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Every now and then on the various comments boards, people will put forward the notion that a Hung Parliament would be a “Good Idea” but my view is that is the very last thing the Country needs right now. Whilst any specific cash value placed on just how much extra interest would be paid on British Government Debt should there be one, there would most certainly be a heavy cost which could arrive in various forms.

There are a number of factors at play here and I would like to map them out as my “argument” against a Hung Parliament starting with the Financial issues which lead directly to the ‘Political’.

The Financial Issue

People writing about the UK losing its AAA rating seem to generally miss the point because such a loss would lead to us paying higher interest however, the reality is that we are already paying higher interest rates without losing that. However it is somewhat disguised currently because the BoE is effectively printing money through Quantitative Easing ( I wonder if the Weimar Republic called it that ?), and then buying up its own debt, clearly that can’t last for too much longer, how much of its own puke can any dog eat ?

In percentage terms because everyone has taken a hammering globally, the UK’s GDP ratio to debt is actually less than say Japan and the USA so in terms of “Where we start from”, that would be OK but the reason the Bond Markets and the Credit Rating Agencies are very uneasy with the UK situation is wholly down to the ever dithering Gordon Brown. Unfortunately Brown is a real sad sack of pooh because he has yet to accept the problem and be honest with the electorate and likely that is because he is still in denial about it all and doesn’t have a “Plan to Solve the Problem”, which is what the money boys are looking for.

How Bad it Is

The real give away about just how bad things are came yesterday with Mandelson’s announcement on funding cuts for Higher Education, a Labour Flag Ship policy which he didn’t put himself on TV to defend one notes. It is just the tip of the iceberg and demonstrates that for all the “Protecting the Front Line Faff”, neither the NHS or Education or any other area of Government spending is sacrosanct.

The saddest thing is the total failure of the LibDems to make a breakthrough at Labour’s expense in the polls so that they became the second party and consigned Labour to electoral Limbo. The net result is that we really don’t want any more Labour Government, the Liberal Dems aren’t strong enough so we are left with only one game in Town, Cameron with a reasonable majority so that he can take the steps required. It will be a thankless task because this is one election “it would be good to lose” but firm action is required to set a platform for the future but if done for the benefit of the Nation rather than Party, it may not lead to a second term for the Conservatives.

A Time for Change Not Dithering

Brown has no political feel at all, he should have called an Autumn Election this Autumn, yes they would have lost but not as heavily as they are likely to next May. More importantly it would have been better for the Nation, with a new Government, the UK could have started moving forward again instead of drifting for a further 6 months at the mercy of external events.

If there was a Hung Parliament, this would be the same thing, more drift whilst the position really deteriorates. There would likely be another General Election within 18 months so why delay making a decision that will have to be made then anyway ? Where is the advantage to be gained that will off set the cost of delay which may well be a massively devalued currency, civil and industrial unrest and inflation taking off again ? The electorate are suffering from a ditherer as Prime Minister, it is hardly the time for them to catch this same disease and dither about where they put their X on a ballot paper.