Labour and Conservatives, Conservatives and Labour: same difference, as the Lib Dems’ rather fabulous Labservative website points out. Here are just three examples from the past 12 months of ways in which the Labservatives have blocked Lib Dem attempts to reform our broken political system …
The public’s right to sack MPs
The Liberal Democrats tabled an amendment in June 2009 to place a responsibility on the Secretary of State to review and report on procedures for constituencies to recall their MPs if they have been found guilty of misconduct.
Labour voted against these measures and the Tories refused to back them.
Cap on party donations
The Liberal Democrats tabled an amendment in June 2009 to introduce a £50,000 cap on donations to political parties.
Once again Labour voted against the amendment and the Conservatives abstained.
Lobbying reform
The Liberal Democrats tabled an amendment in 2006 to clamp down on expenditure on lobbying.
Labour voted against and the Conservatives failed to support the measure.
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4 Comments
I don’t think the LibDems can shout very loudly. When the issue of the Lisbon Treaty was being debated your MPs insisted on “in or out” only despite a specific manifesto pledge. If they had stuck to their manifesto pledge we would have got a referendum. I believe a number of your frontbenchers with a conscience rebelled and resigned as a result.
Then in the House of Lords UKIP put forth a Bill for an “in or out” vote the LibDem Peers refused to back it.
Hardly the stuff “change”.
It was a different treaty Michael. A few Lib Dem MPs had made individual promises on Lisbon and rebelled to keep them, which is fair enough. The rest took a hit for not doing the populist thing and cave in to the demand for a referendum that any conscience-free politician would have done.
The debacle over the Lisbon Treaty had nothing to do with the party’s position on the European Union and everything to do with our inability to form a coherent position on referendums.
LABSERVATISM
This attack is spot on.
Comment
The coined word Labservatism though a good idea sounds a bit laboured so to speak and I would be surprised if it catches on with the media. It’s not tricky words that are needed but straight-forward old fashioned anger at the way the country has been so poorly governed by both Labour and the Conservatives over the past decades.
How to do it:-
With anger – every chance the LibDems leadership gets they must attack the past record of both Labour and Conservatives – they should always state that they are expressing the anger of the British People who deserve better – state that the British People find it difficult to believe in any future promises made by Labour or the Conservatives simply because of all the past failures
Focus on the waste of the North Sea energy opportunity – the lack of control of immigration over the years – the burgeoning quango industry with its gross rewards – the economic collapses – the unsustainable wars – the sleaze and disgrace of Parliament.
State that it is not the intention just to hope for coalition for the very good reason that the British People have the right to expect a decent democratic Government that will ensure that it is a democratically elected
Government that will have the mandate to govern and not the Establishment, Big Business or the Unions.
The above is far, far more important than arguing over minor variations in policies – the voting public will respond and respect you if you put it over forcefully enough. Respect is sadly lacking at the moment.
Go for it ! Show our anger !
Sincerely,
Dave Oakley
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[…] as Labour has consistently joined with the Tories over the last five years in voting down any and all Liberal Democrat measures to reform our […]
[…] was a robust interview in which Vince more than held his own, and made the key points that (1) the Labservatives have consistently opposed Lib Dem attempts to clean up our politics, and (2) the Tories need to explain how they’re […]