Author Archives: Maelo Manning

Since 10pm on election night I have been in utter despair. I joined the party five years ago at the age of 10 and I was told that the Lib Dems would never be in Government. I was overjoyed when Nick Clegg walked into Downing Street in 2010. By contrast, I was in tears when Nick resigned. Since then I have been thinking about how the party can learn from mistakes and move on.

My starting point is what Nick said in his resignation speech, ‘Fear and grievance have won, and liberalism has lost.’ The first thing the party has to do is to rehabilitate the concept of liberalism because it has been stolen by parties of other persuasions. This can only be done by defining our core voter base. Our liberalism was not differentiated from the politics of austerity and the scare tactics of the Tories. The Tories evoked a Hobbesian scenario which seems to have worked. Nick is absolutely right in saying that liberalism is not faring well against the politics of fear.

I am a 10 year old girl and I want to offer a child’s perspective of the election. I watched the last Prime Minister’s Question Time and National Insurance tax was the main subject of the debate. In fact, it seems to be the main subject of the election so far.

Is this election between Red and Blue over the effects of the recession on big business? Let me tell you what this election means for a child starting out in life. Big businesses recruit graduates from red brick universities. These universities, in turn, recruit students who are capable of undergoing a tough degree course. These students often come from private schools or the grammar state school systems. Where does the fairness exist?

Elections should be about change and a vote for a better run country on matters such as the NHS, housing, poverty, climate change, help for children, crime, security, personal liberty, terrorism, disability issues, equal rights and globalisation.