I think any cooperation between the LibDems and another party would be less than the sum of its parts. They might have some infrastructure that a new party lacks, but they will bring a lot of baggage.

Good points. The Lib Dems also have form in this regard, with the Liberals merger with the Social Democrats providing a temporary boost followed by long term decline (again).

But the FPTP single seat constituency system really only permits a power duopoly with some regional variants in semi-autonomous polities. Sinn Fein and the DUP have also all but destroyed the SDLP and UUP, and it takes a very severe upheaval to bring either into play again.

My argument in the diary is that Brexit could represent one such upheaval, and that if it does change the constituents of that duopoly, the new duopoly could be just as difficult to overthrow.

Proponents of the system argue it is required to produce stable governments - yea right - and that the continental system of almost inevitable coalitions would never work for the UK.

The downside is that there is almost no history of major parties working together and societal polarisation can reach extreme levels, as in the US and UK right now.

So the bottom line is that neither the Lib Dems nor ChangeUK have much of a future in UK politics unless they can displace either the Tories or Labour in the duopoly and to do that they need a crisis and unity of purpose - however temporary - to give themselves a fighting chance in most English constituencies.

This doesn't have to be a full blown merger or policy alignment on all issues, but could be simply an agreement not to compete against each other in winnable constituencies. Quite who gets to lead in what constituencies could be difficult to agree - particularly before a snap election - but a simple system of improvised primaries where the public are invited to select the joint nominee could add novelty, interest, and public participation and legitimation to the process.

Index of Frank's Diaries