We now have a clearer view of the position of the Liberal Democrats on tuition fees:
Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and other leaders will vote in favour (thus ensuring in all likelihood that Higher Fees are introduced)
Simon Hughes and others can't apparently make up their minds and therefore will abstain (again helping the Tories to get fees through Parliament)
and then apparently a number of backbench Lib Dem MPs including Roger Williams and Mark Williams from Wales will vote against
And this from a Party that pledged not to increase fees! Less a Party more a rabble in the current circumstances.
More than anything however going into government has exposed the very significant weakness of the Lib Dem political position. You can for a while get away it seems with being all things to all people, and very different things to very different people. This can 'work' as long as you are in opposition - but in Government such an approach gets exposed for precisely what it is - political opportunism with very few core beliefs. This is I'm sure what we're seeing now, and will see again over the next few years as Lib Dem MPs whose politics range from a harder left position that most Labour MPs in some cases, to considerably more right wing that the majority of one-nation conservatives.
The problem for the Lib Dems is that they are not one party - rather a disparate collection of protest groups that didn't find a comfortable home in the UK context in either the Tories or Labour.
The next few years will be very interesting in terms of the rise and fall of the Lib Dems.
Managed badly we could return to Liberal representation akin to the 1950s where no one is happy with the direction of the Party. Alternatively, Clegg and his team could set out a right wing socially and economically liberal political position. This would undoubtedly be challenging, many members would leave, particularly in Wales and Scotland, but at least the Liberals would have a definitive political position to face the next election. Anything surely would be an improvement on the current 'position'.
Showing posts with label Liberal Democrats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberal Democrats. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Our Colonial Government ... the end of Britishness?
The last week or so has seen a cascade of announcements from the UK Government about Wales with potentially more to come. So for we have:
* the demise of S4C
* the closure of the passport office in Newport
* the scrapping of the Severn Barrage without any commitment to invest in renewable tidal power (e.g.lagoons) in the Severn estuary
* going back to the drawing board in St Athan
and to cap it all today in all likelihood the ditching of the electrification of the South Wales to London mainline
I think what marks out these announcements in particular is a callous disregard for the people of Wales - based on a shared Conservative and Liberal Democrat zeal for cutting public services.
Now the more cynical might think - would you expect anything else?
However for the most part successive Conservative and Labour UK Government's and their Secretaries of State in Wales have pursued a largely common approach. While they may not have done much good, for the most part they didn't do much harm either (with the notable exception of John Redwood). Now, this may have been implicit, but there always seems to have been an underlying 'understanding' with the Welsh people. The British Government will invest e.g. the Royal Mint, Steel Mills, attempts to attract foreign direct investment, the ONS in Newport etc - in order at least in part to maintain the cohesiveness of the UK.
Put somewhat less positively though Wales is on its knees, the British Government has in the past agreed to provide some assistance, as long as we listened to their whispered counsel that if we were to try and stand on our own two feet we would inevitably fall flat on our face!
How times have changed - the new English Conservative - Liberal Democrat government is heedless of the historical approach, and seems destined, whipped up into a right wing ideological fury, to kick Wales hard and to grind our face into the ground.
With devolution now here to stay things I'm convinced that things will never be the same again - decent Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Wales (and there are some) will face a major choice over the next few months. Will they revel in their Government's attack on Wales or will the join the fight back and join those of us that have long believed that we could and would do far better standing on our own two feet as a country and a people? We shall see, but I have little doubt that the vast majority of the people of Wales will never again trust an English Government to benignly look after their interests.
* the demise of S4C
* the closure of the passport office in Newport
* the scrapping of the Severn Barrage without any commitment to invest in renewable tidal power (e.g.lagoons) in the Severn estuary
* going back to the drawing board in St Athan
and to cap it all today in all likelihood the ditching of the electrification of the South Wales to London mainline
I think what marks out these announcements in particular is a callous disregard for the people of Wales - based on a shared Conservative and Liberal Democrat zeal for cutting public services.
Now the more cynical might think - would you expect anything else?
However for the most part successive Conservative and Labour UK Government's and their Secretaries of State in Wales have pursued a largely common approach. While they may not have done much good, for the most part they didn't do much harm either (with the notable exception of John Redwood). Now, this may have been implicit, but there always seems to have been an underlying 'understanding' with the Welsh people. The British Government will invest e.g. the Royal Mint, Steel Mills, attempts to attract foreign direct investment, the ONS in Newport etc - in order at least in part to maintain the cohesiveness of the UK.
