Coalition Government – May 2010

Introduction

The 2010 election resulted in a hung parliament with no one party having enough seats to attain a majority. After a period of protracted negotiation Nick Clegg and David Cameron managed to reach a Liberal-Democrat/Conservative Coalition agreement and form a  government with the former as deputy prime minister and the latter prime minister. This is the first such government since World War Two. As a coalition both leaders made it clear that this government would not fulfil the full commitments of either party’s manifesto, instead it would be an amalgam of the two. The Coalition numerically is dominated by the Conservatives, possessing 306 seats to the Liberal Democrats 57 and as a consequence their policies clearly predominate. That said Liberal Democrat views cannot be ignored as without their support the Coalition would collapse, and as a result a disproportionately high number occupy government positions. An extra complexity to the challenges of blending two sometimes conflicting ideological traditions is the overriding need to arrest the government’s financial crisis, and the need for spending cuts has been the dominant message in the first months of the new government’s life. Despite this the government has so far worked with apparent unity.

Key Issues

Government Expenditure: Both parties have an ideological commitment to shrink the size of the state. In any case the huge level fo government debt they inheriated made this a necessity. With the exepction of health and overseas development all government departments are going to be required to make savings of between 10% and 40% over the next five years.

Electoral Reform: A crucial coalition agreement for the Liberal Democrats was that a referendum be allowed on changing the electoral system to AV. Whilst the Conservatives oppose it, a compromise was reached whereby Parliamentary time would be allowed for the proposal and the Conservatives allowed to campaign against it if a referendum was put to the nation.

Referenda: The only likely referenda in the immediate future is the electoral system question. Cameron has pledged that any future Lisbon Treay style changes to the government of the EU will be put to a referenda.

Prime Ministerial powers: At present the Coalition’s only change to prime minsiterail powers has been to more clearly define the repsonsibilites of the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg taking into account his status as leader of a coalition political party. In addition to deputising for the Prime Minsiter Clegg also has powers over constitutional issues such as voting reform and and electoral boundary changes.

Pressure Groups: Labour’s fall from power marks a considerable decline in trade union influence on government, although the coalition has pledged to work with them. Confrontation looks increasingly likely as cuts in public sector expenditure mean that mass redundancies are inevitiable.

Big Society: Cameron’s flagship social project, the Big Society has five objectives:

1. Give communities more powers
2. Encourage people to take an active role in their communities
3. Transfer power from central to local government
4. Support co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises
5. Publish government data.

To this end a community bank has been set up funded by unclaimed deposits in personal bank accounts. Flagship programmes are being set up in a number of areas such as Liverpool and Cumbria, although it is too early to assess their significance. The Hebridean  island of Gigha cooperative is often cited as a successful example of ‘Big Society’ principles.

Immigration: In response to Conservative demands a temporary cap on non-EU immigrants has been introduced with the intention of making this permanent in an effort to reduce immigration.

Education: A classic example of communitarian thinking, the coalition’s Conservative led education programme invisages slowly pahsiing out LEA controlled comprehensive schools directed by government in favour of state funded but autonomous academies and free schools. At the same time greater powers were promised tot ewchers to make decisions regarding discipline and curriculum choices, albeit within a traditional National Curriculum framework.

Ideology: Before coming to power, Cameron made it clear that his beleifes represented a break from ‘New Right’ thinking that dominated the Conservative party of the 1980s and 1990s and marked a returne to the ‘One Nation’ policies of the earlier 20^th century. Taht said he retians the New Right commitment to tax cuts as a means of promoting economic growth.

The state and ‘big government’: Under Brown the public sector continued to expand until public sector accounted for 43% of GDP expenditure compared to 39% in 2001/2. This trend attracted criticism when the massive UK public debt came under public scrutiny in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Brown’s refusal to cut the public sector until 2011 and to fund it by a ‘jobs tax’ raise in National Insurance undoubtedly contributed to his fall from office in 2010.

Legacy

On balance Brown’s brief premiership will probably regarded as a failure, particularly when compared to his predecessor Blair whose legacy such as the war in Afghanistan and ‘presidential government’ proved something of a political ‘poisoned chalice’. Brown handled some issues well such as the Northern Rock crisis early in his premiership. However his inability to delegate effectively and erratic, occasionally panic stricken approach to personal relations crippled his premiership, a situation exacerbated by several failed attempts to remove him by his own party. His fall from power in 2010 was therefore not a surprise, indeed in some quarters of the Labour party it almost came as a relief.