP, but stole themselves to vote Labour. Scotland wasn't attracted to Labour or their policies. This was a desperate attempt to keep the Tories out. I don't understand why this wasn't the case in Wales and the North of England.

[Jo]

The LibDems will struggle with the Tories on at least 3 major things: immigration, Europe and electoral reform. That's just for starters.

A coalition with Labour would bring the SNP, the Welsh Nationalists and the others into play. I think its looking interesting.

The big loser yesterday really, was Cameron.

[GrassyKnollington]

Conan joked on his blog "imagine what a disaster it would have been if the MSM had been against us?"

One of the most striking things about last night was how bitter Labour were towards the SNP even in victory. Curran, Murphy and Alexander couldn't wait to get tore in to the SNP despite the fact that they were supposed to be "irrelevant".

BBC Scotland reporters weren't much better and I have to say that the prize for gloating has to go to Sally Magnusson. At lunchtime this neutral BBC newsreader quoted an observation Alex Salmond had made to Jeremy Paxman about the SNP and Plaid, and struggled to say,

Alex Salmond says "Fate seems to have dealt us a mighty hand" because she was laughing like a drain thus cementing many people's view that BBC Scotland are the broadcasting arm of the Labour Party.

[Doug Daniel]

Last night, Scotland voted for a different government from the rest of the UK.

http://albamatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/last-nights-result-unofficial.html

If Scotland is so obsessed with having a Labour government, then I'm afraid there is only one thing for it: support an independence referendum, and vote accordingly. Otherwise, we'll continue to be governed by whoever England elects, because even with all of Scotland and Wales' seats, Labour would still have fallen well short of the Tories, never mind getting a majority.

[Hamish Scott]

Cue the 'feeble forty one'.

http://scottsrepublic.wordpress.com/