From New Labour To New Politics

Well, this so-called New Politics is absolutely fascinating. Five Cabinet seats for Liberal Democrats and Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister, who’d have thought it on Thursday night?

Given the fight with the Conservatives that has just taken place in Brecon & Radnorshire, this is going to be difficult for all of us, we don’t have to like it but we are bound to try to make it work. We need to hold our noses and see how this coalition develops. The positives that appear to have been agreed so far include, the raising the income tax threshold is going to be crucial in helping families on low incomes cope with the pain of the public spending cuts that we will all experience over the next few years, the putting in hold the inheritance tax breaks for the super rich, something on voting reform and fixed, five-year parliaments.

However, Liberal Democrats in cabinet, and in parliament need to continue to press for a common sense, pragmatic approach to some outstanding issues. These are just three:

It is quite objectionable that Conservative Members of the European Parliament have been dispatched to the edge of the European Parliament, aligned with what Nick Clegg in one of the Leaders Debates, accurately described as “a bunch of nutters”. If we accept that much of the powerplay in Europe takes place within the two main groups, the Socialists and the European Peoples Party (EPP), it is utterly bizarre that Cameron had taken his MEPs out of the EPP and away from any possibility of influencing the European Parliamentary agenda. If the New Politics is to extend beyond our shores then Cameron needs to get his MEPs back in the EPP as soon as possible.

The cap on non-EU immigration is neither here nor there, the numbers are insignificant. What is an issue is all those thousands of illegal immigrants already here and working in the black economy, continually exploited by crooked gang-masters, paying no taxes and not contributing to British society, ‘Big’ or otherwise. This is a twilight world where the cheap, illegal migrant labour benefits criminals and businesses willing to turn a blind eye to the reality of the lives of the immigrants. This problem is not likely to disappear of its own accord, but it could be sorted by offering the illegal immigrants who want to stay here a route to citizenship. Such a route would require the satisfying of conditions for example, the ability to speak English, the completion of a period of community service. By failing to address this issue, it can be argued that the government is condoning criminality.

Trident has to be part of a thorough defence review and if it is to be replaced by a like-for-like weapons system, the case for doing so has to be absolutely watertight, like the submarines that carry it.

The most important question that has still to be resolved, and the one that might yet put this coalition in difficulty, is the detail of what is proposed on reforming the political system. The anachronistic First Past The Post (FPTP) system of voting has to go, and in the lifetime of this parliament. This is not a party political issue, it is a national issue and all progressives, however they are defined, need to come together to ensure that this goal is achieved. It is clear that there are both Conservative and Labour MPs and activists who remain firmly wedded to the grossly unfair FPTP, and if a referendum on this issue is eventually held, they will campaign fiercely to prevent any change in the voting system. The new Labour Leader, whoever that may be, will need to bring Labour MPs and activists around to accepting voting reform, and to campaign actively to achieve it. Equally, Conservatives of good will, and I am sure some do exist, who recognise the unfairness of the current voting system, must pitch in on the side of fairness and help to achieve voting reform. The Liberal Democrats cannot achieve electoral reform on their own, but they can and must, help to build a coalition of the willing to achieve a positive outcome in any referendum that is offered.