Britain is now well into Party Conference season, with the Liberal Democrats now midway through their annual gathering in Glasgow. The desperation of the party leadership is becoming increasingly transparent as, 600 days away from election day, they are derided by the majority of voters as being ‘ yellow Tories’ and by the rest for being a barrier to the Tory leadership and their so-called “tough decisions”. Therefore, Clegg and Co. have been busily working on ‘distinct policies’ that they can claim credit for implementing.
So this weekend we were treated by the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to the news that supermarket plastic bags will soon be subject to a 5p charge and schools will be issued with advice not to use expensive exclusive uniform suppliers. Who said that Lib Dem Conference was boring? To be fair, the inflated cost of school uniforms and the environmental impact of billions of disposable plastic bags are issues that need addressing, however trivial they might seem to many. Setting aside comments like “Nick Clegg is twiddling his thumbs whilst his country burns”, my only complaint is that even when the Lib Dems are trying to be distinctive, their policies are feeble.
The solution to the environmental and ecological tragedy of our national addiction to plastic bags is not to impose a token charge on them. After all, what’s 50p on £80 worth of shopping? It’s going to change very few people’s behavior. No, the solution is a total and outright ban. As on the Continent, that would encourage the use of cloth and canvass bags and save everybody money in a few shopping trips. If they want to end cosy deals between schools and uniform suppliers, they should do something somewhat stronger than advise them against it.
Fortunately for the journalists staying up at Glasgow, there were bigger questions being discussed, both publicly and behind closed doors. The most significant matter is how the Lib Dems would act if they hold the balance of power in a second hung parliament. What I find interesting about this is that the Lib Dem grassroots are becoming much less hostile to their Conservative peers just as the leadership of the party is not-so-subtlely reaching out to Labour. It feels like the political universe has been turned on its head when grassroots Lib Dems endorse nuclear power- utterly unthinkable since the party’s creation- whilst it is left to the party’s President to call for a Living Wage.
But don’t mistake this change for the Liberal Democrat leadership suddenly finding its heart. The process can be attributed to two factors:
1. The Left is weakened at grassroots level as members continue to resign in protest at their participation in Coalition.
2. The party has realised that they’ve no future if they spend 10 years in coalition with the Tories. They must reclaim the centre, and can only do so if they are seen as leaning towards the Tories.
The Labour Party should under no circumstances consider a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. There is no point in governing if by doing so we are rehabilitating the image of this band of two-faced opportunists who will corrode British politics with their stunning ability to betray their supporters with breathtaking moral superiority. The Lib Dems, for the sake of power, have stabbed the young, the disabled, students, workers, environmentalists, and fair minded people who trusted them to uphold progressive values in the back. The Lib Dems can choose further collaboration with the Tories, or they can spend a few election cycles renewing their ideology and leaders. But holding back the true Left is off limits.
