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TLC to make coalition again

In another in a line of leaks around the Coalition Negotiations, The Daily Telegraph can reveal the details of the TLC coalition deal.

A copy of a deal, which was sent to The Daily Telegraph by a source who has asked to remain anonymous, details the Cabinet structure, policy and code of conduct of a possible TLC government (comprising the Labour Party, the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, and Plaid Cymru).

A Red Cabinet

The Cabinet, which is Labour Led seems to be a pretty standard cabinet, with not too many changes to its structure. The TLC has replaced the Department for Exiting the European Union with a Department for European Relations (which it is calling a Great Office of State) and has also introduced a Secretary of State for Democratic Reform, which has seemingly been merged with the Cabinet Office. A very notable posting is the Equalities Secretary, something which the TLC has been pushing for in a while.

The Department for Business, Energy and Climate change has been split (with a new Mutuals Minister also being created), while the Department for International Trade and International Development has been merged.

The new deal would see WillShakespeare99 as Prime Minister, with Estoban06, the recently appointed Leader of the Liberal Democrats as his deputy.

One notable post missing from the cabinet is the controversial Cornwall position, which was created by the TLC as a shadow position towards the end of last term. There is also a Minister without Portfolio, although it is not revealed who this is.

In response to the Cornwall question, the Shadow Secretary of State for Cornwall in the last opposition said

I am deeply disappointed that some coalition elements did not agree with the Liberal Democrats and the Greens on the issue of Cornwall, and as such vetoed the future existence of my cabinet role. I still consider myself an ardent fighter for Cornish rights, and the Liberal Democrats are committed to providing a fair deal for Cornwall.
throwawayravenclaw MP

This follows some changes made by the Conservative-led coalitions in their various leaked deals, with the splitting of BECC and the upgrading of Equalities to a full cabinet post (albeit in the case of the right wing governments, as a part of the Culture Department).

The possible future PM or Leader of the Opposition, Will Shakespeare told The Daily Telegraph:

If the reports about a so-called “Blurple” deal are right then we will be heading to Official Opposition tonight, but I hold out hope and nothing is confirmed until it’s official. I am extremely confident that if we get the opportunity we can form a good, hard working, productive, and progressive Government that will achieve and deliver for the British people and serve them well.
WillShakespeare99

In response to questions from The Daily Telegraph, Estoban06, the possible future Deputy Prime Minister said:

I’m confident we have a unifying deal between ourselves, Labour, the Greens and Plaid. Our ability to form government will all depend on parliamentary arithmetic, but rest assured should we get a chance at Government we will serve the nation to the best of our ability. Cabinet positions are divided proportionally, as such I’m perfectly happy with the amounts between the parties. We don’t have a Cornwall position as at the minute it would serve no real purpose, but we have committed to examining Cornish devolution in our deal, and if devolution occurs we will create a post dealing with it, but there is no real need for it right now.
Estoban06, Leader of the Liberal Democrats
The Daily Telegraph notes that its copy of the deal does not include policies on Cornwall. The questions were as follows: “I have received a copy of your deal. Are you confident in your ability to form a government? Are you happy with such a Labour dominated cabinet? Can you comment on the lack of existance of a Cornwall Department?”

The Leader of the Green Party said:

I am fully confident that we have the policies this country needs, though I worry that the Tories may betray their voters with an alliance with the LPUK. I think we negotiated some great environmental policies. Labour and the Lib Dems were extremely receptive to our stance on the environment.
zombie-rat

Meanwhile, ViktorHR, the leader of Plaid Cymru said, in response to a question of whether the deal does enough for Wales said:

Yes, and I am happy to be able to contribute to it. Plaid Cymru and the TLC have great relations and have been able to agree on a number of topics. Wales will be getting more funding per head similar to the Scottish model, the TLC has agreed to back the Welsh Government plan for another devolution referendum, and many more project fundings can be expected.

Some Key Policies

Brexit: The TLC will negotiate a Ukraine+ deal while also re-negotiating with countries with whom we have trade deals through the EU, promising Parliament a vote on any treade deal.

Democratic Reform: The TLC look to ‘explore alternatives’ to the Lords, introduce more Proportional Representation and create a codified constitution.

Economy: The TLC hope to measure ‘Gross National Happiness’ and ‘Adjusted National Product’ to replace various current measures, restructure RBS, cur beer duty and raise inheritance tax and carbon tax.

Home: Hire new police officers, offer asylum to LGBT+ and expand Refugee Resettlement from Syria.

Education: Charge tax on Private Schools, establish a ‘school digitisation task force’, promote apprenticeships and physical education and reduce examinations.

