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Liberal Democrats

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

                             Liberal Democrats
   Lib Dem "Bird of Freedom" logo
   Leader                    Sir Menzies Campbell
   Founded                   1988
   Headquarters              4 Cowley Street
                             London, SW1P 3NB
   Political Ideology        Social liberalism
   Political Position        Centre Left
   International Affiliation Liberal International
   European Affiliation      European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party
   European Parliament Group Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
   Colours                   Gold
   Website                   www.libdems.org.uk
   See also                  Politics of the UK

                             Political parties
                             Elections

   The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal
   political party in the United Kingdom. The party was formed in 1988 by
   the merger of the Liberal Party and the short-lived Social Democratic
   Party; the two parties had already been in an alliance for some years
   prior to this.

   The Lib Dems are the third-largest party in the UK Parliament, behind
   Labour and the Conservatives, with 63 Members of Parliament (MPs) - 62
   elected at the general election of 2005, they held Cheadle in the
   Cheadle by-election (July 2005) and gained one at the Dunfermline and
   West Fife by-elections. In the Scottish Parliament, they form a
   coalition ( Scottish Executive) with Labour, where the Lib Dems supply
   the Deputy First Minister, currently Nicol Stephen. The party's leader
   is Sir Menzies Campbell, elected in March 2006 (see Liberal Democrats
   leadership election, 2006). Campbell was acting leader prior to his
   election.

   Generally promoting political and social liberalism, the Liberal
   Democrats describe themselves as being concerned with the use of power
   in British and international society. They are wary of the power of the
   state over individuals, and as a principle seek to minimise state
   intervention in personal affairs, with many Lib Dem MPs criticising
   such intervention as symptomatic of a " nanny state". The party is
   traditionally supportive of a multilateral foreign policy, and opposed
   British participation in the War in Iraq (although backed later
   increases in troop deployment as a way of making the best of a bad
   job). They are considered the most pro-European party in British
   politics. Recently the party has adopted a strong sense of
   environmentalist values - favouring taxing high polluters more so than
   at the moment. Additionally, (following the 2006 Conference) the party
   favours cutting general income tax by 'two pence in the pound' - hereby
   branding them a 'low tax party'. This is a significant reversal on
   their previous public image of a 'high tax' party. However these tax
   proposals are "revenue neutral" with the money from income tax cuts
   being found in extra taxes on the very weathy.

   Unlike some liberal parties in other countries, the Liberal Democrats
   were not founded on an explicit doctrine of economic liberalism.
   Instead the party has historically combined a commitment to " social
   justice" and the welfare state with a belief in economic freedom and
   competitive markets wherever possible.

   Although the Liberal Democrats claim they do not easily fit into the
   "left-right" political spectrum, some political observers believe that
   the party is to the left of "New Labour": the party has supported some
   "Old Labour" positions such as higher taxes on high earners, higher
   levels of government spending, and opposition to the Iraq War. Others
   note that the increases in public spending proposed by the Liberal
   Democrats (e.g. the abolition of student tuition fees and long-term
   care charges) would mostly benefit the middle classes rather than the
   poor, and that New Labour policies are more broadly redistributive. It
   was in response to this criticism that the new tax proposals were
   drafted, to divert savings from those on middle incomes to those on the
   lowest incomes.

   The party's Presidential Book of Office, passed between outgoing and
   incoming Presidents, is John Stuart Mill's On Liberty.

   According to accounts filed with the Electoral Commission for the year
   ending 31 December 2004, the party had 72,721 members, and had a budget
   of about £3,700,000. 4,300 of these members are from Scotland

History of the Liberal Democrats

Founding

   The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 as a result of the merger of
   most of the Liberal Party, one of the two major British political
   parties of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries along with a
   sizeable proportion of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who had been
   formed as a breakaway from Labour in 1980, as such the party has the
   legacy of both the Labour Party and Liberal Party; the Liberal were
   themselves descended from the British Whig Party, and the term " Whig"
   is still occasionally used as a nickname for the modern Lib Dems.Having
   declined to third party status after the rise of the Labour Party in
   1922, the Liberals found themselves challenged for their place as the
   centrist party of British politics in the 1980s, when in 1981, with the
   Labour Party adopting hardline Socialist policies, a group of moderate
   Labour MPs broke away and established the Social Democratic Party
   (SDP), claiming as their goal to preserve previous Labour Party
   traditions. The SDP and the Liberals soon realised that there was no
   place for two centrist political parties, and entered into an alliance
   so that they would not stand against each other in elections. The two
   parties drew up their own policies and had different emphases, but
   produced a joint manifesto for the 1983 and 1987 General Elections.
   Initially the Alliance was led by David Steel (Liberal) and Roy Jenkins
   (SDP), and later by Steel and David Owen (SDP).

