05.05.15
Ready, steady, VOTE
We’re just days away from the election and it appears the Lib Dems are the party most vying for public sector votes, underlining their efforts in red.
The newly centrist party, who today said they’d negotiate first with the party who held the most seats after their election (or anyone else who gives their diminishing number of MPs the prospect of power), has made public sector pay rises one of their ‘red line’ policies.
So when entering coalition talks the Lib Dems will insist that public sector salaries rise at least by CPI inflation for two years, and above inflation after those years.
But after the amount of policies that the Lib Dems sacrificed in the last round of coalition negotiations (tuition fees, anyone?) can they really be trusted to stick to their guns this time? With a very likely fall in their number of MPs it is also unlikely they’ll have the power to back up their demands.
It’s likely not to matter either way. The Conservatives and Lib Dems combined are extremely unlikely to have enough seats between them to form a government, especially with Labour and the SNP determined to keep the Tories out.
What happens then is the truly interesting part. A formal coalition between Labour and the SNP has been apparently ruled out, but don’t be so quick to believe everything Ed spouts. Some kind of deal will be put in place, perhaps on a vote by vote basis, with a pledge to support each other on certain policies. I think Ed would find that easier to swallow than a bacon sandwich.
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