Energy/Climate Change: 50% emuissions by 2025, 99% emissions by 2030 (no further details given), ban diesel/petrol cars within 11 years, introduce foreign power tariffs, invest in renewable energy and introduce an Environmental Bill of Rights

Business: Introduce a Workers’ New Deal, allow employee buyouts, nationalise Royal Mail and extend Freedom of Information to private businesses.

Transport: A large transport plan (called ‘Getting Britain Moving’, the same name the Tories used in their manifesto), electrify Welsh railways and close London City Airport.

Housing/Local Government: Repeal Right to Buy, build 300,000 council homes a year and maintain the Green Belt,

Devolved Nations: Introduce ‘Devolution on Demand’, deliver on the Welfare referendum, increase funding per head in Wales and increase devolution in England (offering it to any area with less than 1 million people).

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Introduce restrictions on Newspaper ownership, restrict ticket touts, increase supporter rights in footbal clubs and introduce spending declarations on charities.

Equalities: Explore representation of women and minority groups in Parliament (no further details)

Estoban06 assured that the TLC have ‘the approximate cost’ of their policies, and that the Liberal Democrats ‘ look forward to having a chance to either filling the spot of Chancellor or else opposing them.’

In response to questions about enviornmental policy in the deal, the Leader of the Green Party said:

I am fully confident that we have the policies this country needs, though I worry that the Tories may betray their voters with an alliance with the LPUK. I think we negotiated some great environmental policies. Labour and the Lib Dems were extremely receptive to our stance on the environment.
zombie-rat

Meanwhile, ViktorHR, the leader of Plaid Cymru said, in response to a question of whether the deal does enough for Wales said:

Yes, and I am happy to be able to contribute to it. Plaid Cymru and the TLC have great relations and have been able to agree on a number of topics. Wales will be getting more funding per head similar to the Scottish model, the TLC has agreed to back the Welsh Government plan for another devolution referendum, and many more project fundings can be expected.

There are many more policies in the document, which are available to be read in full here.

In all, this looks like a standard left-wing agreement, however the TLC would not be able to match up to a deal involving the Conservatives and any other party.

For now, it remains to be seen who the next government will involve.

The look of a ‘Blurple’ Cabinet revealed, but New Britain isn’t in on it

As coalition negotiations draw to a close, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal another government possibility.

A leak sent anonymously to The Sunday Telegraph has revealed the structure of the cabinet in a Conservative-Libertarian Government, commonly referred to as the ‘Blurple’ government.

The evidence (pictured below) reveals that the Conservatives are planning a government with the LPUK, after it was revealed by MChallenge yesterday that they were also negotiating with the Classical Liberals and New Britain.

The leaked screenshot is from the Coalition Agreement between the two parties and shows which parties would get which cabinet positions in a government.

The Tories would keep the job of Prime Minister, making this Leafy_Emerald’s fifth government in the role, while Friedmanite19 would still be Deputy Prime Minister.

Some Departments have also changed. A new ‘Minister of State for Security’ has been created under the Home Secretary, although no further details of the role have been changed, while the controversial decision of the last government to merge the Departments for Energy & Climate Change and the Department for Business has been reversed.

A larger change is the apparent change of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to “Equalities, Culture and Media”, also abolishing the Minister of State for Equalities and moving Sport along to the Health Department.

This matches changes seen in the Con-CLib-NB, leaked by MChallenge yesterday. However, the CLib cabinet is vastly more populated by Tories, with them holding numerously more roles in the more centre of the two.

eelsemaj99, the Deputy Leader of the Conservatives, said,

I am unhappy that this leaked but yes I am very content with the cabinet we negotiated as part of the agreement.
eelsmaj99

Friedmanite19 said he is absolutely happy with the make up of the cabinet.

The anonymous source also revealed that the Conservatives originally wanted New Britain to be a part of this Blurple government, however, despite their efforts, Akc8 refused to work with the LPUK.

eelsemaj said,

We [the Conservatives] approached New Britain about forming a deal with the LPUK but ultimately they decided that in good faith they couldn’t negotiate a deal with a party with whom they fundamentally agree with, and we respect their decision. We hope to work with all parties across the house in or out of government where we have agreement.
eelsemaj99

The leader of New Britain akc8 said the reason for this refusal was because his party and the LPUK are ‘incompatible parties’.

We did reject the idea with working with the LPUK as ultimately we are incompatible parties. We are a centre left third way party that seeks to use the state to better the lives of all people in the country, which is in direct contrast to the small state ideals of the LPUK. While last term the government was needed to stop the no deal emergency this term we have MPs that need to respect the manifesto we were elected on. We would be unable to do this in government with a much larger LPUK.
akc8

In response to the leak, Friedmanite said “If is true then I respect their decision, and will always be willing to work with them productively on areas we can find common ground.”

