MAJOR COMPROMISES have been made by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to reach an agreement on a programme for government, but the deal will last for five years, UK prime minister David Cameron said yesterday.
However, over 20 reviews and investigations have been included in the pact, deferring difficult decisions that could yet trouble relations between the parties.
Acknowledging the scale of the compromises that have had to be made, Mr Cameron said neither he nor Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg could argue that there had been “an effortless fusion” of the parties’ manifestos.
“There has been negotiation. Some policies have been lost on both sides. Some have been changed and we have had to find ways to deal with the issues where we profoundly disagree,” he said, adding that Conservative voters will note the commitments on tax, the European Union and immigration.
“The bad news is that some policies have been changed, [but] the real news is that Britain has something that all Conservatives believe in profoundly, which is strong and stable government in the national interest,” he said.
Mr Clegg said the compromises made had strengthened, “not weakened, the final result”.
On the EU, both agree to a referendum before any more powers can be transferred, and also not to join the euro, though a Conservative pledge to enact a Sovereignty Act is now to be the subject of a review.
In addition, the Conservatives have softened the language used in their manifesto when they declared their intention to take back powers over working hours and other issues from Brussels.
The two have also compromised on the non-domicile tax system. The Conservatives had wanted to levy a £25,000 annual fee on those qualifying, while the Liberal Democrats wanted such people covered by UK tax law after seven years. Now it will be reviewed.
On House of Lords reform, a proposal will be put forward by the end of the year, though the Liberal Democrats have rowed back from their previous intention to have a wholly elected upper chamber. Now, it will be “wholly or mainly elected” by PR.
Reviews on banking reform, the future of the Human Rights Act – which the Liberal Democrats want kept and many Conservatives do not – public sector pensions, and the rights of Scottish MPs to vote on laws applying in England are also to be reviewed.
Meanwhile, Mr Cameron won his bid to weaken the powers of the Conservatives’ backbench 1922 committee when MPs by a narrow margin agreed that serving ministers should be able to vote.
However, 118 MPs opposed Mr Cameron, and his action has stored up trouble for the future, with many privately seething and claiming that he speaks about decentralising power throughout the UK, while wanting to centralise it around himself inside his own party.