UK Coalition Crack Up?
Coalition cracks are really beginning to show! There are serious doubts over whether the coalition government of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland can hold together after the latest spat between the parties.
The Conservatives headed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats joined forces in 2010 after no overall party won the UK general election. In order to form a viable government the two leaders with a team of advisers drew up an official document or contract of policies from both parties that the others MP’s would support.
One such policy was a Liberal Democrat House of Lords reform bill, they wanted to see the second chamber of the British political system become an elected office rather than the current system of unelected lifetime peers. The Lib Dems expected full Conservative party support for the bills first reading in the commons but a band of rebel Tory had other ideas, going against David Cameron’s orders and blocking the bills timeline and passage.
Yesterday after much discussion Nick Clegg admitted defeat over the Lords reform, after the Conservative party confirmed the plans are being abandoned. Clegg said in a severe press conference that the Conservatives had “Broke the coalition contract” Agreement over Lords reform could not attained with the Tory opponents he said and the plans would be shelved rather than face a slow death and waste more political time. Because of the lack of agreement on such a key issue of the contract of coalition he warned that he and the Lib Dem MP’s would now no longer support the Tory party with their bill to change the commons or constituency boundaries in time for the 2015 election. Some see this as a tit for tat attitude to politics, petty and childish, whilst others see it as an indication of deeper cracks under the united front, which could ultimately lead to the downfall of the coalition.
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