Tuesday 14 October 2014

Ten Years On: Still a Lib Dem and Proud


This post is probably the most On Message I will get. I certainly don't intend to do it In Volume, Over Time. But I wanted to say this stuff - it's important - early on.

I still remember meeting a journalist at a party a year ago. Sara was a cool, intelligent, and liberal twenty-something. We got chatting and we got on. And then, five minutes into the conversation, it came out that I was a Lib Dem (I think my girlfriend, standing next to me, was the one to bring it up). And I remember the contortions that crossed Sara's face. First the confusion. Why was anyone still a Lib Dem? Especially someone similar to her. Then came the look of anger: to many the cuts have been very tough. And then came the look of pity. To Sara I was trapped in a situation I couldn't get out of - surely no-one would remain a Lib Dem, backing this government, through choice? And Sara is not alone in feeling this way. I've had these reactions from most of my friends' friends. These are the opinions of young professionals. The very people who backed us in 2010, and the people we need to persuade to back us again. The evening's festivities dragged me away from Sara, so I never got a chance to answer the charge: Why am I still a Liberal Democrat? Why should people like her vote Lib Dem? Here then, is my answer.

First, we have to accept that this is not the government that the Lib Dems would want. We may be a pluralist party, but with the Tories having nearly five and a half times the number of MPs as us, we have to work so much harder to get our policies through. There have been successes and failures along the way, but not going into coalition was never an option. The public finances were in a precarious state in May 2010, and quick, decisive action was needed to safeguard the future of the United Kingdom. In joining the Conservative Party in coalition, the Liberal Democrats gave the markets the reassurance they needed, and our economy has since flourished. This achievement, on its own, is one that makes me proud to be a Lib Dem.

But it is not a stand-alone achievement. I am proud that this government has had real liberal achievements. Achievements like increasing the personal tax allowance so that the lowest paid can keep more of their hard won earnings. Achievements like the end of the detention of children for immigration purposes. And achievements like the introduction of the pupil premium, so that the most funding goes to those schools with the largest proportion of student from the least well off families. Liberal Democrats have also legislated to guarantee that 0.7% of the country's gross national income is spent on aid to those people across the globe who are in the worst circumstances. These achievements are Liberal Democrat achievements, which provide opportunity for the least well off in society. These would not have happened in a majority Tory government: remember how the biggest tax cut the Tories promised in 2010 was an inheritance tax cut for the wealthiest?

The Liberal Democrats stopped the Tories from giving their rich friends the tax cuts they so desired. The Liberal Democrats have protected the Human Rights Act, which the Tories promised to tear up in 2010 - a promise they have remade for their 2015 manifesto, because they couldn't get it through the coalition. And the Liberal Democrats have protected the environment, and made sure that this government understands the threat of global warming, whilst Tory backbenchers continue to believe that there is no evidence for man-made climate change.

That's not to say there haven't been mistakes - things this government has done that we wished we had been able to block. I think it's only a fool that tries to defend the bedroom tax. But we've recognised our mistakes, and are legislating to make the withdrawal of the spare-room subsidy fairer.

The job of fixing the public finances is not finished. There's so much more to do. The introduction of a mansion tax, opposed by the Tories, will help us finish the job of cleaning up Labour's mistakes without hurting the least well-off. We want to lift more of the least well-off people in society out of paying tax, and we want to increase the number of children receiving free school meals. We will build a more caring society than the Tories, in a more financially responsible way than Labour (I can't bring myself to use the phrase SEFS). We believe in creating opportunity for everybody. It's this belief in individual and personal liberty that means we are so much more than a split-the-difference party. We have our own, independent policy goals. We are the only mainstream political party in British politics that prizes civil liberties. We are the only mainstream political party in British politics that has been prepared to argue in favour of the European project, whilst all around us we hear calls to withdraw from the EU. And we're the only mainstream political party in British politics who have called for mental health conditions to be treated on a par with physical health conditions.

That's why, ten years after joining the Lib Dems, after all these years of coalition heart-ache (I really do dislike Tory goals), I'm still proud to be a Lib Dem. I back the Liberal Democrat ideals and aims: social liberal ideals and aims. I believe that the state has a role to play in making people's lives better, but I also believe that the state must guarantee the liberty of the individuals that make up society. Liberal Democrats have fought for these beliefs in government, and will do so again at the general election next year. It's for these same reasons that Sara should vote Lib Dem in 2015. We've reached an era of multi-party politics and hung-parliaments. If you value our ideals and what we fight for, then give us a stronger, not a weaker, voice, in 2015. We may not get everything we want done. But who else would get close?

There's an additional answer as to why I'm still a Lib Dem. I have a lot of close friends in the party, and I live in a seat represented by a wonderful, independent-minded Lib Dem MP. But those answers are more specific, and less relevant when trying to answer why people all across the country should vote Lib Dem.



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