Bristol West MP in hung parliament talks

By Laura_Local | Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 14:22

As the country waits with baited breath to hear the outcome of the hung parliament talks, Bristol West MP Stephen Williams has revealed he met with the Lib Dem shadow cabinet to discuss the situation.

Lib Dem leader initially went into talks with Conservative leader David Cameron after the Tories won the most number of seats in last Thursday's General Election.

However, he also went on to discuss the possibility of a coalition with the Labour Party after former Prime Minister Gordon Brown stepped down.

Now, it would appear they are back in talks with the Tories leading some people to say they are holding the country to ransom.

But Clegg insisted he was "as impatient as anyone else" to resolve the political impasse and said he hoped to make an announcement "as quickly as we possibly can". He added: "The discussions between the political parties has now reached a critical and final phase. We will act, as ever, responsibly. We will act to try and do our bit to create a stable, good government the British people deserve."

While the Mr Williams, whose Bristol West ward includes the whole of Redland, has had some involvement in the talks he is not one of the key players. He said: "Although I can't really say what I want to see happen, because I am involved, I can say that I want to see a stable government. But we also need a change in the electoral system and a revolution of British politics, and the Conservatives need to accept that is what we want."

Which would lead you to believe that Mr Williams is in the same camp as the majority of the Lib Dem voters in Redland who feel that the Tories are so far away from the Lib Dems that a coalition with Labour would be the lesser of the two evils.

But we're coming up to a week since the general election and we still don't know what direction the country is headed.

What's that old saying? Patience is a virtue.

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Now, according to Bristol 247 Stephen Williams has welcomed the coalition with open arms.

A joint statement released with Bristol City Council leader Barbara Janke says: “We fully support Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrat negotiating team in their achievement of an historic deal for our party and for the country.
“We hope, as Nick does, that this is the dawn of a new politics and that this new government delivers what Britain desperately needs – stability, political and electoral reform and a solution to the deficit crisis which works, which protects frontline services and which deals fairly with those most likely to feel its impact, the poor and the vulnerable.
“In extremely difficult circumstances the Lib Dems have made a deal with the Conservatives which offers the most realistic chance of carrying through a large part of the party’s manifesto commitments. Obviously, there has had to be compromise. Like the huge cuts in public spending that would have come whichever government was in power, compromise between the parties in the current situation was inevitable.
“But we welcome the compromises the Conservatives have made – such as shelving inheritance tax cuts for the rich – as we do their commitment to introduce Lib Dem tax reforms, such as the £10,000 income tax threshold.
“With Nick Clegg as deputy PM and four other Lib Dem cabinet ministers, we believe the new Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government has every chance of success in grappling with a difficult economic legacy and making progress on a Lib Dem agenda.”

To read more please visit: tinyurl.com/24ah9cq

By Laura_Local at 18:04 on 13/05/10
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well that's stephen williams majority cut back to nothing in the next election. ha ha. con-dem coalition has just con-dem-ed the libs to losing even more seats in the next election, which lets face it will probably be in october! heres hoping paul and ricky come back fighting!

By for_real at 10:51 on 12/05/10
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What a difference a day makes: Gordon Brown is out and David Cameron is in with Nick Clegg as a sidekick. What will this mean for Mr Williams? Will he be working more closely with Charlotte Leslie in the neighbouring constituency? Or that other bloke who knocked the lovely Roger Berry out of his seat? This will be interesting to say the least. With hindsight, I wonder how many of the 25,000 plus people in this area who voted Lib Dem would still do so?

By Laura_Local at 22:28 on 11/05/10
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