Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Conservative support falls again in new survey as Labour extends advantage
October 5726 (backdated)

The Conservative Party can’t seemingly stop its decline, following the terrorist attacks on Luthorian soil a few months ago, the Tories’ poll numbers have begun to radically decline in favor of the National Labour Party. 

In 5723, the Conservatives were swept back into Number 10 by emphasizing their “law and order” credentials to the electorate. Then-Leader of the Opposition Parkford promised that a conservative government would “sweep away” all of Labour’s “harmful” or “dreadful” security policies. Now, considering the calamitic performance from Luthorian security agencies regarding the prevention of last year’s terrorist attacks, the Tories are obviously blamed by the electorate for this tragedy.

The Tories are losing points among numerous segments of the electorate, on one hand, the technocratic and “elitist” centrist voters are taking their distance from the Parkford Administration as the Cabinet seems hell-bent on turning the tragedy into an all-out “anti-communist” crusade. On September 14, the Leader of the Imperial Diet, Miles Crawford had, on behalf of the Prime Minister, introduced a bill in the lower house named “Seditious Organisation Proscription Bill”, an Act of Parliament which would have granted to the government full discretion at dissolving perceived “seditious” organizations at will. 

The Parkford Administration introduced the policy in response to the lawsuit filed against His Majesty’s Government (more specifically the Department of Justice) by the pro-liberty collective “Hands Off!” following the forced dissolution and outlawing declaration of the Ruanist National Workers’ Front (RNWF) which was also declared as a “terrorist” and “seditious” organisation by the Luthorian government.

The lawsuit was justified by the fact that the government “had no concrete power granted to it by an Act of Parliament on its [RNWF’s] dissolution without proper parliamentary approval”, according to one senior member of the group, the goal wasn’t to re-allow the RNWF to operate legally again, describing it as a “group of thugs, who are too scared to play by the logical democratic game and resort to kill hard-working Luthorians” but to force the government to use legal pathways in its policies.

“Ignoring the rules is the first step towards the formation of an authoritarian state [...] one that we do not want to see here...” he said.

While defended by the Parkford Administration as a “necessary evil to protect Luthorian democracy”, the opposition National Labour Party dismissed it as a “power grab attempt to solidify control over the government”, as discussions stalled in the Imperial Diet, the Prime Minister forced the issue down to a vote in early March, which he described in a press conference as a “vote of confidence” on his entire government, as if he didn’t receive the votes for it to pass in the Diet, he would “immediately” tender his resignation to the Emperor.

The Proscription Bill passed the Diet by a margin of 259 votes in favour (240 Tory, 15 HPP, 4 Liberal MPs), 185 votes against (132 Labour, 17 Liberal, 21 Green, 13 Left, 1 HPP, 1 Tory MPs) and 33 abstaining or absent at time of third reading voting (26 Tory, 3 HPP, 4 Liberal). But after this, the Bill was effectively blocked in the House of Peers, where Shadow Leader of the House of Peers, the Lord Cameron of Wittfield (Labour) used filibuster tactics to stall the progression of the Bill.

When a motion of cloture, which would have stopped all debates and directly force a vote, was laid forward by Government Peers’ Leader, the Lady Massiah of Wronford, it was soundly defeated by the House of Peers by a 231-391 vote, with the opposition uniting to defeat the government and resume debate. The National Labour Party, under direct orders from its new leader, Martha Tapihana, laid forward a series of amendments which prolonged the debates in the House of Peers.

It seems highly unlikely that the government will be able to force through the Bill in the next months, except if it's a slimmed-down version preemptively approved by the House of Peers. This parliamentary battle has raised awareness of the issue to the wider public, with some on the nationalist right now calling for the “reform” or “abolishment” of the House of Peers, due to the stalwart opposition to the government’s bill, meanwhile, Mrs. Tapihana has become the face of the anti-proscription movement in Luthori, greatly boosting her credentials as Labour’s future candidate for the Prime Minister’s Office.

Tapihana has nonetheless stated that she wasn’t “against a proscription law,” but would “ensure that there are sufficient checks and balances present to prevent government overreach”.

With these battles in Parliament, the public has seemingly turned against the conservative government, with protests calling upon the Prime Minister to resign and call for early elections. The next general elections are expected to be held by June 5727, and current polling are expecting the Labour Party to emerge victorious, the most poll from Poldata in September showed Labour ahead of the Tories by 2.6 points for the first time in the 5723-5727 parliamentary session. Another poll showed that if the election was held today, Labour would secure an outright majority in the Diet, winning 252 seats out of 477.