The LibDems again

While I'm thinking about them, what about the LibDem proposal to offer a referendum on continued EU membership, even though they're in favour of staying in? Yet when you suggest a referendum on continued UK membership they dismiss it completely, because they're in favour of staying in? Why does the phrase "hypocritical bastards" spring to mind? Alasdair Carmichael defended this stance on the BBC this afternoon, saying that:

1) The manifesto for the Holyrood Election was only published recently and they won't go back on it.

2) If they did, those nasty people in the media would accuse them of a U-turn.

I say:

1) They came fourth in that election and lost a seat, so their manifesto clearly wasn't up to much.

2) Labour at Holyrood has moved away from its pre-election stance of no more powers for Holyrood to 'let's talk about it', so why can't the LibDems think again?

3) Even now, they complain that the SNP honoured its manifesto pledge to put forward a White Paper on Independence, so it's a bit rich to say that they have stick to their manifesto when they attack the SNP for doing just that.

4) You now have two policies which are inconsistent anyway: the first is that a referendum on the EU should be had so we can discuss the issue, the second is that they want to stay in the UK so that's final, there should be no more discussion of the subject. In this case, a U-turn actually makes them look less inconsistent rather than more so. You know, I have to take my hat off to the LibDems for managing to create that situation.

5) If you're deciding policies based on what the nasty media might say about you, then why not just give up and have Rupert Murdoch write all our legislation?

Actually, that's already been happening for the last ten years.