   In 1987, following disappointing results in that year's general
   election, Steel proposed a merger of the two parties. Although opposed
   by David Owen, it was supported by a majority of members of each and
   the two parties formally merged in 1988, with David Steel and Robert
   Maclennan (who had become SDP leader in August 1987) as interim joint
   leaders. At the time of the merger, in 1988, the party took the name
   Social and Liberal Democrats (SLD). After briefly shortening its name
   to The Democrats, it changed to the current name of Liberal Democrats
   in October 1989, which is now frequently shortened to "Lib Dems".

   The minority of the SDP who rejected the merger remained under David
   Owen's leadership. Some Liberals disliked the direction the party was
   going in after Paddy Ashdown's election as leader and created a new
   party which revived the name " Liberal Party".

Electoral results

   In United Kingdom general elections from 1992 on the Liberal Democrats
   have succeeded the Liberal-SDP Alliance and Liberal Party as the third
   most popular grouping or party behind Labour and the Conservatives and
   have continued the better performances of the Alliance as compared to
   the Liberal Party before its alliance with the SDP although so far in
   percentage of the vote terms they are still below Alliance performances
   and in terms of those eligible to vote the total numbers are way below
   what the Alliance achieved. In recent elections, the Liberal Democrats
   (or their precursor Alliance) have gained between 15% and 25% of the
   national vote.
   Election Name                 Share of votes Seats
   1983     SDP-Liberal Alliance          25.4%    23
   1987     SDP-Liberal Alliance          22.6%    22
   1992     Liberal Democrats             17.8%    20
   1997     Liberal Democrats             16.8%    46
   2001     Liberal Democrats             18.3%    52
   2005     Liberal Democrats             22.0%    62

   The British first past the post electoral system penalises parties
   whose vote is evenly divided across the nation where their vote is less
   than a third of the vote resulting in them achieving a lower proportion
   of seats in the House of Commons than their proportion of the popular
   vote, and the Liberal Democrats and their forerunners have suffered in
   particular. This was especially true in 1983 and 1987 when their
   popular electoral support was greatest; their increase in the number of
   seats in 1997 and 2001 was largely due to the weakness of the
   Conservative Party in those elections although there has also been a
   trend of Liberal Democrat support strengthening on a regional basis in
   Scotland and in the South West of England, and in fact in 2005 a
   problem the Liberal Democrats faced in 2005 was a firming up of
   Conservative support in the South of England.

   The Liberal Democrats have generally performed better in local
   elections, and are a more significant force in local government, with
   27 councils under Liberal Democrat majority control, and Lib Dems in
   joint control of many others. They have generally performed more poorly
   in elections to the European Parliament: for example in elections on 10
   June 2004, the LibDem national share of the vote was 29% (giving them
   second place, ahead of Labour) in the local elections that day but only
   15% in the simultaneous European elections (putting them in fourth
   place behind the United Kingdom Independence Party).

   They have been coalition partners with Labour in the Scottish
   Parliament since its establishment in 1999, and were also in coalition
   with Labour in the National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2003.

   In the 2006 local elections across England, the Lib Dems beat Labour
   into second place on the national share of the vote gained when they
   won 27% of the vote. However, this only resulted in a net gain of two
   Councillors. The Liberal Democrats continued to make gains from Labour
   in many northern cities.

Ideology

   The Liberal Democrats describe their ideology as giving "power to the
   people". They state they are against the undemocratic concentration of
   power in unaccountable bodies. They propose decentralisation of power
   out of Westminster. They would also create a system of tiered
   government structures to make decisions at what they see as the right
   level, including regional assemblies, the European Union, and
   international organisations.

   In keeping with the principle of decentralisation of power, the Liberal
   Democrats are keen protectors of civil liberties and oppose
   intervention of the state in personal affairs. For this reason, they
   have been popular amongst gay rights campaigners and campaigners for
   the decriminalisation of recreational drugs.

Left wing or right wing?