If these leaks are true and this agreement is the foundation of the next government (provided both the LPUK and the Tories decide to go for it), it may show that the Tories have moved right, supporting a party some have even gone as far to call extremist. Or, could we be seeing a softening of the LPUK’s stance, with them ready to commit to a term of government with the party from which they broke away, and happy to work with a party that labels itself “centre-left”. And the cabinet is clearly more in favour of the LPUK and the Tories, as the Tories have a smaller proportion of the cabinet seats than the LPUK, but have they gained in other areas? The policies of a Blurple Government are still yet to be known.

What we can tell is that whatever happens, the next government certainly won’t be the same old.

South East MP announces Northern Irish leadership

The newly elected List MP for the South East, kwilson92, released an Open Letter this evening. In his statement, kwilson revealed the contents of his so-called “deal” with the LPUK, after he joined the party on Sunday.

The MP ran on a campaign under the “Something New!” banner against the Chancellor ToastinRussian in Kent, however, after winning his list seat in the SE region, he joined the Libertarian Party.

In the past kwilson has stood in Buckinghamshire (against seimer, with whom he is now a fellow partyman) and Kent.

The deal with Friedmanite19, the leader of the right wing party, involved kwilson becoming head of the LPUK’s newly reanimated Northern Irish party, called the New Unionist Party of Northern Ireland.

Kwilson also state he “will not be resigning until [he is] ready and not a moment before.”

However, this raises more questions than it answers.

Immediately after the letter was released, some Liberal MPs demanded he call a by election, and even resign.

throwawayravenclaw calling kwilson92 to call a by-election.

Kwilson told the Telegraph that “I have said many times, that i will not rule out a by election but i will do it on my terms.”, practically ruling out a by election in the near future.

Tommy1boys, the Classical Liberal Deputy Leader, also tweeted a response:

So, just to clarify for the people of the Southeast. You made a deal with the LPUK that in return for them admitting you, you would be given power?
There we have it. The people of the Southeast is represented by someone who sold his voters out for power, and refuses to call a by-election. Glad to know this is clear. Something New is the same old. (sic)
tommy1boys, Classical Liberal MP

In response, kwilson said he “wanted his baby back”. This raises the question of where the Libertarian MPs priorities lie, either with the people in Kent & the South East or the people of Northern Ireland.

In response to this question from the Telegraph, kwilson said:

I am elected to represent the people of the South East and i will be fighting for them for the duration of this term.

Then, at 10:25 PM, Vitiating revealed that a petition had been brought to his attention, accusing the MP for the South East of “opportunism”, Vitiate, however, called the petition “opporunisitic”.

The Telegraph has received a draft copy of the aformentioned petition from an anonymous source.

The draft petition calls for kwilson to resign, citing that he ran on a “centre left manifesto” and that he endorsed “radical left wing parties”.

Signatories include members of TLC parties, including the Leader of the TLC.

The Telegraph will keep this article updated as it receives more news.

GEXI: Tories gain as Commons move right

The Conservative Party maintained its position as the largest party in Parliament last night, as it gained 35 seats in the Commons. The Daily Telegraph, meanwhile, looks into what could come next.

The General Election came to a close yesterday, as the results were released by YouGov and the BBC yesterday evening, after polling day on Saturday.

The results proved good for the Conservatives, who saw a rise of over 10 seats from the last General Election, in line with predicitions that they would see a rise. Both Labour and the Libertarians saw a rise, as did the Greens, while the Liberal Alliance shrank, likely in response to their rocky government over the last term.

Cumbria and Lanacashire North switched hands yet again, this time being gained by InfernoPlato.

This election also proved positive for the Independent Groupings. New Britain won two seats, and the new Climate Rebellion Group won a seat as well.

How did the Predictions stack up?

The Predictions were quite good, in terms of the National scores. Almost every predicition (except _paul_rand_’s underestimated the number of blue seats), and on average the predictions overestimated most other parties’ seat shares.

Who will be the next government?

The House of Commons has entered ‘Coalition Forming’ mode to allow MPs to swear in and Party Leaders to form blocs for the next term.

Graph of possible MPs (interactive version above), courtesy of zombie-rat

One possible coalition would be a continuation of the current Government (Conservatives, LPUK, Classical Liberals and New Britain), which would put the Government at 62 seats. An often cited possibility is also the ‘Broad Left’ coalition, which would only command 38 members of the House.

All likely majority coalitions, however, involve Conservative participation.

Throwawayravenclaw, the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader stated they “will not go into coalition into the Libertarian Party” and that they want to work with “ideological partners”.

Comments

The Daily Telegraph asked some party representatives for comments about the results of the General Election.

