Wales scored a first in the modern political history of Britain this last month. It became the first area of the UK to survive-quite happily-without an elected government. For over three weeks after the inconclusive elections to the Cardiff Asembly the parties squabbled on who should form a coalition. Meanwhile, schools, hospitals and transport systems continued to operate and life continued much as before. Under-developed,de-industrialised countries do of course always benefit from the shock effect and overall stimulation which spreads throughout the body politic when government withdraws from the scene and stops giving itself too much to do. Wales’s progress to a flat-tax Baltic paradise however was interrupted last week when government returned and the Labour party resumed its sway over the broken-backed economy and social deprivation which it has turned into its own vote-producing domain during the past 80 years.
It’s been an instructive month for the politics of coalition generally-the most important lesson to be drawn from the Welsh experience being ‘keep away from Lib Dems at all costs.’
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