We are where we are. But where is that?

The first thing to say is well done to all those new Conservative MPs – 97 more seats, over 140 new MPs, and a huge leap from being Foot-esque in number to so nearly being able to form a government. This is an enormous achievement, and something that in 2005, even I simply didn’t think was going to be possible.

On Friday I was sitting at work still watching the results come in and feeling really rather down that we hadn’t made it. Until I looked down the list of the new House of Commons and realised it was going to be a significantly different place. This can only be good for our politics.

Over the weekend I’ve spoken to a number of people both within and outside the party, and come to some conclusions…

Our radical ideas for renewing politics have great potential. Things like recalls, citizen referendums, localism, devolving power, transparency and accountability have strong support from both Conservatives and Lib Dems.

Many of our radical ideas for renewing our society are also supported by both parties. Perhaps things like replacing the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights are more difficult but again, the general thrust is not contentious.

Yes, there are disagreements over timing, but in principle, both parties are committed to lowering the tax burden on the lowest paid, and on making Britain a greener, more competitive place to do business. I’m still not wholly sure whether the Lib Dems support or oppose our plans to cancel the rise in NICs, but their manifesto outlined a number of cuts, some of which are more credible than others, and at least they have acknowledged that cuts there must be.

So in terms of doing what needs to be done, I don’t think that there will be a great difficulty in getting to a situation where we have a new government.

I think some sort of agreement between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives will bring benefits (and risks) on both sides. The benefits are obvious – stable government, a clear programme that doesn’t rely on cajoling individual MPs because there is a majority in favour of it, political cover for cuts and of course the huge bonus for the Lib Dems that they can point to having delivered parts of their manifesto at a national level. And of course, some of the more liberal ideas that the Tories have but might have had problems with the Right of the party can be delivered as part of a progressive liberal programme.

There are risks of course for both as well – what will each side have to give up that they (or more likely their activists…) are wedded to? How does a party that has portrayed itself as non-political, as ‘new politics’ sell the fact that it’s done a deal behind closed doors in a typical political way? How do the Tories manage the fact that many activists are less keen on working with Lib Dems than even Labour (and the same in reverse goes for the Lib Dems)? The whipping on both sides is going to be interesting – opinion varies significantly from the left of the Lib Dems to the right of the Tories.

But the discussions going on just now will be considering all this and more. Finally, I think a few things have been forgotten in all the excitement. Labour and Gordon Brown have been comprehensively rejected. The new House of Commons is going to be a very different place. We have the chance to radically renew our politics, our society and our economy and we need to grasp it with both hands.

Related posts:

1. The Little Blue Book