The Centre can not hold because we don't now where it is.

The problem with Political Parties describing them as Left or Right of centre is we don't really know where the centre is.

Under Margret Thatcher in the 80's the Tories moved to the right in both its economic policy and the so called "Centre" moved  accordingly

For a while ihe SDP/Liberal Alliance claimed it but they failed in their ambition and it was left to Tony Blair  and New Labour to claim the ground but by Pre Thatcherite terms Blair had crossed the Border and were now a party of the right.

Then the Liberal Democrats tried in some cases tried to give the impression of being Left of Centre and Cameron also at least as leader of the opposition  tried to claim the center ground.

Yesterday I commented on  Tony Bair claiming Ed Miliband risked taking Labour back to the dark days of the 1980s and early 1990s, when the party suffered a series of heavy defeats to the Conservatives.

Now as the Mule reports Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has claimed it is the Conservatives who have abandoned the centre ground of British politics as he dismissed concerns that Labour has lurched to the left.

The former Labour leadership candidate stressed that he was committed to eradicating the deficit but he accused Chancellor George Osborne of an “increasingly extreme and ideological approach” to the economy.

Mr Balls said: 

“Let me be clear, including to those who would wish it were not so: Labour will need to cut public spending in the next parliament to balance the books. But Ed Miliband and I do not believe a 35% state can be sustained without causing huge damage to our NHS, policing, defence, local services and economic infrastructure.”

So hardly an anti austerity  statement 

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Ed Balls is confirming that Labour will borrow more and raise taxes in the next Parliament. That would put our economy at risk and undermine all the progress we have made since Labour’s great recession.

“Ed Miliband has no economic plan to secure Britain’s future. That’s why he is simply not up to the job.”

Former Tory Welsh Secretary David Jones said: 

“The big question for Labour is whether it prefers to believe three-time election winner Tony Blair or, er, Ed Balls.”

Which rather suggest the Tories regard Blair as one of them.

 A Liberal Democrat spokesman said Mr Balls’ claim that Labour occupied the centre ground was “delusional and reflects an increasingly listless and desperate party”.

“Liberal Democrats are the only true party of the centre, focused on building a stronger economy and a fairer society,” the spokesman said.
“In power, Labour wasted their chance and trashed the economy and, if given the keys to Number 10 again, would borrow too much and risk the recovery, sacrificing opportunity for everyone.”

Again you begin to wonder where the Centre ground is if the Liberals Democrats the bag carriers of the Tories ideological attack on the welfare state and who  backed nearly al the austerity cuts claim to be the only party of the centre.

It seems only Plaid were able to claim the Left ground

Plaid Cymru Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards said the Conservatives and Labour now had so much in common the parties were natural coalition bedfellows.

He said:

 “With just over four months to go until the general election, Labour must come clean with Welsh voters about their plans to make huge cuts should they form the next UK Government. Labour might talk the talk about offering an alternative to the Tories but the reality is that both parties’ spending plans are just two sides of the same coin.
“Ed Miliband and his party will in fact spend far less on public services as a proportion of UK wealth than Thatcher if they’re in power after May

He offered the frighting prospect of a Con-Lab coalition in the next Parliament which is not to far fetched 

. The most natural coalition in Westminster based on the respective spending plans of the parties is a Tory-Labour partnership.
“To see Labour morph into the Tories is hardly surprising as it was Ed Miliband and Ed Balls who served as advisers to New Labour Chancellor Gordon Brown. The Brown plan was based on a free-for-all for the banking elite, and a deliberate policy of de-industrialisation which led to the loss of well over a million manufacturing jobs.
“It is clear that austerity has failed on its own terms yet both Labour and the Tories are wedded to it. What we need is a radical change of direction in favour of investing in infrastructure in order to create jobs and economic growth.

Whatever happens in the next parliament it will be the Tories and Labour who are the largest party and  whichever forms the government  will see the others opposing  the policies of the government ,not out of conviction because they believe that is what the opposition do .

And unless s there's not a significant Plaid,SNP ,Green  and Mebyon Kernow (why hasn't Dick Cole been invited)  the voice of the Victims of Austerity will not be heard.