Tag Archives: freedom

Jack Meredith

Freedom

By Jack Meredith | Fri 11th July 2025 - 9:56 am

The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.

This is what can be found on the back of every Lib Dem membership card. The part I want to focus on in this piece is the point regarding a “fair, free and open society”. One person’s concept of freedom may differ from another’s. I would like to take this opportunity to discuss it.

Freedom is the right of an individual in this country to vote. Freedom is the right of an individual to own property. Freedom is the right of an individual, so long as they follow the law and do no harm to others, to live their life as they see fit.

Freedom is a regulated market that allows small businesses to prosper alongside multinational corporations. Freedom is empowering a community to take ownership of its energy provisions, its pubs, its community centres, and its future. Freedom is the ability to trade freely and easily with our neighbours, in Europe and the world.

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Jim Coupland

The ridiculous war on headphone dodgers

By Jim Coupland | Sat 26th April 2025 - 11:00 am

The Liberal Democrats have recently announced a new policy. A policy that transforms the political landscape, changes our society for the better and inspire millions… enforce a legal fine of up to £1000 on people who play loud music on public transport. Of course, I’m being sarcastic and quite frankly this is embarrassing.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe that our party has come up with the right approach on lots of the big issues of the day, but this policy is a stinker for many reasons. Firstly, let’s look at the morals of this policy. Yes, I think we can all agree that when we use public transport and a fellow passenger plays loud music, it is annoying. Very annoying. However, this policy goes way too far.

As I referred to in my previous op-ed on Lib Dem Voice, My Journey from Socialism to Liberalism, I called for our party to go back to our core principle of freedom. Yes, so called ‘headphone dodgers’ may be irritating (to say the least) but they are in a public space. Whether we like it or not, they shouldn’t have to face the consequences of the law. Another reason why this policy is so bizarre, as referred to in the BBC article, is that people are already prohibited from playing loud music on public transport. So, this policy already feels redundant.

Let’s also look at the justifications made by our party. The BBC article also refers to a poll that are party created on this ‘issue’. 38% of respondents said that they have experienced other people playing loud music on public transport ‘often or sometimes’. I don’t want to point out the obvious but that is less than half. Our Home Affairs Spokeswoman, Lisa Smart said “Everyone deserves to feel safe and respected on public transport”. While I agree with that blanket statement, I would never say that I have felt unsafe when another passenger has played loud music on public transport.

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Lord William Wallace

William Wallace writes: How should liberals mark VE Day

By Lord William Wallace | Wed 23rd April 2025 - 11:55 am

Once the local elections are over, commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 8th – the end of the second world war – will provide a focus for public attention and local celebrations.  Many of us will be caught up in ceremonies, street parties or receptions.  I will be singing in a commemorative concert in Westminster Hall (with Mike German, Joan Walmsley and 100 others in the Parliament Choir; do listen to it, broadcast on Classic FM).  

The government and the media will want to make this a patriotic occasion.  What additional twist should Liberal Democrats add to this?  I suggest that we should emphasise what Britain and its American ally declared they were fighting the war for: for political and democratic values, for an open international order and for social democracy at home – all values that are now being challenged by President Trump in the USA and by populists in Britain and in other democratic states.

I’ve just re-read President Roosevelt’s ‘Four Freedoms’ speech, and the Atlantic Charter that he and Winston Churchill signed on a warship off Newfoundland in August 1941.   Together these set out the shared aims for which the UK and the USA fought the war.  Roosevelt’s speech to Congress on January 6th 1941 declared that:

 We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression–everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way–everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want–which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear–which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor–anywhere in the world. …

The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

Five months before, Roosevelt and Churchill had signed the ‘Atlantic Charter’ – drafted by the British, revised by the Americans – which set out their shared aims in the war.   ‘…their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other; they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned; … they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security;….’

