Hung Parliaments
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It was admittedly all the way back on last Sunday that the newspapers broke into a flurry of discussion about hung parliaments, but it is still worth drawing attention to the range of material newly available to hard pressed politics teachers on this subject. It took only one poll - an Ipsos one in the Observer - which suggested that Labour were closing their lead on the Conservatives and that the next election could result in a hung parliament. Suddenly, the commentators were all speculating about the consequences of an event we haven’t really experienced in the UK since the 1970s.
Amongst the reminiscences on offer, Roy Hattersely provided a first hand account of life as a minister in a minority government, and he reflected pessimistically on the horse-trading that had to go on to consider and pass every bit of legislation. Andrew Rawnsley, also in the Observer, gave one of the more considered commentaries, as might be expected, although some of his conclusions are certainly worthy of wider debate in politics lessons. On the electoral system, for instance, he notes that “Our electoral system is antiquated and distorting, but the voters have an intuitive way of using it to produce a government that broadly reflects the national will.” An interesting notion for a system that so consistently returns majority governments from minority votes!
Earlier this week, Jonathan Isaby on Conservative Home expressed the belief that a hung parliament might actually be the breaking of the Liberal Democratic party. There may be an element of Conservative opitimism in his thinking, but it certainly bears debate. Isaby, incidentally, uses his insights as a former political journalist to good effect on the Conservative Home site, and is usually worth a regular visit.
How long lasting the flurry of debate about a hung parliament will last is open to obvious speculation - probably until the next poll indicates an alternative. Thanks to the poll, however, we have some useful further contributions to the ongoing debate about the nature of our electoral process, constitution and parliamentary system.
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