The election had colored the Storting red and green, the Labor Party had obtained its dream scenario: a majority together with the Center Party and SV. At the Hurdalsjøen hotel, Jonas Gahr Støre’s plan was clear: he wanted a majority government with Ap, Sp and SV in place. What SV specifically said no to in Hurdal is revealed in a hitherto secret document which is discussed in a new book about the Labor Party. In the book it appears that: Støre and Ap were ill-prepared for how big and what impact SV would have. SV received approval to investigate an inheritance tax, but this was not to be introduced during this period. SV’s impact on tax, oil and welfare was nowhere near large enough for the party to enter government. It was Ap rather than SP that stood in the way of a majority government. The conclusion in the book “Partiet”, which was written by Dagbladet’s Steinar Suvatne and Jørgen Gilbrant, is clear: – With the help of the hitherto secret document, the following can be established for the first time: SV gained far more influence for its policy by stand outside the government. Even when the collapse was a fact on 29 September three years ago, then SV leader Audun Lysbakken said the following about why SV went: – It is the whole in these areas. Oil policy, emissions cuts, nature conservation, tax, making welfare profit-free. – I think we could achieve more in a majority government, I still think so. But that’s the way it is, now we can move on, said Støre the same day. TEAM: SV’s Hurdals dealers Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes, Audun Lysbakken and Kirsti Bergstø, who have now taken over as party leader from Lysbakken. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Got an ultimatum The moment of truth actually came the night before, 28 September 2021. Then neither Støre nor SP leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum was willing to negotiate further. And Lysbakken was practically given an ultimatum, according to the book: – Either you join, or you leave, Støre is said to have given notice. Lysbakken said no, and SV left Hurdal as the opposition party. Outwardly, it was claimed that the three parties were carrying out soundings – that is, a kind of “pre-phase” – in Hurdal. But in retrospect, none of the parties has any doubts that there were real government negotiations that took place between the three parties. However, the three parties misunderstood each other while the talks were going on, according to the book: – In Ap and Sp it was believed that the document we have mentioned above was a negotiated agreement. In SV, it was perceived as being “as far as one came”, and is by no means binding, the book states. And without increased oil tax or scrapping of the favorable oil tax package, a clear impact on dental health or after-school care or tax cuts for those with the lowest income, the matter was simple for Lysbakken. He had to say no. But the book challenges the understanding that it was the Center Party that had taken care of “freezing out” SV. – Both SV and the Center Party point to Støre and Ap as the obstacle, the book says. And Støre and Ap did not know what to do, it is claimed: – For a long time, the press had asked the Ap leaders what victories SV could get in matters of their heart, but when the parties finally sat down to negotiate, the party appeared confused in SV’s eyes – and that after eight preparatory years in opposition. – The Labor leadership wanted us in, but they were not well enough prepared, says a central SV politician in the book. CLOSED: The conversations at the Hurdalsjøen hotel were strictly secret. Photo: NTB Third election Vedum The platform was one thing, the composition of the government another. According to the book, after Hurdal, the Labor leaders had a clear demand for Støre: Vedum or Marit Arnstad had to become finance minister. Only in this way could SP be made responsible for the government’s policy, they believed. There was only one problem: Neither Vedum nor Arnstad wanted to. Sp proposed Sigbjørn Gjelsvik, but was rejected. As Arnstad wanted to remain in the Storting, Vedum had to take the job himself. – Minister of Local Government, which Vedum would prefer to be, the SP leadership now had to find a new candidate, it says. TRIO: Sps Sigbjørn Gjelsvik, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum and Marit Arnstad during the negotiations at Hurdal. Photo: NTB After Hurdal, SV has been the government’s permanent budget partner. It is a situation the party has apparently lived well with, the opinion polls have been good. And the party already gained more influence in the first budget negotiations in the autumn of 2021 than in Hurdal, the book says. – Sitting in his parliamentary office in December 2021, SV leader Audun Lysbakken could not avoid thinking about what he had given up: a government job with a higher salary and black cars. – While he was looking at the papers from the budget negotiations with the Ap/Sp government, he was still completely sure of his case – it would have been right to say no to Støre and leave the negotiations at Hurdal. Already in the first budget negotiation, SV had the ordinary concession round for 2022 stopped. Ap and Sp rejected in Hurdal to change the oil tax package, which they later did on their own initiative. Published 19.09.2024, at 20.03
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Støre “in a wild nest” before SV exit – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