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Daniel Willis

Why it’s time for the Liberal Democrats to take back the mantle of freedom

By Daniel Willis | Sat 25th February 2023 - 11:53 am

The topic of freedom in politics is highly contested. For the Conservatives, in recent years,  this has centred around economic freedom. Is this still really relevant today?

Back in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s programme of economic liberalisation saw an explosion in economic freedom – more people were able to purchase their own council houses and stock market novices became rich overnight following the countless moves to privatise various public utilities.

Despite regular musings by Conservative MPs that they remain the party of low taxes, personal freedom and individual responsibility,  the facts tell a different story. A recent poll by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found that only 14% of voters believed the Tories had a reputation for lowering taxes.

Personal freedom has also become a significant grey area for the Tories. The majority of the parliamentary party backed vaccine passports in 2021 – something that the Liberal Democrats firmly opposed, with Ed Davey labelling the scheme at the time ‘a grotesque misuse of government diktat’.

While the Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly  required great vigilance and government intervention, any party that holds a belief in liberal values and is a carrier of the torch of freedom should understand the importance of not enforcing schemes on the populace that could be a precursor for revolt. Whilst vaccine passports were introduced, they remained deeply unpopular for their time in existence.

Any discussion about personal freedom would not be complete without the attack on the Human Rights Act by the government. Prior to its introduction in 1998, if an individual wanted to challenge a government act as unlawful, they would be required to invoke our ‘common law’ tradition of the rule of law. Essential rights were established on a case-by-case basis, regardless of the right being discussed.

With the passing of the HRA, the UK constitutionalised the common law – and gave more power to the individual to secure protections guaranteed by the state. No longer were people subject to the whims of the particular case. Human rights were now universal and guaranteed legal certainty.

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James Gilmour

Why a liberal response to taking back control matters

By James Gilmour | Mon 1st October 2018 - 10:02 am

When Vote Leave chose their slogan they broke the mould of British politics. It stood in stark contrast to the established formula of successful general election narratives. New. Better. Ambition. Difference. Forward. Fairness. Future.

Vote Leave initially intended to go down the same route. Vote Leave, Get Change. But a last minute change from campaign director Dominic Cummings left the campaign as Vote Leave, Take Back Control. Cummings, fascinated by psychometric voter profiles, intended the slogan to act as a direct channel to voters with authoritarian tendencies. It worked. Campaigners hammered in the message at every opportunity and Leave won …

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Huw James

Jo Cox Square Opening in Brussels

By Huw James | Thu 27th September 2018 - 4:55 pm

September 27th 2018, the sun is out and it’s warm once again after days of cold and rain in central Brussels. Rainbows splatter walls, murals, and road crossings along Ancienne Belgique, the large Concert hall that sits upon Brussell’s LGBTQ District. A large crowd gathered to remember and praise Jo Cox on this vibrant Belgian square which the City of Brussels is naming after the late British MP for Batley on Spen.

Jo Cox lived and breathed the streets of Brussels for six years, first as political assistant to Glenys Kinnock MEP and later as a lobbyist for Oxfam. Cox later went on to defend the European Project during the long political battle that was the 2016 EU Referendum. Two years ago, Cox sailed along the Thames with her family proudly flying an “IN” flag up against the pro-Brexit Flotilla. This was one of the more jovial and surreal moments of the referendum campaign. The next day Jo was assassinated by a Neo-Nazi terrorist, set on sowing hate.

Do you remember where you were when you found out Jo Cox had been murdered? I was at the University of York, where I was due to be in the audience on BBC Question Time. “The show is cancelled I’m afraid,” said the producer, “An MP has been shot”.

The political toxicity that led to Jo Cox’s assassination had not been seen in the United Kingdom since the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. ‘A lot of people hoped that the violent assassination… on the streets where she grew up would have a profound impact on the political discourse. however two years on I’m sadly not at all sure this is the case’ said Kim Leadbeater, sister of Jo Cox in front of the large crowd. The vindicated far-right have been emboldened by the Conservatives and Labour’s growing acceptance of their worldview. Jo Cox, conversely, ensured the political establishment called out extremist violence during her time as MP.

