According to the Scotsman, Labour MPs in London are seeking to ‘audit’ devolution and to assess whether or not it has been a success. Potentially incendiary stuff, and perhaps not too surprising that the story has ‘broken’ after Holyrood has gone into recess.
Today Deputy PM Nick Clegg announced that a referendum on voting reform is to be held on the 5th May, 2011. As I’m sure you’ll all know the 5th May is the day of the Scottish elections. And the Welsh Assembly’s and the Northern Irish Assembly’s too. Either the Deputy PM missed the ‘Respect Agenda’ memo or we all didn’t read the small print and the Respect period is now over; who had two months in the sweepstake?
The SNP have today refuted opponent’s claims that they have left it too late to hold a referendum on independence prior to next years Holyrood elections in May. This follows on from an admission by the First Minister that independence is not the “centre of Scottish politics” at the current time.
Like them or loathe them the UK’s biggest double act of the moment is off to a bit of a flier. Of course I’m talking about CammerClegg and their first two weeks in office although I could equally be talking about Ant and Dec and the return of Britain’s Got Talent.
I wonder about Scots and their obsession with Thatcher. It is surely now bordering on the dangerously obsessive? People would have been casting their votes for Labour and against the Tories (Thatcher) who were not even alive when she was in office.
So, Mr Cameron’s ‘big, open and comprehensive’ offer to the Liberal Democrats worked. We have the first coalition government in nearly 70 years leading the UK and it only took 6 days to form. This is significantly less than the European average of 39 days – their leaders must not care about national interest as ours.
With all the talk of hung parliaments and coalition governments it appears that the Scottish example has finally permeated the Westminster village. The latest campaign twist is that DC would shun constitutional convention (that the existing PM gets first shot at forming a coalition government) and plough ahead with a minority government. I have visions of Malcolm Tucker sidling up to Julius Nicholson for a quiet word.
There’s an advert that The Independent newspaper is running saying “Rupert Murdoch won’t decide this election. You will.”
As a football fan, the accusation that a manager is ‘tactically naïve’ is an oft used, if often misunderstood accusation from disgruntled fans. It usually indicates that things are not going well, and that from the outside at least, those who find themselves in a position to do something about it are unable, unwilling or both. That senior Labour politicians are now actively encouraging voters in certain areas to tactically vote possibly says a lot about how the campaign has gone for Labour.
Voting Intention 6th April 2010: Labour 31%, Conservative 41%, Lib Dem 18%
Today, Gordon Brown announced that the 2010 General Election would be held on May 6th, the campaign has begun. This election as all elections in the UK are is a two horse race between Labour and the Conservatives, Left and Right, Red and Blue. Of course, there is a sprinkling of Yellow throughout as the Lib Dems go through the motions of a campaign speaking in town halls, school classrooms and local hospitals with an accompanying audience invariably asking ‘who’s that?’. For your information, the leader of the Liberal Democrats is Nick Clegg.