Lib Dem Voice launched our new website – How Liberal / Authoritarian is your MP? – at the party’s spring conference last weekend.
LDV has identified 10 key votes from the 2005-10 Parliament – ranging from ID cards and freedom of speech to freedom of information and trial without jury – in order to rank all MPs according to how liberal or authoritarian their record is. All MPs are marked out of 100: the higher their score the more authoritarian they are. The lower their score the more liberal is their voting record.
On Wednesday, Lib Dem blogger James Graham posed the question, “Have you calculated what the average score for each party is?” Well, today, James, your luck is in. Here are the mean scores for all the political parties represented in the 2005-10 Parliament:
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Labour = 79
SDLP = 63
UUP = 35
Sinn Fein = 27
Respect = 21
DUP = 15
SNP = 13
Independent = 12
Plaid Cymru = 8
Conservative = 7
Liberal Democrats = 3
This confirms the Liberal Democrats as the most liberal party in the House of Commons when measured according to the party’s voting record on a range of key liberal/authoritarian issues.
Unsurprisingly, Labour’s allies in Northern Ireland, the SDLP, are the second most authoritarian party. Sinn Fein and the UUP are quite closely matched in terms of their views on liberal / authoritarian issues, together with George Galloway of Respect.
I’ve treated the Independents as a group because of how they’re categorised. In reality, though, the seven MPs have little in common, ranging from Old Labour’s Bob Wareing and Clare Short to former Tories Bob Spink and Derek Conway. It’s worth noting that the two Independent MPs elected as Independents – Dai Davies and Richard Taylor – both have impeccably liberal credentials, scoring zero.
Do please use How Liberal / Authoritarian is your MP? and its built-in social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to spread the news about how liberal or authoritarian your MP is.
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11 Comments
Interesting, I thought Labour were supposed to be closer to the Lib Dems than the ories!
Interesting website – and a brilliant idea. Sadly however you have missed out on some of the more relevant authoritarian measures taken bu this government – smoking ban, drug policy, speed cameras, stop and search, equality legislation, etc
All areas where the Lib Dems are no better than any of the other parties. And areas that affect more of us on a day to day basis, therefore more important to us.
Oh, and I forgot: support for a tax system that seeks to punish success at all levels except the mediocre. Both personal and corporate.
Kyle – at least half the issues you mentioned would not be seen as authoritarian by most LDs. The Libertarian minority in the party would do better to acknowledge their minority status & respect the majority as honest Liberals who take a different position.
On the wider question; we have to remember that this is partly a matter of whos in government. If the exercise was repeated for the 1980s a lot of the positions would be partly reversed.
On the issue of the the 1980’s you are right. In fact it would apply to whatever party was in government, as pretty much any government policy or legislation will be authoritarian by principle.
However it is precisely on those issues I mentioned, and the broad support from the majority of Lib Dems that I have a problem with the party – and with all mainstream parties in this country – they don’t trust and respect the general public to do the right thing themselves, but feel the need to control us and until that changes I shall not be supporting any of them.
Damn me and my libertarian views for wanting real freedom, not the image of freedom that we are offered.
How did Sinn Féin get included?
Unless there has been a major change that I’ve slept through, their MPs don’t sit in Westminister – so how can you score them on 10 Key Votes in the 2005-10 parliament?
A fairly obvious and rookie mistake for any observer of UK politics.
I agree with John, the basis of the UUP and SDLP’s supposed authoritarianism is based mainly on the absentism of votes, the same with the nationalists in Scotland and Wales who have their own assemblies too … it’s the Liberal’s own authoritarianism that would see them show up at the drop of a hat to pass legislation ensuringing Liberal Democrats own liberal promotions are kept, particularly ones soley in Anglocentric interests.
If you think that the DUP, and the absentee Sinn Fein are the most liberal parties elected to Westminster from Northern Ireland, you really haven’t gotten much feedback from Fordey and the boys in the Alliance Party, a person who lets face it will be in the most authoritarian position in Northern Ireland politics by this summer.
I’ll have to agree with Kevin here. The SDLP was widely praised for its stance against 42 days’ detention and inquests, and also opposes ID cards. This is a rather eccentric index.
Also, the SDLP MPs each got a score of 21. The Sinn Féin MPs all got 27. Why are the SDLP on 63? Did you carelessly forget to average the SDLP scores?
Little surprised by Labour’s position–a grossly illiberal party, especially in the economic sphere.
Could we have another of these for 2024?
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