Reposting this because it seems appropriate:
It seemed like the issue that hurt the Liberal Democrats most was tuition fees, in the sense that that was where they were perceived to have sold out. The raise in tuition fees was passed in December 2010 with the support of a majority of LD MPs. The questions I have:
1. Could the Liberal Democrats have stopped the government from implementing this plan?
2. If the answer to the previous question was no and the Liberal Democrats had withdrawn their support for the government over tuition fees, how would they have done in the following election?
The crushing of the Liberal Democrats will take decades for them to recover from. Weirdly blamed for the policies the Conservatives pushed through during the coalition while given little to no credit for the policies they championed and help implement. Clegg was right imo when he said the election results were crushing and unkind to his party.
It seemed to me that if a voter supported the government, then they would vote Conservative, since a Tory victory would definitely lead to a continuation of the government, whereas if they opposed the government, they would vote for some other party. There was no compelling reason to vote Liberal Democrat.
