The Lib Dems are revolting

Today's independent carries two stories about angry Lib Dems. The first, 'Get tough on Tories' urge Clegg activists, suggests that local constituency parties are preparing a raft of motions either calling for withdrawal from the coalition, or for the Lib Dem leadership to take a tougher stance against the Tories, perhaps calling for the parliamentary party to vote against some of key Tory proposal in revenge for Lords Reform.

A Liberal Left member, is quoted as saying:

"It looks now as though we will be going through a term in government with no form of constitutional reform to show at the end of it. People like me have never made any secret of the fact that we didn't want a coalition with the Conservatives, but there will be more complaints and motions about it at conference this year. It will be very difficult for the leadership."

The second story, Liberal Democrats slam Osborne over green policies,  explains how Danny Alexander, the Tories' 'Lib Dem darling', will move a motion about the economy at the September Lib Dem Conference over  "the refusal of the Conservatives to acknowledge that investing in carbon reducing technologies has the potential to make an important contribution to long-term growth".

And so it begins. The grassroots revolts, prompting the vacuous sabre-rattling by the leadership to give the pretence of still having influence, and who better to rattle the sabre than the Tories favourite Lib Dem for maximum effect? Interesting that he intends to slam the Tories on the Economy given that Clegg came out last week saying that there was no rift over energy policy within the coalition and that they were all committed to a low carbon economy. As well as marking out Clegg as a liar, it further highlights the non existent Lib Dem influence within the coalition.

As for the activists outrage over the dropping of Lords Reform, it shows a warped sense of priority. Whilst accepting that Lords Reform is long overdue, why is it only now that they've decided to put on the pressure? Where was the membership on Welfare reform, for instance?

Passing the buck on Council Tax Benefit

Today's Independent carries a story on the impact of Council Tax Benefit cuts, both on the recipients and local authorities. Whilst it's not new news, it serves to further highlight the Coalition's cack-handed and unjust approach to welfare reform.
The decision to cut the budget by ten percent has a double sting in the tail. Firstly, local authorities / devolved administrations have to decide how best to administer it and fill the shortfall. This then leaves them in an impossible position and they face a hard choice - reduce the benefit available to recipients (but not the level of Council Tax), pushing them further below the bread line, or put up Council Tax to meet the shortfall.

This is buck-passing on an epic scale.

No doubt the Coalition will then respond by exercising its power to cap Council Tax increases in England, just to make life doubly difficult.

Where now for social liberals?

In His recent Shifting Grounds article, Professor Richard Grayson of Liberal Left, the grouping of Lib Dems opposed to the coalition, pinpoints exactly how and why the Liberal Democrats have lost their way.  There is, he argues, a small elite of individuals in the Lib Dem ranks who want them to become a centre-right party of small-state liberalism. I would argue that it is probably a larger grouping that isn’t confined to an elite, but this brand of pseudo-conservatism is certainly driving the Lib Dems in the Coalition.  He points to the overbearing influence of individuals like David Laws, libertarians who see less government as the answer to most problems.

By asking the question, ‘how many  of the Coalition’s state-slashing policies are helping to disperse power and build capability in our citizens?’, Richard gets to the heart of what Liberalism is all about, as well as highlighting just how Liberalism - or at least the social liberalism that I associate with – has been absent from the Coalition’s Programme. Perversely, Nick Clegg summed up the crux of the argument in a speech in 2010: ‘It is not the size of the state – it’s what the state does that matters’.

If only Clegg’s actions in government had been as Liberal as his words.

Whilst I admire the attempts of Richard and his Liberal Left colleagues to fight the Social Liberal corner, I remain unconvinced of their ability to bring about the change of direction needed. Other than a light smattering of press coverage, I see no evidence of significant impact. Crucially, their Advisory Board and Executive Committee lacks parliamentarians and boasts no MPs.  Liberal Left cannot hope to change the course of Lib Dems in Parliament without this support.

The sad reality is that the Liberal Democrats no longer offers a comfortable home for social liberals. Consequently, members and voters are deserting the party – in droves.  An article in last Sunday’s Independent suggests that one in five Lib Dems resigned from the party last year, with the worst loss of membership in those constituencies represented by Government ministers. In Scotland, Lib Dem membership is down by over a quarter.

They shouldn’t have expected anything less. The feeble and irritating defence from a ‘Lib Dem spokesman’ was to acknowledge the difficulties caused by their decision to ‘put the interests of the country before party’, and to pay tribute to the ‘real liberals’ who’ve stuck it out, the ‘heroes of Liberalism’. The ‘heroes of Liberalism’?? Are they serious? Can they really be that dismissive of losing 20 percent of their membership base?

There are now a lot of Liberals who find themselves disenfranchised, disillusioned and despondent. The question is, are they just going to pack up and go home, or are they going to mobilise and try to present a truly Liberal alternative to the Coalition? More importantly, who can rally them, and through what mechanism? Can anyone succeed where Liberal Left is struggling? Time, as always, will tell.

The end of the road

My Liberal Democrat membership expired on 31st March. I have no intention of renewing it.

This is the second time I’ve made such a promise to myself in as many years. After the first, in a moment of weakness, I was persuaded by friends to give it another year ‘to see how things went’.

Well I’ve done just that; I’ve given it another year and things have gone from bad to worse. This time, I mean it.

The Lib Dems have very little to show for their involvement in the Coalition Government. I haven’t seen a government as illiberal as this one since the days of Thatcher, and Clegg is guilty by association. On every substantive measure like welfare reform, university tuition fees, NHS reform, public services, social justice and electoral reform Clegg and his MPs have short-changed both the electorate and the social liberals who have campaigned hard for liberal principles and values, only to see those principles and values undermined and betrayed by Clegg’s actions in government.

It is with regret and sadness that I am calling time on 17 years of Liberal Democrat activism, but I feel that I have little choice if I’m to remain true to the liberal beliefs that I hold dear. How can I espouse the cause of liberalism when the party to which I belong undermines those core beliefs through its actions?

For the sake of my conscience, walking away is the right thing to do.