Lib Dem Voice’s ubiquitous co-editor, Mark Pack, has been writing for Total Politics.
He says:
Performers who make the leap from stage show to the TV very often run into a simple problem: TV eats up material at a fearsome rate. A stage show can be repeated around the country for months with only a few tweaks as events or audience feedback requires it. TV, however, requires completely new material each week.
A similar problem has befallen the Liberal Democrats when it comes to policy. In opposition sticking to saying only a few things repeatedly was an advantage; in government the press of events and demands of the civil service machinery requires policy decisions on an industrial scale week in, week out.
The solution lies in more short-term thinking, and an eye for policy-generating opportunities. Read the full article here.
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9 Comments
With the evidence of Bradford staring us in the face, the LibDems need to be a NATIONAL party, but one who fights on 600 LOCAL issues. There is no longer a one size fits all solution to winning votes. Focus groups aimed at broad sections of society have little relevance now as people’s minds have been opened by the mobile phone and the internet. The day before last week’s Budget commentators thought this was an open goal for the Chancellor and not much would come out of it. How wrong can you be.
National policies now alienate more people than they encourage, so surely the future of politics is for localism. That is what the Lib Dems are good at, but have been deflected by the delusions of power in Westminster. Local policies which can be implemented in days and weeks, rather than years or decades are what people want.
Lib Dems need to go back to their roots and be the party of Localism.
There’s no policy shortage . In fact, quite the opposite is true. What there is not is a strategy on how to deal with the gaps.
1. legalise, tax & regulate recreational drugs
2. £1bn a year for reopening closed rail lines
3. tax threshold to be raised to minimum wage level
4. PR for all elections
The really important policy question is how do you balance tax and spend when you have to live within your means over the economic cycle?
Actually George seems to have mainly campaigned on national issues – the NHS, tuition fees, wars – but using his local knowledge to relate them to voters’ focusses. The complaint seems to be that ordinary people have no say in national policies, at least not if they vote for mainstream parties whose policies are indistinguishable except in minor details (the three cheeks argument).
5
As a regular conference rep I have a shelf full of policy documents and past manifestos, there are plenty more policy ideas to go yet!
5 votes at 16
6 Land Value Taxation/scrap Council Tax
7 smaller class sizes
8 Something that will actually pay for 2, 3 and 7?
Gareth Epps is spot on. Also most of the suggestions in other comments are longer term whereas Mark talked about short term. There is no short term policy shortage either – but there is a problem of getting anyone to take notice. Just to bolster the delusions of grandeur that permeate the UK establishment we still spend more on defence than the police/the courts/the fire service/the prisons all put together. So there should be no compromise on scrapping any kind of submarine replacement for Trident; no more huge aircraft carriers with no crew, no planes & no mission; and so forth. Meanwhile 7300 employees of AstraZeneca are to lose their jobs – presumably to pay for the two thirds increase in the Chief Executives remuneration – what about a punitive rate of tax on such earnings (90% perhaps) which can be rebated to the individual if he/she can show that the remuneration is justified by a series of criteria like growth in employment; profits, share price; new products etc. The scandal of properties in places like One Hyde Park only being liable for less than £2000 pa Council Tax & even dodging that? Why not make developers pay full Council Tax on every property in a development until it is sold to a buyer who must be disclosed & who then takes on the liability. A developer who builds ‘affordable’ properties could have this liability suspended for 6 months. Then the introduction of new tax bands – much quicker than a wholesale revaluation. It is insane that a property worth many millions is simply taxed as being valued at more than £320000. There’s loads more