Put somewhat less positively though Wales is on its knees, the British Government has in the past agreed to provide some assistance, as long as we listened to their whispered counsel that if we were to try and stand on our own two feet we would inevitably fall flat on our face!
How times have changed - the new English Conservative - Liberal Democrat government is heedless of the historical approach, and seems destined, whipped up into a right wing ideological fury, to kick Wales hard and to grind our face into the ground.
With devolution now here to stay things I'm convinced that things will never be the same again - decent Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Wales (and there are some) will face a major choice over the next few months. Will they revel in their Government's attack on Wales or will the join the fight back and join those of us that have long believed that we could and would do far better standing on our own two feet as a country and a people? We shall see, but I have little doubt that the vast majority of the people of Wales will never again trust an English Government to benignly look after their interests.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Beware the Liberal Democrats!
I hesitate to write anything about the current coalition negotiations going on in Westminster. The memories of the twists and turns of the negotiations in Wales in 2007 remain very real in my mind and the danger of assuming a direct link between Cardiff Bay and Westminster is clear.
However, there are undoubtedly parallels. I think it was Rhodri Morgan who said yesterday that Plaid's approach in 2007 was businesslike. With chief negotiators like Jocelyn Davies, Ieuan Wyn Jones and Adam Price one wouldn't really expect anything else.
While Plaid were businesslike the Lib Dems were all over the place. And this is most certainly not a comment on their negotiators who were people of exceptional honour and dignity but rather on the rest of the party. The Lib Dems more than most political parties are a broad church, with at best a rather incohate liberal ideological core and a whole range of socio-economic positions to back that up (from radical ex-communists to right wing economic libertarians). In opposition this diversity of views is not a particular problem, but the closer one gets to real power the more problematic this becomes. Add in a particularly dogmatic streak amongst some Liberal Democrat activists (anyone from RCT can think of at least one example!) and you have a recipe for chaos.
The next 24 hours in Westminster will be fascinating to watch. There are clearly those in the Lib Dems who are deeply unhappy at the prospect of joining the slash and burn Tory coalition; likewise there are others who would seriously reconsider their party membership if an ailing Labour Party is propped up.
I suspect things have already come too far, but there is still an outside possibility in my mind that the Lib Dems will walk away from both parties, in all likelihood leaving the Queen to invite Cameron to form a minority government and a new election being called in the Autumn. This would be an abdication of responsibility in my view - if you seek power and have the opportunity of gaining power then there has to be very very good reasons not to fulfill your resposibilities.
It is an unedifying spectacle, and given the increasingly diverse voting patterns in the UK we will undoubtedly have more hung parliaments. The task for all parties in future is to at the very least prepare the ground for those negotiations, so that red lines (or in this case yellow lines) are clearly communicated in advance and that government can resume in good order after an election.
However, there are undoubtedly parallels. I think it was Rhodri Morgan who said yesterday that Plaid's approach in 2007 was businesslike. With chief negotiators like Jocelyn Davies, Ieuan Wyn Jones and Adam Price one wouldn't really expect anything else.
While Plaid were businesslike the Lib Dems were all over the place. And this is most certainly not a comment on their negotiators who were people of exceptional honour and dignity but rather on the rest of the party. The Lib Dems more than most political parties are a broad church, with at best a rather incohate liberal ideological core and a whole range of socio-economic positions to back that up (from radical ex-communists to right wing economic libertarians). In opposition this diversity of views is not a particular problem, but the closer one gets to real power the more problematic this becomes. Add in a particularly dogmatic streak amongst some Liberal Democrat activists (anyone from RCT can think of at least one example!) and you have a recipe for chaos.
The next 24 hours in Westminster will be fascinating to watch. There are clearly those in the Lib Dems who are deeply unhappy at the prospect of joining the slash and burn Tory coalition; likewise there are others who would seriously reconsider their party membership if an ailing Labour Party is propped up.
I suspect things have already come too far, but there is still an outside possibility in my mind that the Lib Dems will walk away from both parties, in all likelihood leaving the Queen to invite Cameron to form a minority government and a new election being called in the Autumn. This would be an abdication of responsibility in my view - if you seek power and have the opportunity of gaining power then there has to be very very good reasons not to fulfill your resposibilities.
It is an unedifying spectacle, and given the increasingly diverse voting patterns in the UK we will undoubtedly have more hung parliaments. The task for all parties in future is to at the very least prepare the ground for those negotiations, so that red lines (or in this case yellow lines) are clearly communicated in advance and that government can resume in good order after an election.
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