Well, Labour has started on its own mission of framing the post-election legitimacy debate. Responding to the Tory operation to prepare the public for what might happen from 8 May onwards, Ed Miliband’s party is now claiming that David Cameron is determined to stay in Downing Street even if his coalition loses its majority. A senior Labour official has told the Guardian:
‘All the noise coming out of the mouths of David Cameron and Nick Clegg is about how they can cling on to power even if their coalition loses its majority.’
Labour needs to set up a narrative of a desperate David Cameron holed up in Downing Street, refusing to relinquish the trappings of office. What the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act actually sets out is that if a government fails to pass its Queen’s Speech then the government does not automatically fall, but instead the House of Commons can force it out of office by passing the motion ‘that this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government’.
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