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The Fight for Equality Goes On!

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 19th October 2017 - 12:44 pm

I have been inspired by Paul Walter’s excellent series on this site for Black History Month. If you have as well, I encourage you to write a blog for Black History Month and send it in.

American by birth, I am guilty of unconscious bias which permeated through my upbringing. Many people don’t recognise the racism which lies beneath the surface in the way they relate to one other. Of course overt acts of racism make the news, but it is the little interactions and assumptions which bother me, as they are …

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Martin Roche

Let freedom ring

By Martin Roche | Wed 31st May 2017 - 8:55 am

This is the speech I’d like to hear Tim Farron give before the General Election.

I stand with you today to talk about the security of our nation, the protection of our way of life and about combatting the terrorist, the bomber and the gunman.

Our police and security services are working at full capacity. We know that and we thank them for it. The government deserves praise for its reaction to the Manchester outrage.

Many voices – prominent and influential Muslims among them – have joined in condemnation of the terrorist’s actions and in praise for the wonderful response from the emergency services and the people in Manchester, across the UK and worldwide.

We are deploying money, human resources and all the relevant machinery of the state to keep us safe from harm.

But there is one thing we are not doing.

No leading politician of recent times has attempted to replace the poison being fed to the impressionable with a counter case of championing democracy and its values and rights.

There is a vacuum in the battle and it is being filled by the extremists to spread hate, violence, death and destruction.

Democrats have to force out their death cult and replace it with the clean, pure, fresh air of democracy.

Every school, every pulpit, every council chamber should ring every day with democracy. It is freedom.

I call today for the leaders of political life in the U.K to join me in a reaffirmation of the fundamental values, right and benefits of democracy.

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Tony Lloyd

But we are the party of freedom

By Tony Lloyd | Wed 30th November 2016 - 8:55 am

Martin Roche wrote an eloquent piece, with a follow up,  calling for Liberal Democrats to brand themselves:

The Party of Freedom

Though generally well received some thought the branding conflicted with other values; fairness, equality, and community. Many thought the slogan linked us to the excesses of market ideologues and libertarians.

Are fairness and equality such rivals of freedom? Is someone’s freedom not limited if they lack decent housing or other basic needs? Is their freedom not limited if they cannot access information or lack the education needed to make use of it? Is someone’s freedom not limited if they suffer from discrimination or if they are sufficiently impoverished that they are excluded participating in society?

Of course that person’s freedom is limited. Others do not understand that. We do. That is why we are The Party of Freedom.

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Bill le Breton

Opinion: “Freedom is a Word I Rarely Use Without Thinking”

By Bill le Breton | Wed 4th December 2013 - 8:55 am

A letter originating from the Leader’s Office on Liberal Principles has provoked some much needed discussion on this subject. For example, this opinion piece from Paul Connolly received a warm welcome.

But it seems odd to discuss Liberalism without ever mentioning directly power.

There been a few mentions of that awful concept of ‘empowerment’ which is so deeply ‘illiberal’ and yet seen as a badge to be worn by post 1997 ‘liberals’.

To ‘empower’ is to allocate power. It is in the first instance the acceptance of the taking of power from people and to ‘reallocate it’. It is a fundamentally …

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Daisy Cooper MP

Opinion: Individual freedom and power should be our distinctive Lib Dem identity

By Daisy Cooper MP | Tue 29th May 2012 - 4:58 pm

It seems that every few days there is another soul-searching LibDem blog or newspaper article asking: “what do we believe in?” “What do we stand for?” “What’s the coherent narrative behind the string of ‘Lib Dem achievements in government’?” What we need to do is urgently define ourselves in contrast to – not in relation to – the other major parties.

What we need to do is build a strong national identity.“Individual freedom and power” should be the phrase that the Liberal Democrats adopt to assert their distinctive identity for three reasons.

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