BBC NEWS | Politics | Kennedy looks to election gains
One of my favourite Politics A level questions was "The SDP / Liberal alliance (as it then was before merger into the Liberal democrats) have broken the mould of British Politics." Discuss.
The standard answer (at least in the late 80s) was a slightly depressing they tried hard but "No". Even recent elections despite showing the willingness of the average British voter to move away from two party politics, the frmework though warped does still seem to exist however can it continue? Perhaps Charles Kennedy's speech will see the Liberal Democrats provide a truely effective third force that could win power, although I suspect that this will not be possible at this next general election.
What is certainly the case is that multi-party politics will be a reality. I certainly believe that more choice is better as long as there is not too much choice given the way the political system works in the UK. Push to far away from single party government or two party political system and things will break.
Despite my former professor (now Lord) Norton's desire to see change by evolution, I think revolution (though not in a chaotic way) may be necessary.
Posted by Paul Goodison at January 17, 2005 03:14 PM | TrackBack