Lib Dems ‘need policy win’
The Liberal Democrats urgently need to demonstrate they have got their way on a major policy issue to safeguard the stability of the coalition, an expert has warned.
Failing to do so could prove “potentially disastrous” for the party in the long-run, Andrew Russell of Manchester University has warned.
Writing in the December issue of the British Politics journal, Mr Russell argued that the coalition’s junior partners have struggled to demonstrate a “policy triumph” achieved as a direct result of their involvement in the coalition government.
The raised threshold for eligibility for income tax by £1,000, which was said to remove nearly 900,000 British citizens from the burden of the tax system altogether, was the closest the party has got so far, he wrote. But this has not resulted in an upturn in Lib Dem fortunes.
“The absence of quick wins for both coalition partners – and the mutual dependency on the longevity of the coalition agreement – means that the Liberal Democrat need for policy success over the longer term is marked,” Mr Russell argued.
“By the end of the parliament, the Liberal Democrats have a desperate need to be associated in the public’s mind with a policy success. Moreover, the public have to believe that such a policy would not have been delivered by the Conservatives alone.
“Even the spread of Liberal Democrat responsibility across the machinery of government, it might be hard to discern where such a policy success might come from. What is certain, however, is that the Liberal Democrats need it if the decision to join the coalition is not to prove potentially disastrous for the party in the long run.”
If the coalition’s acts become completely associated with the Conservative party, popular policies could be translated into votes for the Tories at forthcoming elections, he suggested.
Attempts to distinguish the Lib Dem brand away from the Tories’ identity poses problems, Mr Russell believes. Persuading voters that the Tories have adopted more liberal approaches because of Lib Dem influence is especially problematic.
“This is a viable tactic for a minor coalition party but the Liberal Democrats are caught here by a particular problem caused by the detoxification of the Conservative brand,” Mr Russell explained.
“Either the Conservatives have been so rehabilitated by Project Cameron that the public is reluctant to believe the liberalising narrative or the brand remains toxic enough for voters to question the wisdom of the coalition in the first place.”
