Wednesday 18 May 2011

The Referendum Result: A Silver Lining

It has been a few bruising weeks since the result of the Alternative Vote referendum. Although many of us including myself thought that the result of the referendum would be a disappointment it was probably not an entirely unexpected one. The dark forces of conservatism reigned triumphant on results night however this is hardly a surprise given the widespread misinformation about AV. Both the yes and no campaigns resorted to political mudslinging and in the end it came down to a personality contest in the minds of the public; which basically meant choosing the set of politicians you least hated (that'll be just like First Past The Post then).

The result of the referendum was obviously a blow to us Liberal Democrats and to Nick Clegg. However here are five points of encouragement and a silver lining to look at in these dark clouds of referendum defeat.

Firstly, in 1979 the Welsh people rejected Welsh devolution by 80% to 20% and yet within the space of 18 years support for devolution had increased to such a degree that when the next referendum was called in 1997 it was won with just over 50% of the vote. The gap with the AV referendum result in 2011 was far slimmer with 68% opposing change and 32% supporting it. That's a difference of 2-1 compared to a difference of 4-1 in the Welsh referendum of 1979.

Secondly, we have managed to get what is usually considered a relatively dry topic, electoral reform into the public discourse. Although we didn't exactly get people dancing in the streets over electoral reform we were able to prove that a considerable minority of the population, a third do desire some aspect of electoral reform.

Thirdly, we have said a no to AV, now what about a yes to PR. The former SDP leader, David Owen was the poster boy for this aspect of the no campaign. Lord Owen is obviously a progressive and one that is also committed to proportional representation; however I couldn't help thinking during the referendum campaign that he and all the others who voted no believing that it would help the case for PR were being taken as fools by the no campaign. But assuming this is not the case surely Margaret Beckett, William Hague, John Reid, Ken Clarke, David Blunkett, Nick Griffin and David Owen will now start pushing for PR. Unfortunately of that list, I think that David Owen is the only one with the genuine intention to follow that through.

Fourthly, there is a chance that this could paradoxically strengthen our attempts to democratise the House of Lords as David Cameron will be under more pressure to enact the part of the Coalition Agreement which calls for a "wholly or mainly elected second chamber" elected using proportional representation. However this has always been a difficult road to tread, Nick Clegg will have to succeed where many other progressives have failed.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, we gave people a choice. When New Labour came into office in 1997 they promised to give the people a referendum on changing the voting system and yet after 13 years not even a date was announced for when the referendum should be held. Labour liked people to believe they wanted electoral reform however their inertia shows that they did not. We have wasted no time in giving the British people a say over their electoral system and yes they rejected it but the whole point of believing in liberal democracy is that you are not afraid to give the people a chance to display their democratic viewpoint.

Sunday 15 May 2011

One Year of Liberal Democrat Governance

Yes it has been one year since that beautiful scene in the Downing Street rose garden between Nick and Dave. Its one year since the political civil partnership of the Coalition Government. Its one year since Nick Clegg pretended to walk away from David Cameron (a few regretted that he turned back, not including myself). Its one year since Britain was painted in yellowish blue. And yet although we could not see what the future had in store for us; know one can say that the last 12 months of British politics from the perspective of any party especially the Liberal Democrats has been particularly boring. Speaking as a centre-left Liberal Democrat to see the object of Cleggmania stood next to the heir to all things Thatcherite did make me feel unsure whether a coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats was a good thing. However as time has worn on, I have begun to warm to the Coalition Government. If not in an entirely fanatical way.

The previous 12 months has been a rollercoaster ride for us Lib Dems. And yes there have been some negative things some of which I have disagreed with like the rise in tuition fees or some of the budget cuts which are less than progressive to say the least or the completely right wing marketisation proposed in the government's NHS reforms, however there are many things as a Liberal Democrat that I can only applaud. The reason I began to support the Lib Dems was because of their stance on defending civil liberties. It is fantastic that over the last 12 months the Coalition Government has been able to undo many of the authoritarian injustices inaugurated in the previous Labour Government. ID cards have been scrapped, detention without charge has been reduced from 28 days to 14 days, child detention has been ended and control orders have been watered down. Just on the basis of this defence of civil liberties, the Liberal Democrats have not been afraid to put our liberal agenda into action. We are delivering on our four main manifesto commitments. Already over 800,000 of the poorest people in our country have been taken out of paying any income tax. The pupil premium is well within the pipeline of the coalition agenda. Chris Huhne over at the Department of Energy and Climate Change is driving forward our green new deal to create a more sustainable green economy. We have even made great progress in terms of political reform despite the loss of the AV referendum, don't forget Labour promised to have a referendum on electoral reform in 1997 and after 13 years they failed to deliver even that basic progress, however we wasted no time in putting the Alternative Vote to the people.

Another factor which has strengthened my support for the coalition government is the rank opportunism of Ed Miliband’s Labour Party. The claims that Ed Miliband would make Labour more progressive, seem to me to have been too little effect. Firstly, although I disagree with some (but certainly not all) of the government’s spending cuts, I do believe that we need to reduce the deficit. Ed Miliband promised a Labour deficit reduction plan by the time the Coalition published there’s however over six months into Ed Miliband's leadership Labour has yet to produce such a program. Former Labour ministers from across the party still defend Labour's record on civil liberties. As regards to political reform Labour as a party seems completely unwilling to enact change. This was hammered home by the streams of former Labour ministers lining up to speak on behalf of the No to AV campaign.

