U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced he will resign. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
After the defeat of the Labor Party at the polls in the U.K. election results, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced he will resign as head of the Labor Party and from his post as Prime Minister. Currently, the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties are working on a coalition government. Labor is making a counteroffer to the Liberal Democrats, and it appears it will be months until a British Government is clearly established. Part of the difficulty is that austerity measures will be part of the new government’s platform, as some debt relief is needed from spending deficits.
Gordon Brown offers himself as sacrifice
The move of Gordon Brown to resign from being Prime Minister could be taken as a sacrificial lamb of sorts to the Liberal Democrats, according to the Wall Street Journal. Brown will remain in the post for the short term. In his present capacity as head of the Labor Party, which he will also be resigning, it could easily be construed as an offer meant to woo the Liberal Democrats away from the Conservatives and to forming a different coalition government with Labor instead.
Coalition governments present difficulties
The difficulty in this situation is that Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have to reach an agreement with whichever party they will get the better deal. Currently, The Liberal Democrats are working on forming a coalition government with David Cameron and the Conservative Party, in order to gain a majority, form a government, and solve the first hung parliament in 36 years.
Why this is bad
The United Kingdom, just as the United States, has been having problems lately. The rate of taxation in the U.K. is higher than the U.S. (up to 50 percent of income) and there is a growing deficit, alongside other European economic woes. Currently, a Greece bailout is being organized, but if European markets as a whole aren’t completely stable, it could make for serious repercussions worldwide.
