A coalition of the centre right

We now have a new Government. A coalition of centre right Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has replaced a centre right coalition of Labour. The prospect of a new political philosophy , shown at times during the election campaign by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats, has been extinguished by the vision of seats in the cabinet and some political power for Lib Dems, albeit limited, for the first time in some seventy years. This has clearly been more attractive to the Liberal Democrat MP’s and Executive Committee members than remaining on the opposition benches in the House of Commons. The losers in this arrangement are of course a substantial number of Liberal Democrat Party members, and a significant number of people in the Country who voted Lib Dem in a number of Constituencies in the hope and belief that, at last, this time something may come as a result of their votes. Alas, the arrangement with the Conservatives has dashed that prospect.
Notwithstanding the agreement with the Tories in connection with a referendum on changes to the electoral system, the system to be proposed is the Alternative Vote, which the vast majority of people will argue is little better than First Past the Post and can often produce results which are even more distorted and un representative of electoral preference. Only one method of PR has any credibility and that is Single Transferable Vote. It is the system used in other Countries and ensures that a true reflection of voters preferences are shown in the resulting Parliaments. It is argued by critics of PR that the election results produce minority Governments which lead to protracted discussions between parties seeking to create a coalition. It is therefore ironic that our current FPTP system has produced in this election, exactly the same result. There also seems to be no timescale for the holding of this referendum. It could be that nothing will happen within the lifetime, however long that may be, before the first Thursday of May in 2015 !
Leaving aside the matter of Proportional Representation and the other points in the coalition deal, there remains the wider issue of how a progressive left of centre party can remain in such a close relationship with right of centre party and retain any impression of credibility with the voters. Many people voted Liberal Democrat on May 6th 2010, many for the first and in the light of subsequent events perhaps the last time, in the belief that their votes may have an effect in brining about change in the political and electoral system in this country. It seems that now, on May 12th 2010, we still have the same old attitudes but now disguised with some new faces. What ever happened to the belief in principle before expediency.