Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg seems to believe only his party should form any coalition or support agreement after this years general Election to thhe extent he has described Plaid Cymru (amongst others) as a threat to the UK’s economic recovery.
According to the Wasting Mule The Liberal Democrat leader described a post-election scenario of “mayhem” in which Labour or the Conservatives go on “bended knee to a rag tag mob” of smaller parties as they seek to form a majority.
At press conference yesterday , Mr Clegg pledged the Lib Dems would “borrow less than Labour and cut less than the Conservatives”.
In other words he LibDems realise both are weak spots in the two main parties proposals
Turning to other l parties, he said:
“Ukip, the SNP, the Greens and Plaid all, in their own way, threaten our recovery. They all pedal their own brand of divisive populism based on grievance, blame and fear.“They won’t act in the national interest. They all want to put their narrow claims above the needs of the country.“Just imagine a Labour minority government propped up by the SNP or a Tory minority propped up by Ukip? Or either party constantly having to go on bended knee to a rag tag mob of nationalists, unionists, Greens and Respect MPs to beg for votes.“It would be mayhem as everyone scrambles around for a bargain like the first day of the January sales.”
A Plaid Cymru spokeswoman said: (Why can't the Mule name her?)
“To be attacked by the most discredited man in UK politics is a badge of honour. Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems have nothing to show for their five years in government and face a meltdown in May. Plaid Cymru always has and always will act in the best interests of Wales. We will be fighting to secure the best deal possible for Wales following the election.There more than a whiff of hypocrisy from Clegg here.
“The forthcoming election provides a once in a lifetime opportunity to ensure that Wales is not at the Westminster margins. The more Plaid MPs elected in May, the stronger Wales’ voice will be in Westminster.
“We will be taking on Westminster’s austerity agenda, making the case for investing in infrastructure to improve our schools, hospitals and railways, and demand full parity of powers and funding with Scotland.
“People are losing faith in the Labour-Tory-Lib Dem gang in Westminster. Plaid Cymru provides the only alternative to Westminster business-as-usual.”
He will be arguing (and hoping) that there is a hung parliament as in 2005 and that he can form a coalition with either party droping many of his manifesto commitments for place at the cabinet table.
Plaid SNP and Greens are unlikely to back the Tories so at least those voters supporting them have some idea what will happen in a hung parliament .
No return for Cameron and his ideological attack on the welfare state.
LibDem voters (the few there are left) will vote for a Party that will jump into bed with the Tories if they are offered a deal even if with fewer MPs the little influence they have now will be reduced
How can anyone back a party that has spent 5 years backing austerity polices that they would have been screaming about from the opposition benches and who if they sold themselves to Labour would cheerfully vote to end some like the Bedroom tax and join in Labour's own austerity programme still claiming to be a moderating influence?
The LibDems manifesto this year will be totally meaningless because they will abandon every policy so that Clegg could sit in for Cameron or Miliband at PMQs
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