The inconclusive result in yesterday’s British General Election is the best thing that could have happened in my opinion.  What the electorate has quite clearly said is we don’t want Brown any longer, we don’t trust Cameron, and Clegg is perhaps a bit too much of a risk. 

I’m effectively a floating voter, like the majority of the electorate.  In my view the Labour Government has done a pretty good job over the last 13 years, in terms of reshaping the Britain broken over 18 years by Thatcher and Major, safeguarding the economy and building a fairer Britain.  Their only fatal error was Iraq.

A majority Conservative government now would have taken us back to the days of Thatcher, and would have divided society all over again with a series of massive cuts in public spending and a fresh period of real austerity for the poor and for middle income earners. 

An improbable Liberal Democrat government would have meant policies on Europe, the Euro and immigration that many Britons could not have stomached.

But what the hung parliament means is that the ludicrous nature of our first-past-the-post electoral system has been exposed.  Why does a party with 23% of the popular vote – the LibDems - only get 57 seats out of 650?  Should be more like 150 if the calculator on my laptop is accurate!

Now Clegg has to decide whether he trusts Cameron’s offer of a Public Enquiry into Electoral Reform in return for supporting a Conservative government; whether he would be wise to enter into an agreement with Brown to support an unpopular government in exchange for a referendum on the subject; or to reject both and provoke a probable fresh general election in the autumn.

Interesting times...  Careers could be made and ended.  I watch with interest from my Andalucían vantage point ...

©  Paul Whitelock