Nick Clegg’s decision to scupper boundary reviews in retaliation for the failure of his Lords reform programme is the very opposite of ‘mature’ government. It is the politics of the sand pit: you have annoyed me, so I’m going to kick your sandcastle down. It’s his way of putting a horse’s head in Cameron’s bed, and the public will be appalled. The coalition has entered a new, destructive phase where Lib Dems will now pride themselves on what Tory measures they can frustrate or destroy (O Levels, profitmaking schools etc).
I’ve just been on the Today programme with David Hall Matthews of the Social Liberal Forum, who claimed that Clegg’s vengeance marks a phase of ‘mature’ coalition, which got me thinking about an example of a proper, mature coalition: that between Labour and the Lib Dems in the Scottish Parliament between 1999-2007.
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