This has partly because of what has been said, and not said, about the main policy challenges facing the UK in what has, at times, appeared to be a competition in gimmicky vacuity. But, at root, the system is now dysfunctional with a mismatch between what many politicians say, the expectations produced and the likely outcome. The UK remains stuck in a majoritarian political culture of single party winner-takes-all governments when that is not what the electoral system is likely to produce, for the second general election in a row. It is no good the two main party leaders saying they reject deals as if they commanded majorities in the Commons when they are unlikely to do so. And this problem has been aggravated by the leaders’ tendency to put down policy ‘red lines’. Whether another coalition or a minority government emerges in the next few days and weeks, the party or parties in office will not be able to get their own way and will have to compromise, however much they may dislike it. There are many examples – see the report by Akash Paun – of how other countries, both in the rest of Europe and in Commonwealth […]

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