Comment: We’re uniting in the national interest
No party won the general election on May 6th. We cannot keep putting off serious decisions and holding endless elections. So the politicians need to respect each other, behave responsibly, and act in the national interest.
By Jeremy Browne
There are momentous challenges confronting our country. Britain has a budget deficit this year of over £150 billion. Our soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan.
We need a stable government that can make decisive decisions and which commands broad support.
During the general election, Nick Clegg said that the party with the most votes and the most seats would have the right to seek to govern first. That was the Conservative party.
There is only one coalition which gives Britain the prospect of a government that can implement a serious programme over a full parliament. That is a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
A Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition would still have a minority of MPs. It would also have no real leader initially, and when Labour did resolve their leadership, the winner would be another unelected prime minister.
Labour MPs have psychologically checked out of government. They have lost the will to make meaningful decisions. Their preoccupation is their own leadership election and a yearning for release from the burdens of office.
It is not easy to form a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. I have just fought a tough election campaign against the Conservatives. I am well aware of their limitations, and no doubt they are well aware of mine.
But the alternative is chaos, with our country left without leadership or direction.
And there are real positive opportunities as well. I am looking forward to implementing progressive tax reforms which leave people on typical Somerset wages with more money in their pockets. We will see real progress on the environment and the protection of historic British liberties. I am looking forward to policies which will mean that children from disadvantaged backgrounds will get a better education. I am delighted that pensioners will again see their incomes uprated in line with earnings.
Nick Clegg has grown in stature and authority. Britain has nothing to fear and a lot to gain from people like Nick Clegg and Vince Cable making decisions in government in the national interest.
In Britain we are not used to politicians listening to each other rather than shouting at each other. We are used to narrow party interests trumping over wider considerations. It will take time to adjust to the new arrangements. And there will be pressure points when it does not go well, just as there are in every government.
But there is no point being in politics just to sit on the side lines and complain. There are real decisions to be made. Many of them will be difficult and unpopular, at least initially. We were elected to roll up our sleeves and serve our country. That is what is being done.
Jeremy Browne is the Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton Deane. He was a Treasury spokesman until the general election and held his seat against a strong Conservative challenge by increasing his share of the vote.
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