Coalition Britain

(Echo, May 12) about the coalition between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. To refer to the unelected Gordon Brown as a “trusted Chancellor” is a statement too far.

The British economy was nigh on bankrupted by this man whose catalogue of fiscal errors left the nation unable to respond to the global crisis.

The country is neither fairer nor better of as a result of 13 years of socialism with the poor now poorer and the gap with the better-off widening and, not surprisingly, we are all worse off.

Manufacturing industry has been devastated. Corus, one example, will be a never-forgotten legacy and through Labour’s policies service industries, the remaining mainstay of the British economy, are on a knife edge.

Immigration, education, housing and employment, particularly young people, have become serious issues over the 13 years of Labour rule.

This and much more is now being handed over to a new party alliance with the task of bringing some order out of chaos.

David Cameron and the alliance will deal with this challenge and put the persistent doubters and unsupportive media properly in their place.

Charles Johnson, Chairman, South Durham Conservatives, Darlington.

WE have to hope the new coalition government will be able to sustain the recovery in our economy and reduce the deficit in the public finances without too much pain, but I feel that it will be the least well-off who will have most to fear.

I do hope the Conservative Party has really changed, but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. The party changed fundamentally when it had Benjamin Disraeli as its leader, and time will tell whether David Cameron has the same transformational qualities.

I hope there will be a fundamental rethink inside the Labour Party. It would not be enough to have a change of leader without a completely new outlook governing the thinking inside the party.

We may soon see developments that I could wholeheartedly support.

Geoffrey Bulmer, Billingham.

LABOUR’S General Election defeat means also that the North-East has lost a great deal of government support.

We will not receive the attention given to us by the Labour Party because the Conservatives know that now, and in the past, we have done little to support them. It could widen the so-called North-South divide.

If only Gordon Brown had resigned six months prior to the election, things may have been different.

The election was based on a reality-style TV programme and I feel that the pollsters – for example, Mori, and the others – fed false information as to the percentage share of the Liberal Democrats which helped split the vote.

JM Gowland, Heighington, near Darlington.

FROM even before 1857 and the formation of The National Liberal Federation, Liberals and Liberal and Radical associations have always been locked in battle with a Conservative Party representing privilege, wealth and elitist authority.

For Nick Clegg to walk away from progressive coalition to join a Tory coalition, other than in wartime, is a betrayal of everything Liberals have stood for over decades in favour of naked political opportunism.

I urge every Liberal and Radical left in the Liberal Democrats to resign to rejoin the Liberal Party.

It is the right and duty of every Liberal to campaign for a more equal and democratic society with us against everything the Tories have stood for.

Steve Radford, Liberal Party National Executive, Liverpool.

SO, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, which advocated in their manifestos very different philosophies, now have to restrain and collaborate, forging their energies for the good of the people.

Coalition can work. There are a number of democracies where coalition has seen successful government, but the common aim has to be maintained otherwise coalition crumbles and instability arises.

The challenge for the new government is to deliver to a disillusioned electorate something new and an era of change that makes Britain a better place. A tall order indeed.

Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe, Durham.

THE first-past-the-post voting method was a good system when there were only two main parties in contention. When there are three, or more, it can produce chaos. We have had a demonstration of that since the General Election results were announced.

But proportional representation is not necessarily a good idea because it usually produces a coalition government with endless bargaining, wrangling, horse-trading and deal-making.

Most of the governments in the EU are coalitions and they aren’t exactly an inspiring example for us to emulate.

Jim Allan, Hartlepool.

THEY’RE back. People of the North-East be afraid. Be very afraid.

P Haworth, Witton-le-Wear, near Bishop Auckland.