With its legislative majority gone, and facing more trouble getting its programme through the House, Labour has signed another cooperation agreement - with ACT. It's unexpected, but not entirely crazy - while the parties represent opposing political philosophies, there is still some common ground between them which is worth exploring. And there's very definite advantages for both: ACT gets to show that it is an "MMP party" and that it is not just an appendage of National, while Labour potentially gets a little more help with its programme (unfortunately, likely the bad bits), and further shows that it can work with parties all over the House. Meanwhile, National is left isolated with no friends (other than Gordon Copeland, of course) - which emphasizes their inability so far to play the MMP game as well as Labour.
It would be nice to see the actual agreement, to see what promises either party has made, and whether ACT is bound by confidentiality in its consultations. But the general idea of paties talkign to one another, so they can better find their common ground (however little) and so fight their corners for their voters is one we should be encouraging.
