Over at ConservativeHome Paul Goodman suggests that Nick Clegg be invited to address the Conservative Party Conference this year and, in general, that the Tories need to do more to get to know their colleagues in government. He’s right. And here, via John Rentoul, is John Curtice to help explain why.
Professor Curtice suggests that this most recent election ought not to be considered a freakish result and that even if the voting system remains unaltered hung parliaments are probably as likely as not for the foreseeable future. If that’s the case – and even with redrawn constituency boundaries it seems quite probable that at least some of the factors he mentions (the decline in the number of true marginals, the way the Lib Dem vote is spread and so on) will continue to nudge parliament towards a hanging.
If we accept that this is the case then the argument in favour of treating the Liberal Democrats well – and granting them greater influence than their weight of parliamentary numbers might indicate appropriate – is strengthened still further.
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