At least we're not Britain.
Basically the exact same bill was whacked down last time it was tried in 2006, and the government wasn't in a coalition and there was more public panic about terrorism. I don't see how it can pass considering what good political points the other parties would get for standing against it. Not to mention it's a huge vote loser in an (admittedly not too important) election year...
It's probably going to be more interesting than that.
From what I've seen (and internal Tory politics is about as interesting as internal Republican politics; only when they are eating their own young) Dave and George are getting isolated at the top. George Osborn has been acting as both the Chancellor and head of Conservative political strategy. By all accounts he has sucked at it. His budget was simply stupid from a political point of view. Freezing pensioners tax allowance (instantly known as the
Granny Tax) while cutting the top tax rate? Political suicide, even if the rest of the budget made more sense than it did. Then there is the NHS fiasco (they genuinely said - fortunately only once - that they wanted to use the US as a model...) which frankly should claim Lansley's head for being both the worst NHS reform bill I've seen (and that's saying something) and handled in the least politically competent manner possible. They don't have many tame Lib Dems left in the cabinet after David Laws got expelled. Other than Nick it's essentially just Vince Cable, and he isn't likely to offer much cover for much of anything. Maybe Danny Alexander can be used, but he isn't the most useful of fall guys either.
And now they are picking on the one issue both parties have shown opposition to when Labour tried to do it. You already have David Davis on the Tory side speaking out against it, and this is a man well seated to move back towards a leadership role as soon as one opens up. Which should be soon. I haven't heard a single Lib Dem speak in support of the idea, although most seem to be in wait and see mode. Right now the only group who seem to be in support of the idea are old Labour ministers.
And now they want to put this grossly unpopular idea that both sides of the coalition are on record as opposing into the Queens Speech. A speech that is followed by a major, extended debate (usually one of the few that news channels actually bother keeping an eye on) and then a guaranteed vote of confidence in the government.
I don't see how on earth this idea was even voiced. I simply can't believe that a bill with any sort of teeth will get put into the Speech (probably just a vague proposal). I also can't believe that anything not massively watered down would be passed. At best they could push something through resting on Labour support, but then Labour could easily defeat it just to hurt the government. And that's a black mark against Theresa May, one of Dave's loyalists.
So yeah, horrible idea. But could be entertaining to watch it make Dave squirm.
As for elections, yeah, not a big deal. Only councils and Mayoral left. I doubt the council elections would be decided over this sort of issue (people may vote to punish parties, but there are much more provincial reasons that they could give for punishing the coalition here). In the Mayoral... well, that's a hot mess anyway. Ken trying to play George Galloway's cards without being blatant about it (seriously, George basically said
real Muslims vote for me while Ken is just making references to rich Jews and previously backed a candidate who had been expelled from his own party for combined election fraud and financial links to an extremist Islamist group) while Boris is, well, Boris.
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Topic: Calm and Cool Progressive Discussion Thread (Read 1286686 times)