[lazy_student]

None of these muppets are fit to lead our country but the lesser of the 2 (3?) evils are.....?

[Ombrageux]

Lib dem. Civil Rights, real opposition, modernity, Europe, immigration and federalism.

What more do you want? Oh, I wish they weren't so leftist, but oh well.

[bradley]

I'm not happy with Kennedy either. Over the past few years he's shown a lack of political opportunism which has led to the lib dem sticking to third place in the polls whilst the Tories choose disastrous leaders and disastrous policies one after the other. But at the same time, this lack of political skill also makes me trust the man more to lead the country. We should just hire Alastair Campbell so we can actually get there first!

[Internationalist]

Lib Dem. But they should sell-out and use scare and hate tactics more to get in. Especially over the environment. Vehemently attacking the present government is the only way to make gains. At least it looks like the Tories are so unbelievably wank that more Labour voters may vote Lib Dem.

[Clansman]

Libdem. I think we may be beginning to se ea shift in the Brittish population toward a more social democratic typically "European style" of government. WHat will clinch this is when the Libdems get in (or prop up labour in a hung parliament) and force a switch in the voting system from the present farsical FPtP to the again more "European" proportional representation, most likely STV.

[Monkeydust]

I'd tentatively go for the Libdems - although, really, they're not significantly better than Labour in my book.

[Rinty]

None of the above. The Lib Dems are without doubt the most duplicitous of the three and their part in the Scottish Parliament coalition executive with Labour exposes the extent of their beliefs. Almost every key plank of Lib Dem policy was reversed in a trade off for limited power, ministerial salaries and motors.

Lib Dems oppose GM crops, support scrapping the council tax, oppose the war, want to scrap tution fees. In Scotland they belived this during the lection capaigns yet when in power the voted against a motion to scrap the council tax, against a ban on GM crops, for the executive position on the war and dropped their plans to scrap tution fees in favour of paying them at a later date instead of up-front

[Clansman]

Unfortunately Rinty speaks the truth. However this could be a good omen Rinty. If the Libdems are willing to sacrifice just about every policy they have to share power in the executive then maybe they would consider sacrificing their unionist ones in order to join and executive with the SNP, SSP and Greens which would be mush more friendly to their other policy goals (local income tax, anti-nuclear, etc). I wouldn't bet against it. Politically speaking, apart from wanting to preserve the union, the Libdems really do have a lot more in common with the SNP than they do with "new" Labour.

[Rinty]

The SSP wouldnt join a coalition. They would argue each case in point and would have too many compromises to be able to run with capitalist parties. There is also the republic question, with the SNP and Lib Dems being pro-monarchy parties and the Greens being non-committal I cant see that one being resolved.

However the SSP could support a budget in parliament to allow a minority party or coalition to run things without actually tying themselves to a group of policies or to the executive.

[Clansman]

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