An Alternative for the Non-Socialist Voter Mr. Ramsay Muir has
made a point which is probably a sound one from the point of view_of one who wishes to defeat the present Government. He maintains that the decision of the Liberal Party to preserve its separate identity is more likely to harm National Government candidates at the next election than a decision to make common cause with Labour. His contention is that there are many persons in the country who dislike the National Government but dislike Labour .more. Such persons would refuse to vote for a Liberal who was tied up to support of the Socialists, and would vote with the Government ; but they would vote for a Liberal who was opposed to both the National Government and the Labour Party. It is true that before 1931 three-cornered elections generally played into the hands of the Conserva- tives, the progressive vote being split. But the position is very different today, when much of the progressive vote would certainly go, not to Labour, but to the National Government, if there were no Liberal in the field. But it must be admitted that Mr. Muir's argument is open to a construction which he probably does not intend—that the appearance of Liberals in three-cornered contests will often merely have the effect of letting Labour in. How- ever, that, in his view, would be the lesser of two evils.
Previous page
