What do the Lib-Dems stand for?

Leading Lib-Dem Mark Pack quotes from the Lib-Dem Constitution to answer this question:

“The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.” (https://www.markpack.org.uk/libdem-beliefs/, accessed 14 May 2019)

As such it would seem an uncontroversial summary of classical liberal philosophy with a good dose of John Stuart Mill thrown in. The promotion of happiness does of course lead to the accusation that this is unethical hedonism so there is a clear attempt to draw out a wider set of values. However, the clash between liberty and community was clear for all to see in the clash between the classic social liberals and the new market friendly Orange Bookers who took control of the LDs in recent years and used this to join a coalition with the Tories to implement austerity between 2010 and 2015.

One might have thought this would represent the nadir of LD utilitarianism but apparently not. In Bolton those who voted to continue in the noble tradition of Gladstone and Lloyd George have woken to discover that their elected Lib-Dem councilors have decided to use their mandate based on the principles and values of the Lib-Dems as summarized above to get into a coalition agreement with not just the Tories (déjà vu) but that well-known embodiment of equality and community, UKIP:

“Bolton Conservatives and three other parties have now agreed to form a Tory-led cabinet. It means Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and hyper local parties, Farnworth and Kearsley First and Horwich & Blackrod First Independents, will work together.” (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/bolton-council-tories-liberal-coalition-16257017, accessed 14 May 2019)

UKIP’s local election manifesto 2019 calls for the following:

* “Make Brexit happen! A vote for UKIP is always a vote for a complete and total exit from the European Union”

* “End mass uncontrolled immigration and open borders.”

* “Abolish the BBC TV Licence”

* “UKIP wants to create more grammar schools”

* “UKIP councillors will work to reduce taxes and costs on businesses to help stimulate the local economy.”

Possibly, their support is based on one policy they do clearly share with UKIP:

* “UKIP policy is to introduce proportional representation”

(All UKIP policy quotes come from https://www.ukip.org/uploads/MiniLocalManifesto2019-1.pdf, accessed 14. May 2019)

Does this sound like a ‘fair, free and open society’ to you? Me, neither. However, the experience in Bolton shows one very good reason why we should not support PR. Using this system would make back-room unaccountable deals a much more prominent feature of UK politics and allow those unwilling to be limited by principles much more influence – clearly not an outcome which everyone would be happy with even if the greatest number of LDs would be.

Following Bolton, the Lib-Dems are now ‘working together’ with a party which has as one of its candidates, Carl Benjamin, most famous for highly offensive comments about Labour MP, Jess Phillips and promoting free speech though his YouTube persona of Sargon of Akkad where he does describe himself as an English liberal. Following his expulsion from twitter, Benjamin has moved to Gab, a space for free speech with no restrictions on anti-Semitism, racism or misogyny.

The Lib-Dems also find themselves ‘working together’ with a party which has Mark Meechan as a candidate in Scotland. He is most famous for being fined £800 for filming a dog giving a Nazi salute. He is also known as Count Dankula on the internet – a seemingly odd trend for mysticism allied to far-right politics.

While your nice cuddly Lib-Dems seek to avoid the appearance of any resemblance to this and their Euro manifesto declares; ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ which rather puts them at odds with their new partners in Bolton, it does illustrate the problem of entrusting your vote to the LDs, which is that you can never really be sure what you will be getting.

What is missing from the classical liberal pantheon is the centrality of equality. When push comes to shove, they prefer liberty to equality pushing the LDs quite over to the right and leading to the disgrace of their cohabitation with and co-responsibility for the Austerity of the 2010-2015 period but now their cohabitation with UKIP.

Socialism does prioritise equality over liberty and does so consistently. It can see the clear dangers involved if you do not. The IFS Deaton Review (https://www.ifs.org.uk/inequality/, Accessed 14 May 2019) makes clear that in 1977 the top 1% had 3% of household income whereas now it is nearly reaching 9%. It also points to a rise in deaths of despair – suicide, drug and alcohol related deaths as the remorseless grind of capitalism accumulation takes its toll.

The exacerbation of inequality and the reinforcement of this by the Posted Workers Directive of the EU are factors involved in this rise in inequality. It is this which has also contributed to the rise of Brexit and far-right populism.( https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/11/19/austerity-swung-voters-to-brexit-and-now-they-are-changing-their-minds/, accessed, 14 may 2019). What is odd is that the avowed advocates of opposition to Brexit were nonetheless prepared to support the austerity policies that fuelled these sentiments and have now even been prepared to get into ‘working together’ with UKIP in Bolton. You really can only stretch utilitarianism so far before you are open to accusations of unprincipled and unethical conduct. Perhaps this is what is now happening in Bolton. You can however hardly rely on the LDs ‘Bollocks to Brexit’ message as a guide to how to vote in the Euro elections. After all, who knows what they will do with your vote. Better to stick to Principle. At least you know what you are going to get! – Schrödinger's Cat

Bolton party leaders sign an agreement allowing the Conservatives to lead the council.