   Since the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major the Liberal
   Democrats and their precursor Liberal party have been seen as the
   centrist party of British politics. However, with Tony Blair's
   repositioning of Labour to the centre whilst the Lib Dems have defined
   themselves as a centre or even explicitly centre left party, they are
   now effectively the most left-wing of the United Kingdom's three main
   parties. With a few exceptions (most notably Paddy Ashdown ), Lib Dems
   opposed the 2003 Invasion of Iraq although with some division over
   whether troops should be withdrawn immediately or not once the war had
   begun , although they were the strongest advocates of the Kosovo War
   and before that, intervention in Bosnia. They favour higher taxes, but
   have also advocated 'pro-market' policies such as post office
   privatisation and the abolition of some government departments.

   Some claim that attempting to place the Liberal Democrats within the
   'left wing'-'right wing' model does not accurately represent their
   ideology and that the Liberal Democrats represent the Libertarian end
   of the Libertarian- Authoritarian axis, a political dimension that is
   orthogonal to the better-known Left-Right axis. For example some Lib
   Dems oppose the power of the trade unions while others oppose the power
   of the corporations. In fact their actual 'position' in both instances
   is an opposition to unaccountable power - whether it be left wing or
   right wing.

   Others argue that this is consistent with both twentieth and twenty
   first century British politics, which is in turn an example of the
   traditional left-right spectrum of political analysis. According to
   this view, liberalism or political centrism is consistent with a
   left-right analysis of politics. Thus when the Lib Dems oppose the
   trade unions, they do so from the centre of the political spectrum with
   the trade unions being to the left of them. When the Lib Dems oppose
   the power of the large corporations, they still do this from the centre
   of the political spectrum with the difference being that the
   corporations are to the right of them.

   Using a two-dimensional scale, Political Compass has labeled the
   Liberal Democrats as central on economic issues but liberal on social
   issues. Many would say that the party are more central-left on economic
   issues. The link to this chart can be found under the 'UK Election
   2005' text on the navigation menu on the Political Compass website.

Left of Labour?

   The shift in the political direction of Labour was initiated in the
   1980s but accelerated in response to the party's fourth consecutive
   election defeat in 1992. Since the election of Tony Blair, the New
   Labour hierarchy have deliberately courted Conservative voters and even
   Conservative politicians on the basis that if they take the centre
   ground from the other parties, they gain power. In part they are able
   to do this because their own voters have nowhere to turn to the left of
   New Labour. Thus in recent years the Lib Dems have tried to a degree to
   accommodate these people, by adopting or at least making public, more
   social liberal policies. This approach has been successful to some
   degree. For example, the Marxist Tariq Ali implored Londoners to vote
   Lib Dem before the 2005 general election over the Iraq war.

   In September 2005, however, there was a discussion at the Lib Dems
   conference as to whether the social liberal ideals have taken them as
   far as they can go, and whether they should now move back to the right
   in order to court Conservative voters. This could involve abolishing
   support for policies such as a proposed 50% tax rate for those who earn
   over £100,000. This policy proposal in particular has been used by the
   Conservative press to paint the party as 'left wing' and as such, this
   policy risks losing borderline and better off Lib Dem/Conservative
   voters. Proponents of a move to the right argue that left-wing policies
   could see the Lib Dems losing marginal seats to the Conservatives,
   seats which are vital if the Lib Dems wish to become the new 'official'
   opposition to any future Labour government. Opponents argue that the
   Lib Dems can unite the anti-Conservative vote in such marginal
   constituencies, and moving to the right risks losing other marginals in
   urban areas to the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru. They claim
   also that any move to the right could harm the Lib Dems in local
   elections, especially with the recent notable successes of the Greens.
   They also argue that a move to the right could lead not just to a loss
   of Lib Dem vote share, but also to a depressing of total turnout.