The last year has been very interesting for Liberal Democrats. It has been the ultimate political rollercoaster from Cleggmania to tuition fees riots and deficit reductions. With serious progress potentially being made in the near future on issues like progressive taxation, the pupil premium, Lords reform, carbon emissions reduction and protecting our NHS from privatised cherry picking; the words from the Lib Dem grassroots can only be a cautiously nervous, ‘four more years.’

Tuesday 10 May 2011

I’m Still Proud To Wear My Yellow Rosette

It is hardly an understatement to say that the last few days have been very hard for any supporter of the Liberal Democrats, due to the very bad election results we received on Thursday. Some political commentators were even commenting that it was the worst election result since the merger of the Liberal Party and the SDP in 1988. Indeed, with the defeat of over 700 councillors in England and obliteration across the map of Scotland, it was hardly a great night in the annals of Lib Dem history. However the Welsh party was able to buck the trend finishing the last session of the Welsh assembly with five seats and maintaining five seats by the end of the Welsh election.

Considering the bad results on Thursday, some may be wondering whether or it is time to hang up our yellow rosettes (a fact further hammered home by the incredible no vote in the Alternative Vote Referendum). In Lancaster, where I was running as a Liberal Democrat candidate for the Ellel Ward, the results for our party mirrored the national picture. Of the five seats we held prior to the city council election we lost all of them on results day.  That even included the Liberal Democrat council leader Stuart Langhorn, who narrowly lost his Lower Lune Valley seat to the Conservatives by just over 100 votes. Earlier in the day when I had done some tallying it looked possible that we may retain Lower Lune Valley. However the final result was not as close as I had hoped. In the council Ward where I was standing, Ellel, I never had any illusion about what the result would be considering that this particular council seat had a relatively strong Conservative presence. In the end I received 174 votes narrowly surpassing my Liberal Democrat running mate by 10 votes.

However after us Lib Dems received a mauling locally, I am still quite proud to wear my yellow rosette and certainly have no intention to change the colour of it this side of infinity. Oddly in the wake of my Party’s disastrous results, I am relatively confident that we can regain much lost ground in four years time. This is due to one reason in particular; for decades Liberal Democrats have seen local community politics as a speciality of ours. The next four years will give us an opportunity to excel locally and build strong local liberal foundations. It is time to prove over the next four years that indeed we are the masters of local politics and that we can recoup many of the losses dealt in the local elections this year. I personally would love to run as a candidate again in 2015 (with hopefully a much better result than I received this year). The whole experience of campaigning and going to the count was quite exciting and exhilarating if only our efforts as local Lib Dems had borne fruit. Hopefully there shall be much fruit to harvest in 2015. Perhaps I should leave the last word of local Liberal Democrat optimism to the now former leader of Lancaster council, Stuart Langhorn who was reported in the Lancaster Guardian as saying, "we have to listen to people, we have a great country with a strong liberal tradition and a great party." (http://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/lancaster-and-district-news/lib_dems_wiped_out_in_poll_1_3358632).

Monday 9 May 2011

Painting The Red Rose County Yellow

This is my first ever blog, so I assume it would only be polite to apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes or inaccuracies in grammar. I hope that you enjoy reading my blog and that you take many insightful things from it. I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name is Paul Hindley, I’m 20 years old and I’m a student at Lancaster University who is studying politics. In my blog I intend to express my opinions and comments on contemporary current affairs issues locally, nationally and globally.

As no doubt you will have realised by now I intend to blog about social liberalism especially from the perspective of the British Liberal Democrats. I suppose my liberal use of the colour yellow (forgive the pun) in the title header and the words centre-left Liberalism would have been quite a giveaway. I first became interested in politics at the age of 12 in 2003, this was during the most controversial period of Tony Blair's New Labour government, when this country was taken to war illegally against Iraq in a neoconservative mission topple Saddam Hussein by means that were unlawful according to the international community. My outrage at the war in Iraq was swiftly followed by my outrage towards the Labour Party's authoritarian stance toward civil liberties embodied by nothing more symbolic than the identity card. I subsequently gained a deep scepticism for the authoritarianism embodied by New Labour and the Thatcherite economics espoused by the Conservatives.

 All things considered, it is little wonder that ended up supporting the party that I did and in 2008 merely one month after my 18th birthday and in the middle of an A-level politics course I finally joined that party. Much has happened since I joined the party, I have been to 2 party conferences, I have become the Treasurer in my University’s Liberal Democrat society, I have stood for a council seat for Lancaster City Council and most of all I have watched my party transcend from opposition to Coalition government. Even after everything that has happened to the Liberal Democrats over the past years some good, some bad I am still a very proud supporter of my party and its centre-left roofs. It is essential, especially in these times of coalition that centre-left social liberals such as myself can convey thoughts and opinions about politics in general from a liberal left perspective. This is my main reason for wanting to start this blog.

I am Lancashire born and bred, I have lived here all my life from my hometown of Blackpool to my current studying in Lancaster at Lancaster University. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading the thoughts and opinions of at least this centre-left Liberal Democrat over the blog entries to come and together perhaps we can do our bit to paint the ‘red rose county’ yellow.