Law firm comment on Hung Parliaments

[Lincsbodger]

A hung parliament could lead to 'bad laws' enforced by the 'extreme agenda of minority fringe' parties, according to Miriam Clegg's law firm.

DLA Piper, where the Lib Dem leader’s wife is a senior partner, has become the latest big company to point out the dangers of a coalition government.

Paul Stone, an expert in public law at the firm, warned that the 'silent majority' would 'bend to the will of the hardline minority' holding the government to ransom with their demands.

He said the 'hallmark feature' of a coalition is the huge length of time it takes to reach consensus - leading to legislation that is 'watered down to the point of being anodyne.'

 

[imamartian]

A hung parliament could lead to 'bad laws' enforced by the 'extreme agenda of minority fringe' parties, according to Miriam Clegg's law firm.

DLA Piper, where the Lib Dem leader’s wife is a senior partner, has become the latest big company to point out the dangers of a coalition government.

Paul Stone, an expert in public law at the firm, warned that the 'silent majority' would 'bend to the will of the hardline minority' holding the government to ransom with their demands.

He said the 'hallmark feature' of a coalition is the huge length of time it takes to reach consensus - leading to legislation that is 'watered down to the point of being anodyne.'

but if the governement governed on the basis of what the people wanted.. (i.e. via regular referenda) then things would be cool... no ego's or bulging wallets to sate.... oh and no courtroom rumbles, and no pages and pages of News Of The World nonsense!

 

[joinerjohn]

"DLA Piper, where the Lib Dem leader’s wife is a senior partner,""


Anyone noticed how Gordon's wife is Mrs Brown. Cameron's wife is Mrs Cameron, yet,,,, Clegg's wife chooses to use her own name?

Maybe she's ashamed of her husband

 

[hotrod]

Maybe she's ashamed of her husband

You can't really blame her can you? I mean, he is a bit of a sap isn't he.

 

[Inky Pete]

How can you have both

'bad laws' enforced by the 'extreme agenda of minority fringe' parties

and

legislation that is 'watered down to the point of being anodyne.'

???????

 

[D_Hailsham]

Anyone noticed how Gordon's wife is Mrs Brown. Cameron's wife is Mrs Cameron, yet,,,, Clegg's wife chooses to use her own name?

She also has never taken British citizenship, she has retained her Spanish citizenship.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats is married to a (sshh, whisper)foreigner.

Shock ! Horror!

 

[oompah]

Perhaps she intends working for amnesty international

 

[joinerjohn]

Anyone noticed how Gordon's wife is Mrs Brown. Cameron's wife is Mrs Cameron, yet,,,, Clegg's wife chooses to use her own name?

She also has never taken British citizenship, she has retained her Spanish citizenship.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats is married to a (sshh, whisper)foreigner.

Shock ! Horror!

Ahh, This explains the Limp Dem view on immigration then. !!!!

 

[Space cat]

if the governement governed on the basis of what the people wanted

Now there's a novel idea. As I understand it, the largest party forms the government. Fair enough I suppose but why does that government expect an automatic right to have Parliament pass whatever they want by bullying their members into voting for it.

Wouldn't it be better if 'the government' had to take heed of how the MPs we all elected might vote if given a free choice? Now that really would be doing things differently.

 

[joinerjohn]

I have always believed that MP's should have a free vote on all issues in the House of Commons. The party whip idea is outdated at best, scandalous at worst.
Trouble is, whoever has the majority seem to think that they know best and bully their own MP's to toe the party line.
Perhaps some future government will consider this. At least any MP with a free vote could possibly consult his/ her constituency what they think about certain issues

 

[D_Hailsham]

I have always believed that MP's should have a free vote on all issues in the House of Commons. The party whip idea is outdated at best, scandalous at worst.

The logical conclusion to that is to abolish all political parties, so every member of parliament is an independent. The problems then are: how is a government formed and who becomes prime minister? How long would it take to resolve just those two problems?

In the last parliament there were nine Independents, one independent Conservative and one independent Labour.

 

[Space cat]

The problem of forming a government out of a Parliament full of independents isn't so difficult. Individual MPs put themselves up as candidates for Prime Minister and the rest all vote. If you think about it, that's pretty much what happens now. We just take it for granted that party members will vote for someone within their own party and so the leader of the largest party gets to be PM. The rest of the cabinet could be chosen by the PM, as now, or elected in the same way.

 

[Rico99]

What I don't quite understand is, why don't we move more along the USA way of doing things.

The Commons & the Lords are elected in separate elections, each Party the selects its own candidate for PM.

The country then votes just on those people, everyone gets the same ballot paper, the one with the most votes wins.

The winner then slects his/her own "management team" from whichever party they choose.

If it means they have to work against a majority tough titties, get on with it.

Rico

 

[Space cat]

The country then votes just on those people

That's almost how it works now. How many people, when they vote for their local MP, are really voting for the party leader? Quite a lot I think. Sad really.

 

[AndrewSchofield]

The country then votes just on those people

That's almost how it works now. How many people, when they vote for their local MP, are really voting for the party leader? Quite a lot I think. Sad really.

But isn't this part of the problem? The candidate in my constituency which has (IMO) the best ideas and policies for my area may not be a member of the party who (IMO) has the best policies on a national level - so do I vote for the candidate who represents the party that I want to govern the country, or do I vote for the candidate who is going to improve and look after the area I live in, the best?