Policies

   The Liberal Democrats' constitution speaks of "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. We champion the freedom, dignity and
   well-being of individuals". To this end:
     * They support civil liberties, and have opposed the more
       authoritarian of Labour's anti-terror laws (e.g., detention without
       trial).
     * They support more open government, including substantial reforms to
       increase parliamentary oversight of the executive.
     * They are federalists and support the decentralisation of power to
       the lowest possible level.
     * They support "free education for all" and propose to abolish
       university tuition fees and set up a system of Government grants
       for university students.
     * They propose a substantial non-means tested increase in pensions.
     * They support anti-discrimination laws. 25 Lib Dem MPs signed EDM710
       calling on the government to extend the protections for religious
       groups, in respect of discrimination in the provisions of goods,
       facilities and services, to lesbians and gay men.
     * They are in favour of introducing a local income tax in place of
       the current council tax, which is collected based on the value of
       the taxpayer's house in 1991.
     * They are in favour of full UK participation in the European Union
       and an early referendum on joining the Euro. The party has a
       'neutral/yes' view on joining the Euro and would only support
       joining the Euro if a referendum were to be held.
     * They are in favour of proportional representation for elections to
       the House of Commons, preferably by the STV system.
     * They are in favour of abolishing the House of Lords and replacing
       it with an elected chamber.
     * They would fund 10,000 police officers (on top of Labour’s plans)
       and provide an extra 20,000 community support officers to back them
       up. Furthermore they would equip the police with new technology to
       tackle crime and cut time spent on paperwork.
     * They oppose the British national identity card. They support the
       use of biometrics in passports only, but the database behind these
       passports would carry only the information on the passport plus the
       biometric match.
     * They would establish a National Border Agency, bringing together
       officers from immigration, the police and customs, whose
       responsibilities currently overlap. This agency would deal with
       cross border crime, illegal immigration, terrorism and fraud.
     * They oppose the "protectionist labour market restrictions" imposed
       by many European governments on legal migrants from the new EU
       member states.
     * They would cut down on illegal working by inspecting employers and
       bringing prosecutions against those who use illegal labour.
     * They would use phone-taps and other ‘intercept communications’ as
       evidence in court against terrorist suspects, making prosecution
       easier.

   The most well-known Liberal Democrat policy for most of the 1990s was
   to increase the basic rate of income tax by one percent to fund public
   services (especially education). This proposal was recently abandoned
   after Tony Blair's Labour government increased national insurance
   contributions by the same amount, a policy with much the same effect.
   Their current fiscal policies aim at increasing the top rate of income
   tax by 10 percent to 50% for those earning over £100,000 to fund their
   increased public spending plans, and to replace Council Tax with local
   income taxes. In 2003 the Liberal Democrats started to make their
   long-held pledge to abolish Council Tax a centrepiece of their
   campaign.

   The Liberal Democrats opposed UK participation in the 2003 Iraq war
   prior to the conflict, but stated that they would support UK forces
   that had been ordered to fight while it was taking place. After the
   initial military action was completed, they renewed their political
   opposition.

   The period after 2001 saw an internal discussion about the right
   policies for the party on economics and public spending, with some
   party members advocating that the party position itself as a defender
   of the traditional welfare state in order to gain support from those
   who had previously voted Labour. Others, most notably David Laws,
   advocated a policy of smaller government and laissez-faire (the "
   Orange Book" published in 2004 was an example of this wing of the
   Liberal discussion). The party announced its policy of abolishing the
   Department for Trade and Industry in 2004.

   Current party policies can be found on the party website:
     * Most recent manifesto (external link)
     * Detailed policy papers (external link)

   The Liberal Democrats are a member party of the Liberal International
   and the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party and their 12 MEPs
   form part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE)
   group in the European Parliament.

Proportional representation

   Unlike the other main political parties in the United Kingdom, the Lib
   Dems have always strongly advocated Proportional representation. This
   has always been a cornerstone of the Party's policies, and on many
   occasions has been cited as a key requirement of any Lib Dem
   involvement in a coalition government. Several deals have been struck
   with Labour and Conservative leaders in the past, promising Liberal and
   Lib Dem support in return for a commitment to consider the introduction
   of PR, but the two major parties have always found it more advantageous
   to stick with first-past-the-post.

   Both the Liberal Democrats and its Liberal and SDP predecessors have
   suffered under the current first past the post voting system. They have
   maintained a substantial part of the popular vote while being unable to
   focus that support in specific constituencies. This has been less of a
   problem in the 2001 and 2005 general elections, with the party focusing
   its resources on key winnable constituencies. Many credit this to the
   party's chief election strategist Lord Rennard.

   There is currently a debate within the party as to whether this should
   remain such a high-profile issue. Indeed it is not certain that
   proportional representation would benefit the Lib Dems, who have
   performed less well than expected in elections using such a system
   (e.g. elections to the European Parliament).

   The party has usually advocated the adoption of the single transferable
   vote with multi-member constituencies. A common debate in the party
   revolves around whether or not to give support to other forms of
   proportional representation that the party regards as flawed, such as
   the closed party lists for the European Parliament, since it may make
   it harder to achieve the single transferable vote.

