I reckon it's time we started a thread for this, apart from anything else it will be a source of amusement for the Mailwatchers of the future to look back and laugh at our wild speculations.

The New Statesman is suggesting that the most likely outcome of the next election is a hung parliament.
That would leave the LibDems as kingmakers again, under those circumstances, should Labour do a deal with them?
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-s ... ority-lead

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

seeing as the Lib Dems would sell out to Labour policy, it would be a win win situation for Labour

I honestly have no idea who I'd vote for, Miliband seems weak and I wouldn't want a repeat of Blair and Brown. Recent Tory policies like workfare and the proposed privatisation of elements of the Police are starting to piss me off, and finally although on paper the Lib Dems have good policies like ending the war on drugs, they either sell out on their principles and/or have no balls to push their policies

edit - if Labour have a good manifesto with a mix of moderate socialism, liberalism and even some moderate libertarianism, then my vote would probably go to them

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"We were only following orders" - Atos.

I don't see how I have any choice but to vote labour. Tories are cunts, lib dems are tory cunts and greens won't get in.

I'm hoping for a Liberal wipeout in three years' time but if the maths favour a Lab-Lib coalition, Labour would have to go along with it. The absolute priority has to be getting the Tory wreckers out of office, pronto - I don't think left-leaning voters would look too kindly on Labour if it turned down the opportunity to get rid of them. Mind you, if I were Ed Miliband (assuming he leads Labour into the next election, which isn't nailed on) I'd want the Orange Bookers out of the way, so that'd be Clegg (whose position, I suspect, will be untenable after the next GE), Alexander, Laws etc banished to the backbenches for the foreseeable. I wouldn't be uncomfortable with the idea of retaining Cable in a cabinet post, but I think he'll have called it a day by 2015.

But I fear that Miliband is so desperate for allies - which is understandable, given the number of Blairite schemers in the shadow cabinet and the PLP as a whole - he's fairly easily influenced. I'd like to see Miliband rebuff the authoritarianism and cronyism of the New Labour years, promote a proper rebalancing of the economy (i.e. supporting industry in those areas where the jobs are most needed) and - outlandish for a Labour leader, I know - actually build some council housing. Really, it would be nice to have a Labour party which isn't embarrassed by the idea of social democracy.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

I 'm astonished that anyone, having seen what the Lib Dems have been complicit in helping the Tories do since 2010 can even be considering voting anything other than Labour, unless as a tactical vote to keep a Tory out (and even then I'm not sure you'd be that better off in terms of the MP you ended up with).

It's true - the absolute priority must be to get the Tories out, and hopefully keep them out.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

In my constituency it's a toss up between Tories and Lib Dems, no other party has a look in. I went for the LD in 2010, but would feel strongly about doing that again.

I think that given the circumstances, you should vote Labour. I would, even though it will have no effect on the outcome. It's one of those ones where you wish it was possible for them both to lose.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Labour here, for these exact reasons.

*sits back and anticipates dozens of +1's*

Oh to choose one bunch of wankers over another bunch of wankers.

There's government for ya.....

"I want people converted to my way of thinking...."

Shit... This is not a battle.... If you use reason....

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You may say I'm a dreamer.... but I'm not the only one....

My gut feeling is that the LibDems will be too crippled to hold a balance of power.

The Lives of Alexander and Moore are seen as inviting the tories back into Scotland by the backdoor.
And Scotland simply doesn't have enough landowners to sustain them in the rural constituencies.
I think they'll fall to the SNP.

The most likely Hung parliament scenario is a number of smaller Parties Holding a balance (As opposed to a clear 3rd runner).
These parties (Plaid, SNP, LibDem, Greens, and possibly even a UKIP (Should a "Seat's been in the party for generations" Tory be caught shagging a retired police horse on the eve of polling day)) may not behave as a single bloc when the post election reckoning takes place.

After the GE two years ago, all the Northern Irish MPs bar Sinn Fein (who don't sit so don't matter) were willing to sit as a bloc as part of a coalition government so I wouldn't rule it out.

Other than that, I'm losing faith in Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tory wets. I really don't know.

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"The first casualty on your Facebook wall is always facts..."

#rightwingpoliticalcorrectness - for when some "Tell it like it is" bullshitter plays the political correctness card, often without irony!

You have to suspect that the SNP and Plaid would be more likely to go with Labour than the Tories in those circumstances. The Greens have a chance of taking Norwich South at the next election so if they have 2 seats we might well see some kind of deal with them as well.

The situation with the Lib Dems really depends on which of their MPs lose seats at the next election. If the Orange Bookers are all booted out and the remaining members are left-leaning I think a deal with them might well be acceptable.

Kobel. Nail. Head.

Since I am old enough to remember sound, progressive policy before the Showbiz Wing had their day in the sun, I feel OK with that. More than OK. I'm still troubled about being behind the bike-sheds with the Libs during the war years. I'll get over it, unlike countless Iraqi civilians.

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Brigate di Transizione

I was thinking in bed last night (All great ideas come to you at those times)...anyhow this is a summary of what I thought

It's amazingly beautiful for someone who wants rid of both, the Tories need the Lib Dems to take votes off Labour in areas which they cannot win to have a hope at the next election. Yet Cameron can't concede ground to the Lib Dems or his own party start kicking up a fuss.

The smart money is on one of the two parties relying on the smaller parties to be king makers but if current polling remains then the Liberal Democrats could be left with about 12 MP's, Scotland is a massive caveat in all this but even with boundary changes on current polling Labour at a constant 41/40% they seem just about able to win with a small majority.

Hence why in recent days certain tories are talking up inclusion of BME and those working poor into the Tory fold. Problem is the BME vote seems as strong as ever for Labour on the doorstep, the Tories missed a massive open goal during the Iraq conflict and that vote is according to the polling I have seen growing stronger for Labour.

If the Lib Dems die a slow death they will take Mr Cameron and the Tories with them.

Healthy dialectic is made by oppositions that oppose, not hand-wringing centrists who wonder why we can't all get along. Spain has got a right-wing government and a left-wing opposition, until the last election it was the other way round. You've had Blair saying he was an admirer of Thatcher, and Cameron saying he was a bit Blairite, for fuck's sake. Spain is every bit as screwed as anywhere else, or more so, but at least there's a bit of ideological clear water between the two options, it's not occupied by some ramshackle party of bleating sheep half of whom want to run one way and half the other. Just make your minds up which side of the divide you're on and let the Lib Dems wither away. The UK isn't meant to have three main parties.