Adonis calls for Lib Lab pact…again
By Matthew West
Andrew Adonis, the transport secretary, has once again called for Lib-Lab pact in an article for a national newspaper.
The transport secretary said the launch of the Lib Dem manifesto shows there is no way in which the Lib Dems could ever form a coalition government with the Conservatives.
In an article for the Guardian newspaper Lord Adonis called on Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to “practice the political honesty which he preaches and accept that he is in fact a social democrat who shares far more in common with Labour than the Tories”.
The article will be seen by Mr Clegg’s aides as a deliberate attempt by Labour to derail the relatively good media coverage the Lib Dems received off the back of the launch of their manifesto yesterday.
Labour and the Conservatives in recent weeks have had to take more seriously the threat poised by the Lib Dems in this election campaign. Recent opinion polls have shown the gap between the Conservatives and Labour narrowing to the point where a hung parliament is increasingly becoming the most likely outcome after polling day.
A straw poll of politics.co.uk users showed 48% believed a hung parliament the most likely outcome of the election.
On Wednesday the Lib Dems launched a manifesto with fairness as its central theme but both the Conservatives and Labour were quick to try to point to parallels between themselves and the Lib Dems.
Conservative leader David Cameron said on Wednesday that those wanting “a fairer, greener and more liberal Britain” should vote Conservatives as they were the only party able to form a government that would get things done.
And Gordon Brown said: “The Liberals have agreed with us against the Tories, who want to take away this money now. It’s very, very important to keep the economy moving forward this year.”
In the Guardian article Lord Adonis said: “For anyone with eyes to read and a moment to think, the Lib Dem theme of ‘hard-wiring fairness into British society’ comes from the same political stable as Labour’s pledge to a ‘future fair for all’. Both are social democratic programmes on a different philosophical page to David Cameron’s bid to force individuals to take responsibility for providing their own public services.”
His comments echo a call in the Independent in which he called for Lib Dem voters to vote tactically and cast their vote for Labour in constituencies in which the Lib Dems were unlikely to win in order to keep the Conservatives out.
And in an interview with politics.co.uk last week the prime minister indicated that non-Tory voters should vote Lib Dem in constituencies in which it was a straight fight between the Lib Dems and Conservatives saying: “If people don’t want a Conservative government then they must make sure they don’t allow the Conservatives in”.