Internal factions

   Broadly speaking, Liberal Democrats can be classified into two main
   political factions:

   Social liberals have dominated the party since its formation in 1988.
   Drawing inspiration from the likes of David Lloyd George, William
   Beveridge and John Maynard Keynes, individuals from this wing of the
   party are keen advocates of the welfare state, higher taxation, and of
   government regulation to protect consumers, employees and the
   environment. Support for civil liberties and human rights is key to the
   social liberal outlook. Examples of social liberals within the modern
   parliamentary party include Paul Holmes, Norman Baker and Simon Hughes.

   The free-market liberal or Libertarian wing of the party shares with
   social liberals a belief in basic civil and political freedoms (
   negative freedoms). However, whereas social liberals further argue that
   the state should provide additional social and economic rights to its
   citizens ( positive freedoms), market liberals take a
   non-interventionist approach and are critical of government's ability
   to increase freedom. This often manifests itself as support for greater
   economic freedom, causing some tension between the two wings of the
   party. Many MPs from this wing contributed to the Orange Book ( 2004),
   a collection of essays intended to spark debate on a greater role for
   free-market liberalism in party policy, which led some commentators to
   question whether the party was undergoing a shift to the right. Some
   party donors, elements of the media and many non-urban elected party
   officials are known to back this wing of the party. Leading market
   liberals within the parliamentary party include Vincent Cable, David
   Laws and Chris Huhne.

   It would be easy, but misleading, to presume to characterise these two
   wings of the party as consisting of former SDP members and former
   Liberal Party members respectively. However, many prominent social
   liberals (including Paddy Ashdown) were former Liberal MPs, whereas
   some prominent market liberals (such as Vincent Cable) came to the
   Liberal Democrats from the SDP. Content of personnel in these two wings
   are almost totally unrelated to such former party affiliation, whereas
   some ideological features of these wings can be said to have been
   stronger represented in former element parties.

Structure

   The Liberal Democrats are a federal party comprising the state parties
   of Wales, Scotland and England, with around 72,000 members in total.
   Scotland and England are further split into regional parties. There are
   a number of Specified Associated Organisations (SAOs), representing
   particular groupings such as Ethnic Minorities ( EMLD), Women ( WLD),
   LGBT people ( Delga), Youth & Student ( LDYS), Trade Unionists (ALDTU),
   Engineers & Scientists ( ALDES), Parliamentary Candidates ( PCA) and
   Local Councillors (ALDC) which formally review and input to party
   policy. Other groups can become Associated Organisations (AOs) as
   pressure groups within the party.One group notable by their omission
   are the Liberal Clubs(NULC).

   The Parliamentary Parties - in the House of Commons, in the House of
   Lords and in the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly - form
   semi-autonomous units within the party. The leaders in the House of
   Commons and the Scottish Parliament are the leaders of the federal
   party and of the Scottish Party; the leaders in the other two chambers
   and the other officers of all the parliamentary parties are elected by
   those parties from amongst their own number. With the great expansion
   of the Parliamentary Parties and the increase in the finance available
   to those organisations, such as Short money in recent years, the
   Parliamentary parties have become a challenge to the power of the
   official party institutions. The power battle between federal officers
   and Parliamentary officers is ongoing.

   The Liberal Democrats, like the Conservatives, organise in Northern
   Ireland. However, unlike the Conservatives, the Lib Dems have chosen
   not to contest elections in the province. Instead, they have opted to
   work with the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, with the de facto
   agreement that the Liberal Democrats will support the Alliance Party in
   elections. Indeed, many individuals, including several notable
   parliamentarians, hold membership of both parties. Alliance members of
   the House of Lords take the Liberal Democrat whip on non-Northern
   Ireland issues, and the Alliance Party always maintains a stall set out
   at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference.

Leaders of the Liberal Democrats

     * David Steel and Robert Maclennan, 1988 (interim)
     * Paddy Ashdown, 1988 – 1999
     * Charles Kennedy, 1999 – 2006
     * Sir Menzies Campbell, 2006 –

Deputy Leaders of the Parliamentary Party of the Liberal Democrats

     * Russell Johnston, 1988 - 1992
     * Alan Beith, 1992 - 2003
     * Sir Menzies Campbell, 2003 – 2006
     * Vincent Cable, 2006 -

Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet

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