Heading for political marriage of strange bedfellows?

Published: 18 February 2010
Editor's Comment

WHICH of the mainstream parties wouldn’t want Vince Cable as a member of its cabinet if the possibility of a hung parliament overshadows politics at the next election.

As an economist he fights shy of simplistic soundbites. He sounds as if he has thought through a problem to an inviting solution.

But could there be a coalition between Labour and Lib Dems?

It seems hardly likely Vince Cable would be prepared to join the Tories.  

Unless the Tories do a U-turn – and in these volatile times this cannot be ruled out – they appear to be wanting to slog their way through the economic crisis by severe retrenchment.

Vince Cable appears to be a steadfast believer in some sort of a Keynesian solution to today’s intractable economic crisis – that is a fiscal policy involving a much greater degree of public expenditure than the Tories would be enamoured of.

He may not be bitten by the Keynesian bug as much as some of the outer circle of the Labour leadership is, but he is somewhere there.

Here in Camden, a Lib-Dem-Tory coalition has been running the borough with some success for four years. 

But in its determination to keep a sound balance sheet come what may, the human side of politics has been, inevitably, by-passed too often.

Council tax rises have been held back. But to keep a tight financial ship, social care for the elderly has been trimmed and properties sold off despite the fact the borough faces the worst housing shortage for 50 years.

However, the Jekyll and Hyde relationship at the Town Hall will be difficult to maintain in the weeks leading up to the May elections.

If a low council tax attracts the middle or floating voter – who will claim credit for it?

It should be both parties. But judging by their leaflets, the Lib Dems claim the prize.

All of this arises out of the alchemy of a forced marriage both parties entered into.

In his visit to Kilburn, Nick Clegg appears to believe that it’s not a question of party colours but whether policies work for the benefit of people.

But ill-thought-through policies won’t work unless party doctrine can make them work.

If that wasn’t the case, Vince Cable wouldn’t stick to his belief in the power of a fiscal policy for today’s economy, a belief quite different to that held by David Cameron and George Osborne.