Lib Dems must ‘return to ideology’
The Liberal Democrats need to develop a “distinctive liberal pitch” to mark themselves out from other political parties, the leading lights of the party said last night.
David Laws MP insisted that despite the appearance of disarray, the Lib Dems were united in their approach to civil liberties, personal freedom, the environment and an ethical approach to international justice.
What was important, he told a fringe meeting at the Lib Dem conference in Blackpool, was that all these policies were rooted in an overall philosophy or vision.
“The more significant Lib Dems are in British politics over the next ten years, the more important it is that we have a clearer view of where we want to go,” he said.
Nick Clegg MP argued that it was time for parties to show their differences in ideology, rather than simply what they would bring to the management of public services.
“All our arguments are fuelled into thinking about this [issue] when perhaps our authentic passions lie elsewhere,” he told the same meeting.
“We shouldn’t leave our passions behind – the party that does will end up hollow and insecure.”
And when it came to actually fighting elections, Sarah Teather MP argued that the Lib Dems must forge themselves an identity and not just target either Labour or Tory seats.
“If we are serious about being a party of the future, we have to be prepared to take on both the Tories and Labour. If you vacate the centre ground you will leave it open for the Tories,” she said.
Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy has launched two policy reviews since the general election, which he hopes will ignite debate about the party’s future.
Last night Mr Clegg admitted that the party had run a “fairly piecemeal campaign” at the last election, focusing different policies on specific electoral groups rather than working on an overall vision.
But efforts to target the grey vote with specific proposals failed to pay off, while policies that activists believed would put off young professionals did not.
“This was because they were responding to what they thought we were as a party of values,” he told the meeting, insisting that it was from here that a new coherent policy vision should arise.
This is no clearer than on the proposal to levy 50 per cent tax on people earning more than £100,000. Although the policy would only affect one per cent of people, it simply reinforced the Lib Dems’ reputation as a high-tax party.
But Sarah Teather MP insisted to the meeting that the 50p tax was less a policy than “a means of paying for a policy” and was indicative of how the Lib Dems had to broaden their horizons.
“Let’s talk about what kind of tax we want, but not how much,” she said, while Mr Clegg added that it was the overall impression that a policy gives that really matters.
As such, all three MPs welcomed the review of policy, and Ms Teather said disputes over EU spending and reform of the Post Office were nothing more than a healthy clash of opinions prompted by the leadership’s attempts to move the party forward.
“When Tories and Labour meet these challenges they take the power away from the rank and file. It is important that we do not do that,” she said.
Mr Clegg similarly said that arguments would do the party no harm, although he added a qualification that a political party was not a think tank, and so the time would come “when a degree of collective discipline comes across us”.
For a list of Opinion Former fringe events click here.
