It is not uncommon at the moment to hear people talking about a hung parliament, especially as it is the most likely outcome of this election. 

One of the most common arguments against a hung parliament is the idea that a coalition government might be formed and that the minority party in the coalition may exert disproportional power over the larger partner in the coalition.  I think that it is important to remind people who cling to this argument that parties are not single entities with all MPs, MEPs, Cllrs activists driving forward together in perfect harmony.  Parties are themselves coalitions. 

The Conservative party is made up of a multitude of factions, as are Labour and the Lib-dems.  The Conservative party most famously made its internal divisions public over Europe. It is also split between members who argue for a progressive conservative party and those with a more traditional conservative mentality. Labour is split between New Labour and the trade union backed so called Old Labour.  Within the Liberal Democrats there are social liberal and economic liberals.  These internal divisions do sometimes create difficulties for the parties as a whole, but generally only create healthy debate, leading to legislation that is better thought out. 

On the continent it is not uncommon for each of the three main parties to be split in two, to create six parties, with a further green party and possibly others.  Some of these parties may take on religious sounding names such as the Christian Democrats in Germany and some may merge to create a larger party as many parties with Socialist in their names have done.

As this method of governing is so common in so many European countries, I am surprised to hear people crying out that it will lead to the end of the world for government in this country.  What I think it will lead to is far more flexibility for governments to be formed that represent the will of the people, unlike the governments we get now, which tend to be the closest fit available. In the case of the Conservatives and Labour, not a very good fit at all.

A liberal democrat coalition involving the Conservative party or the Labour party, without Gordon Brown (he must not be allowed to continue) would be a far better prospect.  Sensible moderation from Liberal Democrat MPs would make sure that the policies of government make Britain a fairer place to live, reflecting, in cooperation with other parties, liberal democrat policy ideas.

It is in the interest of this country to move to a system of proportional representation, right now the views of far too many people are not fairly represented in our political system. By this I mean a party can win 30% of the vote nationally and win 40% in of seats in parliament, while another wins 25% of the vote nationally and only 10% of seats in parliament.  This means a party can govern with a minority of the votes. What worries me the most about this is that it also creates a situation where many seats are considered safe for one party or the other meaning that millions of voters around the country have little chance of actually influencing the outcome of an election, creating parties that take voters for granted. In Woking in 2005 Humfrey Malins won for the Conservative party with only 47% of the votes cast.  This does not seem democratic enough for me and is it any wonder that Mr Malin’s was asked to pay back £1,329.22 by Sir Thomas Legg as part of the investigation after the expenses scandal.  The UK needs a system of election where MPs are elected with no less than 50% of the vote.

 Thank goodness Woking is no longer a safe seat, it is so close in Woking, every vote really will count!