Prime Minister Patrick Manning says the newly-formed coalition government in the UK will collapse within a year. He made the prediction and used the current tumultuous political atmosphere in the UK to further cement his argument that coalition governments are doomed to fail. Manning, addressing supporters at a meeting in Vistabella on Tuesday night, donned the proverbial soothsayer's hat, predicting the inevitable collapse of the David Cameron-led Conservative/Liberal Democrat government. "Even with an agreement in the UK you could confidently predict the UK will go to a general election within one year...one year. You could predict that from now," Manning declared. He related the events leading to the formation of the UK coalition this week.
Manning said after the elections in the UK, "there was no clear winner...the Labour government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown lost the elections. The Conservatives did not get enough seats to form a government." He said the leader of the Conservatives (Cameron) indicated before moving in the direction of a coalition government, "first and foremost they have to discuss some matters of policy and there must be agreement on matters of policy, first and foremost."
This, Manning said, was not the same with the United National Congress/Congress of the People People's Partnership. "In the coalition that has been formed in Trinidad and Tobago, has there been any agreement on policy of any kind?" he asked. "We have this question from the (get) go. We have asked them what is the basis of their agreement?...on what set of principles? on what set of vision? on what set of policies are they agreed?. They had no answer." Petrotrin chairman Malcolm Jones and businessman Alex Elias were among the notable faces attending the meeting that was held at the crossroads of the San Fernando East and West on the corner of Jarvis and Solomon streets.
Manning told the flag-waving crowd that successful coalition governments call "for political maturity. "It calls for a leader whose authority is accepted and respected," he said. "If you do not have that you are going to have bacchanal, you are going to have chaos, you are going to have confusion." The Prime Minister boasted about the PNM's manifesto, which he said, not only highlighted the party's achievement but mapped out its plans to take the nation to first world status.
Manning also revealed plans to implement a National Medical Insurance Scheme. The scheme will form part of a National Health Service, which he said "is really a health insurance scheme where a small part of the health insurance is paid by you–a standard deduction from your salary every month." He said it would be a minimal fee, "nothing that is outside of your capabilities and, as you access the system, to prevent abuse, whenever you access the (health) system, you pay a small fee–five dollars or something like that."
