Questions from Wisbech Grammar students (1): hung parliaments

As the opinion polls have narrowed in the run-up to the General Election, there's been much speculation about what would happen in the event that no one party wins an overall majority of seats in the House of Commons. In particular, although illogically, the speculation centres on what the Liberal Democrats - and only the Liberal Democrats - would do in that event.

Whether or not there's a hung parliament is, of course, not in the control of any of us; it's an outcome of the collective votes of the great British public under the present electoral system, rather than an aim which any political party can manoeuvre into being. And if that is the result the British electorate gives us all on 6 May, then it's up to all political parties, not just the Liberal Democrats, to rise to the challenge.

It's likely that in that situation, if it occurs, one party will have a stronger mandate to govern than the others, and it's then up to that party to try to form a government. If it's to secure Liberal Democrat support in doing so, then it will have to address four key priorities:

• reform of the tax system to lift four million people on £10,000 a year or less out of income tax altogether, financed by higher taxes for the rich


• a 'pupil premium' to target extra education spending at the most disadvantaged children


• a greener economy less reliant on the financial sector


• voting reform for Westminster elections.

Before moving to North East Cambridgeshire, I spent several years in a leadership role in a no-overall-control council. It's a situation that forces politicians to work exceptionally hard, to negotiate, to compromise, and to actually take account of public opinion. It also focuses attention four-square on the parties' core beliefs and values. I'm very pleased that Nick Clegg has been so clear in articulating these on behalf of the Liberal Democrats.

In a recent ICM poll, nearly half of those questioned preferred a hung parliament, rather than an outright majority for Labour or the Conservatives. Perhaps after the misery of the Thatcher-Major years, and the failure of Blair and Brown, the public is developing an appetite for a more mature form of politics and a constraining hand on the unbridled ambitions of any one political party.