Author Archives: Contributor 2017

The case for a Brexit of the four freedoms

By Contributor 2017 | Mon 12th June 2017 - 1:49 pm

The four freedoms of the EU are quintessentially Liberal in their values. The free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour, are four things that are integral to our diplomatic ties to Europe, our economic prosperity, and our staunchly internationalist principles. They are behind the core concept of the EU, the underlying beliefs of the EU, and the reason that many, even who voted Leave, acknowledge the economic benefits of the EU. They are also the things that I believe we should fight for, before all else.

As someone who lives in, campaigns in, and is quite attached to, my own Leave-voting county, I must admit that my feelings on the second referendum have been mixed throughout the campaign. Put simply, in many rural areas, however much good policy we have, thousands and thousands people who didn’t vote Lib Dem in 2015, and voted Leave, simply won’t consider it. I believe that a not insubstantial part of the reasoning for this is because of the second referendum promise.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit | 18 Comments

We need to tell people about our economic policy

By Contributor 2017 | Tue 30th May 2017 - 8:55 am

As an Orange Book adhering Lib Dem, a big highlight of the reign of Clegg & Cable was a very simple, yet very effective thing – that our economic policy was clear, empathised, and well known. We knew where we stood, we knew where we were going, and quite frankly, the economic policy that we pushed in the coalition, reflected that fact. The Liberal Democrats were a party that knew how to manage an economy.

So, looking back at that highlight, I fear that, something may have been rather overlooked this campaign; our economic plan. Indeed, more importantly, what exactly it is. I mean, obviously we have one. In fact, according to Oxford Economics, we have the best one. So, for me, the question is simple – why aren’t we making a big deal out of it?

It is very clear to me, and to many people up and down the country, that the Liberal plan for our economy is worlds ahead of the Labour or Conservative ones. We have a plan for proper growth, for sustainable development environmentally, for treating small businesses with the high regard they deserve, and for ensuring that our spending plans are sensible, and above all else, fair. Yet, when we are covered in the media, very little focus is put upon this. It seems insane to me that we aren’t inundating the whole nation with the fact that when push comes to shove, we could, will, and can, make people better off. In fact, those in the whole bottom half of our income demography would be faring far better if we were the government.