In It Together: A TLIAP

In It Together: A TLIAP

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11.03 PM 6th May 2010

The driver turned to look at the passenger. It was 11am and election results were coming in thick and fast. The passenger was wearing a yellow tie, his shirt was crumpled and his dark blue jacket needed a wash, he’d worn it every day for the past week. He was eagerly typing away at his Blackberry.

“So you’re an MP, eh?” queried the cab driver, he’d gotten one of those just last month, an Asian, Zaz or Vaz or something like that.

“Yep,” said the MP still looking at his phone.

“For what party?” asked the driver, he hesitated and then added “If I may ask,” He turned the wheel and continued down a smaller street?

“Well, I’m a yellow,” admitted the man in the back seat. The car turned again and suddenly they had a view of the river. The Thames at night was something to behold.

“At least you’re not a bloody Tory,” Both men chuckled. They passed the Houses of Parliament. “I would’ve thought you’d want to stop here. No?”

“Parliaments shut. It’ll reopen when they elect the new bunch of MPs,” replied the passenger. He was trying to keep things as simple as possible.
“Including you?” asked the driver as he stopped at a red light.

“Including me, and hopefully…” He looked at his phone closely, “73 of my colleagues, at the very least.” Then there was a moment of silence. The MP continued to examine his phone. He was looking up the results. The BBC just, called another seat for the Liberal Democrats. Paul Rowen had kept his seat after a recount against Labour candidate Simon Danczuk in Rochdale. ‘They were getting close to 75 seats’ thought the MP, ‘something that before the debate seemed impossible.’ His mind wondered a bit. ‘Nick’s great performance was probably just luck. More than one debate or holding the debate a bit earlier would have seriously crushed our momentum. We were just lucky’

“So have you been here before?”

“Pardon,” the passenger had been too wrapped up in his thinking.

“The restaurant where you’re heading, is it nice?” asked the chatty cabbie.

“Never been. Although there is a nice Mexican place near there.” He yawned. The car stopped at another red light.

“Looks like its gonna be what they called a hung parliament, Eh? You’re gonna have to make a deal with Labour… or the Tories,” said the driver through gritted teeth.

“It’s too early to know if the numbers add up but yeah, we’ll probably go that way. Unless Cameron thinks he could go on his own,” The MP paused.

“Why am I telling you this?” he said with a laugh.

“Coz I asked,” replied the Cabbie simply.

“Wait, stop here,” the passenger pointed at the pavement in front of the Taxi. “Just drop me off.”

“OK.” The car slowed and stopped near the pavement. The driver looked at the meter. “Sixteen Fifty please.”

The man handed him a twenty pound note and said “Keep it,” as he opened the door. The driver thanked him.

“Just one last thing before you go.” The driver began as the MP got out. “What’s your name? My wife is a fan of Clegg and I want to tell her I met one of his lot.”

“David Laws,” he replied and then began to walk away. The restaurant where he was meeting with Nick, Danny and Vince was near here. It probably wasn’t the best place to decide who to form a government with but what can you do?”

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7.37 AM 7th May 2010

“The Liberal Democrats should be pleased with 89 seats today and will definitely play a massive part in the following days,” said the worn-out David Dimbleby.

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10.31 AM 12th June 2010

“And right now, the Chancellor George Osborne and David Laws are about to make a statement about the budget,” announced Nick Robinson rather too eagerly.

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10.00 PM 6th May 2012

“Now, the news at ten. The STV Referendum has narrowly passed in what is being called a victory for junior coalition partners the Liberal Democrats,” said the newscaster and then the election graphic came on.

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8.00 AM 7th May 2015

“With Coalitions now inevitable, the question is who will be in it. Will it be the Conservatives and Lib Dems again or maybe UKIP will join the fray, we just don’t know,” commented Charlie Staite. He really did hate it when BBC Breakfast got political, but the producers always get their way.

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Any comments or opinions?
Also find attached the election results.

lib dem.PNG
 
Firstly, how did the Lib Dems do so much better in these elections than in OTL? Secondly, how did they get an STV referendum? Thirdly, how did they win this referendum?
 
Firstly, how did the Lib Dems do so much better in these elections than in OTL? Secondly, how did they get an STV referendum? Thirdly, how did they win this referendum?

Looks like a) Cleggmania came to something and/or labour did something especially stupid. b) their significantly larger level of support allowed them to make STV a condition of the coalition and c) that's not hard to imagine: STV is much more popular and easy to sell than AV. Had it been an option back in the day, I bet it'd have had a much, much better chance to pass.
 
I don't think that we will ever know...

They do better than OTL because there is just one debate held, a week before the election. This means that Cleggmania reaches its highest point just before election. Since no one sees the Lib Dems rise coming, the Conservatives don't quite pull of their 'vote yellow get Brown' campaign and on Election Day, with the help of liberal and left leaning Labour voters the Lib Dems get 89 seats. Around 5 of these they win by less than 500 votes.

Since their seat total is much larger, but not large enough for a Lib-Lab government ( A Rainbow coalition is too unstable) they go into coalition with the Conservatives. In negotiations they push for STV more actively and ultimately Cameron gives in as he wants a stable government. The STV referendum is close, but the fact that the Lib Dems won more votes than Labour and the fact Ed Milliband half-heartedly supports it is enough to make sure STV is implemented.
 
I'd like to know how you get to just one leaders' debate, given the massive role that the broadcasters played in the process. The BBC, Sky and ITV were all massively interested in making sure that they had one debate each, partly as a massive advertising campaign for themselves. Sky News, for instance, plastered their logo all over the studio, the ads and everything else during their debate. There would be just as much politics in the offices of the BBC, ITV and Sky as there would at the party HQs.
 
Cameron would find himself looking for a new job if he dared to agree to a STV referendum. The party would never allow it, if it went to the Commons it would have failed resoundingly.
 
Yes, I'm afraid I must agree with those saying an STV referendum Simply Isn't Going To Happen. You might well be able to win the damn thing but that's precisely why no major party leader - especially not a Conservative one - will offer it. It's genuinely at the level of 'if Cameron offers one, he will quite simply be axed by his party within hours, and the new leader will refuse to offer an STV referendum'. In the incredibly unlikely event that it somehow got put before parliament, the Conservatives would see a rebellion that made boundary reform and Maastricht look like a walk in the park. Labour would massively vote against, too. It'd be a bloodbath.

STV cannot be got in the 2010-2015 parliament with anything like a 2010 POD. Sorry.
 
Would it be more realistic then if I replace STV with AV?
Are the election results themselves within the realm of possibility?
Is there are better way to dramatically increase the Lib Dem vote in 2010?
 
Would it be more realistic then if I replace STV with AV?
Are the election results themselves within the realm of possibility?
Is there are better way to dramatically increase the Lib Dem vote in 2010?

AV wouldn't give you the result you want from the next election, though, but I guess that referendum could have been won if enough went differently.

The Lib Dems doing very well on votes because there's only one debate has actually been done, and it seemed pretty plausible there. So I think you having them get to 28% is not impossible.
 
AV wouldn't give you the result you want from the next election, though, but I guess that referendum could have been won if enough went differently.

The Lib Dems doing very well on votes because there's only one debate has actually been done, and it seemed pretty plausible there. So I think you having them get to 28% is not impossible.

Well I left the 2015 results deliberately open ended but I was probably thinking of a Lab-Lib coalition with David Miliband as PM. The Lib Dems, having gone through the coalition would probably be polling around 18%, so they would be damaged but still doing pretty well. AV would help them of course.
 
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