No one could surely argue that a hung parliament will lead to decisive and certain government? For weeks there has been not only unease at the prospect in financial markets but more specifically pressure on the pound exactly because of that expectation. Investors feel a minority government, with all its attendant haggling, horse-trading and inevitable pork-barrelling, would make it harder to force through the tough spending cuts needed to tackle Britain's massive deficit.
So, whilst from Alex Salmond's and Scottish nationalism's point of view it makes complete sense to argue that a hung parliament is not to be "feared"; for Peter Robinson, as a Unionist, to declare that not only is it not to be feared, but that such a destabilising scenario offers "a once in a lifetime opportunity to obtain key strategic gains for unionism" almost beggars belief.
We are only a small part of a larger whole and unless we stand united with the rest of that larger whole in facing the financial turmoil together then we are risking very serious, long-term damage to the whole concept of a United Kingdom. No point in "strategic" gains for "Ulster" Unionism if that Union itself no longer exists.
2 comments:
I think the hung parliament risk is overplayed. My guess is that the result will initially cause a bit of a market blip, but eventually there'll be a fairly strong coalition (either Lib-Lab or Con-Lib) with a negotiated and well trailed Programme for Government that will settle the markets, as opposed to a minority government.
The market has been "blipping" at the prospect for while now. If we could jump directly a day after the election to a stable coalition delivering coherent and the necessarry economic policies, my worries would be less. I can't at the minute see that happening though.
The biggest fear is that the SNP/Plaid Cymru/SDLP/DUP will end up calling the shots and that could well be the recipe for an economic disaster for the UK as a whole.
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