On Wednesday, I left my house at 4.30am. Having travelled up the hill, I then got on a bus and after an exceptionally long journey, I disembarked in Central London, to join 50,000 of my peers to protest against the coalition government’s policy on Tuition Fees. And I did so proudly wearing my Liberal Democrat Hoodie.
I fundamentally disagree that raising the cap on fees is the best way to fund Higher Education and even given the significant mitigating proposals that came through from the Browne review, I believe that this is still the wrong course. In an ideal world, the coalition would have scrapped fees, in a pragmatic best case scenario, we’d have a system which moved towards the graduate tax model, but without some of that model’s drawbacks. Tuition Fees up to effectively £9000 isn’t quite the worst case scenario, but it’s still not a good one. But in spite of that, let me be clear, I still support the Lib Dems remaining in the coalition to the end of the term.
When we went into coalition, I doubt there was a party member out there who believed we’d be happy with every decision that the Government has made, nor do I believe that any party member believed we’d be able to get everything we want or that was in our manifesto. And lo and behold, we as the minority party haven’t gotten everything, we’ve had to sit through Liberal Democrat ministers speaking for the government, on the government line against our policy and sometimes, against some of our core principles. That’s a fact of coalition. And the Tories, particularly the right wing, grassroots members are having a much harder job coming to terms with that. They haven’t been advocates of coalition & compromise for quite as long as us.
However, in coalition there’s only one group of people who have to agree with everything that the government does. That’s the ministers who are bound by collective responsibility. I as a member am free to say when I disagree. As is everyone else. I’ll admit there are times when I seriously question why we went into coalition. Then I remember back to May, I remember the maths. I remember the state the Labour Party was in. I remember the up & downs. Most of all, I remember Special Conference and I remember raising my hand to vote for the coalition deal. I did that knowing full well what we, as a party were getting into, what the risks were and what it meant. Everyone there pragmatically knew we weren’t getting everything, but equally everyone there broadly endorsed the coalition document, with of course exceptions. And ultimately, that deal has lead to and will lead to the implementation of more Liberal ideas in government than we’ve seen for more than 90 years.
And to those of you who harp on about us selling out our principles for ministerial cars, I ask you this? The party almost unanimously endorsed the coalition deal as well. I’ve not got a ministerial car. And to those of you who say we should have stayed in opposition, that’s lovely. But I didn’t join a pressure group. I joined a political party and in with any political party the ultimate goal is to attain power, so that you can implement policy, ideas & principles. That’s why political parties exist. That’s the only way they can change anything. If you don’t want that, then perhaps a political party isn’t the place for you.
At the end of the day, we can all realise that the coalition isn’t perfect. But it’s the best government that both Britain and Liberal Democrat supporters can get from the Parliament we have. Over the longer term, I sincerely hope that the coalition government is a success. Even if it’s not perfect.
-Greg Foster
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Very succinctly and well put there Greg.
Agreed. I recently wrote a post on Tuition fees on my blog but with a less political take on things but it was good to see your take.
My goodness, such cynicism and opportunism from one so young. The unglamorous truth is that the LibDems are propping up the most vicious right wing government since WW2.
The “big society” is a sick joke. Or do you really believe that armies of secret millionaires philanthropists are going to step in and fund the services that we as a country and a people need? But suppose they did – how would priorities be decided, who would decide who gets what and when? Who are these millionaires accountable to? Society or themselves?
You and your Tory partners are intent on destroying ACTUAL society by ending universalism, cutting essential services, directly sacking half a million public sector workers and indirectly scaking more in the private sector, smashing trade unions, and blaming the poor and unemployed for their plight. On every major issue the LibDems lied to the voters and now Clegg and his gang wriggle like a multi-headed worm on a hook. Noone I know who voted LibDem now has anything but utter contempt for you. The party’s over, and not before time.
First of, I’d hardly call this “cynicism”. Pragmatism yes, but cynicism no. And the unglamorous truth is that this is the only option. A deal with Labour wouldn’t work in Parliamentary terms, a confidence & supply agreement would have just lead to a second, October election. The Tories would have spent six months sitting on their hands and then try and then convinced the Queen to give them another election. They’d have gone back to the country the most geared up out of all three parties, Labour would have barely selected a leader and have had no time to really reform, the LibDems credibility would have been damaged by us not going into coalition. Basically, the most likely outcome is the Tories picking up the handful of extra seats that they require for a majority. Then we really would have a vicious right wing government, unfettered by the attempts to the LibDems to moderate. I’ll admit, right now we’re not always successful, but it’s better than nothing.
Also, how could you possibly know that the Big Society is a sick joke, nobody actually understands it. Everyone just looks weirdly in David Cameron’s direction when he mentions it. Of course if you’ve managed to divine what nobody in politics or the media has actually managed to get their heads around, perhaps you’d like to share.
On every major issue the LibDems did not lie to the voters. We told you what you got if you elected us as the government. That didn’t happen. We’re about 270 seats short of that. What were the major issues we campaigned on? Have a think back, perhaps even do some research on what our core promises to the electorate were and then go and have a look at the coalition agreement. See how many made it in.
Though I doubt I’ll convince you of this, this is the best course for the nation. It isn’t perfect, but then a LibDem Government wasn’t elected. But this is as good as you’re going to get with the Parliament this country elected.