The Judge RANTS!
Date: 04/05/07
Forward With The Backward!
So, what's changed?
Nothing much, it seems.
It was always a foregone conclusion that Labour would finish as the
largest single party after yesterday's National Assembly election; it
was just a question of how far short of a majority they would fall.
The answer? Four seats.
Is that all? The party which brought you illegal military
adventurism, thoroughly cocked-up health service 'reforms' (which means
that a huge chunk of the population can't get dental treatment unless
they pay through the nose for it - excuse the mixed anatomical
metaphor) and cronyism galore? And they still finish within grasping
distance of forming a government outright for the next four years?
But, then again, the electoral system we have for the Assembly is
proportional in name only. Two-thirds of the seats are decided in the
constituencies on the completely discredited 'first-past-the-post'
system, which means that a party can win a seat with scarcely a third
of the votes cast. This is always good news for Labour, of course,
given the preponderance of constituencies in the Valleys, where people
really would vote for a dog's arse if it had a Labour rosette
sticking out of it (cf. Leighton Andrews).
This time, Labour didn't even get a third of the vote in the
constituencies, yet still end up with 60% of the seats. Its share of
the vote dropped by 10% or more in seven seats. Shome mishtake, shurely?
Still, it was there for the taking for the other 'main' parties (of
which we have four, London media please note). What of their
performances?
I'm sure Plaid (or whatever it is they're calling themselves this
month) will feel pleased at having gained a massive three seats, but
their share of the vote showed scarcely any increase on 2003, and their
performance in those self-same Valleys hardly induces hopes of future
progress on the 1999 scale.
The Tories? Well, a net gain of just one seat at a time when Labour
is seriously on the skids is not something for them to be jumping for
joy about. Their share of the total vote scarcely increased. So, no
danger of them fulfilling the wretched Hain's prophecy that we could
have woken up this morning to find Nick Bourne in charge of our health
services (a claim which was bollocks on a plinth from the very start,
of course).
And a word about the Lib Dems: pathetic. No gain in vote share, no
gain in seats; more static than a nylon carpet.
And yet, these perennial losers may well end up in power. Yes, the
smallest party in the National Assembly will almost certainly be
sounded out by Rhodri Morgan regarding the possibility of a coalition
government. Just like Morgan's oleaginous predecessor Alun Michael did
before him.
I can imagine the scene on Monday morning. There in his office,
shrouded in gloom, sits one R. Morgan, Suddenly, the door bursts open,
and in strides darling Michael German (barely elected from the South
Wales East list), flanked by his enforcers Bates and Randerson. German
comes over and thumps the desk. "Rhodri!", he cries, "we
will prop up your unwanted minority government! But only if you respect
our fundamental principles!" Here, he tosses a small brown envelope
with vague jottings on it in front of dear Rhodri. "These!",
booms German, "are our principles, Rhodri! And, if you don't like
them....we'll change them."
So that's what we're likely to get: a re-run of 2000 - 2003. Four
more years of drift and dithering.
This was, perhaps, the great chance to break the system open, and
to end Labour's virtual monopoly on the political processes of our
country. And we muffed it like good 'uns. So long as we have a skewed
electoral system, combined with the inability of Dai and Dilys Davies
in Dowlais to even consider for a moment that it is actually permitted
to vote for someone other than Labour ("I've voted Labour all me
life, see? An' me da' voted Labour all his life, see? An' Grampy voted
Labour, see? Our family's voted Labour since 1785, see, an' we're
not gonna change now! Dilys, pass those paracetamol will 'ew? Me
teeth are givin' me gyp again..."), then it will be forever thus.
Truly, we get the 'leaders' we deserve...