The Leader of the Conservative Party, Leafy Emerald, responded:

I am very pleased with the results and I am glad to see gains were made all around Britain. Overall, the election result was an outstanding result for us and I am very proud of the work that was put in by all of the members of the party. It was a true group effort from writing the manifesto to campaigning on the issues that matter to the British public.
Leafy_Emerald, Conservative Leader

akc8, the Leader of New Britain, said:

New Britain is very proud to have every one of our candidates win a seat this general election, and builds a great platform for us moving forward. In a tight parliament our two seats could be vital and we will be working to get the most bang for our buck with our seats for our voters in the West Midlands. The whole country saw what we could do with zero seats last term, and we will look to better than this.
akc8, Leader of New Britain

The Principal Speaker of the Green Party also responded:

I am pleased that we have retained the seats we did, and vow to make whatever changes are required to regain faith in our eco-socialist vision
zombie-rat, Principal Speaker of the Green Party

The Daily Telegraph would like to thank zombie-rat for the interactive coalition graphs.

Tories in lead in constituency polls

The Conservative Party have come out on top in constituency polls conducted over the last term.

The Conservatives will win in nearly 32 of the 50 constituency seats, a preliminary Welman-Gulls poll released today has shown. If the polls are correct, the party would see an increase of nearly 23 from its nine current constituency seats, with major gains from the Lib Dems and the Green Party.

Cumbria, a constituency the Conservatives are predicted to gain.

The self proclaimed “broad church” right wing party would hold all of the seats in its stronghold of the East Midlands (except Nottinghamshire, which the Loyalists are predicted to take back, however as it is likely they will not run, it would then go to the Tories) while making considerable gains in the South (holding all but two seats) and a surprising rise in Scotland, holding half of the nation’s four constituency seats.

Of the other parties, Labour and the Greens are both predicted high seat counts, with seven each, and the Liberal parties are both only predicted two. The Libertarians also see a drop, keeping hold of just one seat in the West Midlands. In Wales, the picture hasn’t changed, with Plaid Cymru holding on to all the constituencies in the country.

The Greens are predicted to gain Birmingham.

However, it should be noted that these polls don’t necessarily reflect what the actual outcome will be. These simply show polls based on term-time activity. The polls could therefore change based on how active candidates are. Furthermore, these polls do not account for the regional list seats, which may even out the balance to better match the National Polling.

When approached on the matter, Conservative Deputy Leader eelsemaj99 said:

“I am very pleased by this polling and excited by the results, it shows that we have many competitive seats and puts us in a good position to pick up seats at the next election.”
eelsemaj99

The Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader throwawayravenclaw also responded to the polls saying:

“[The Liberal Democrats] have faith that a combined effort from the Traffic Light Coalition will be able to produce a good result for the Liberal Democrats and our partners.”
throwawayravenclaw

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This of course presents an interesting concept of a potential TLC “pact” going into the election, with the left-wing bloc working together to provide a unified force against the Conservatives. This would most likely involve a series of mutual endorsements and would increase the TLC’s ability to win seats (with the vote share of three parties per constituencies, rather than one). This could mean that they can gain seats where the right vote is split.

In all, the polls show a rocky start to the election for many parties, but those affected have shown they aren’t standing down from the fight and still see a good result for themselves in the end.

Constituency Polling – GEXI – 6th February
byu/Tilerr inMHOCPress

Launch of the Model Telegraph

Good evening, MHoC. This is the announcement post for the launch of the Model Telegraph. 🎉

We have one goal: to be MHoC’s source for interesting stories and reliable news. I am the Editor in Chief/Managing Director and /u/paul_randis the Deputy Editor.

Internally, there will be two available full-time roles (at present) “Contributor” and “Columnist”. Contributors are persons who help the Telegraph in achieving its goal as becoming the favoured source for reliable news by posting/writing a range of things such as articles, interviews as well as sourcing leaks and Op-Eds. Columnists are persons who post regular Op-Eds for the Telegraph. Anyone from any part of the political spetrum is welcome to contribute etc.

We are also of course happy to publish any Op-Eds or leaks (M: even if it were to damage our own goals in the game), provided it doesn’t slander or impact our ability to be a source for news (and doesn’t break good reddiquette or MHoC content rules). Our Editorial Policy is that every voice should be heard.

If you are interested in anything above, please DM either me (discord pjr#6252) or Rand (Rand#0805). Op-Eds/Leaks can be directed to this sub’s modmail, or to either of us on discord.

Please don’t hesitate to DM us for anything you want/need.

Sub Link:https://www.reddit.com/r/ModelTelegraph

Discord Link: https://discord.gg/hrM9RNe