Tag Archives: future of liberalism

Beyond Neoliberalism: Rethinking freedom to create a post-growth liberalism fit for the 21st Century

By Rodrigo Palmer | Mon 7th July 2025 - 1:37 pm

The year is 1906. With the Conservatives failing to implement social reforms, people were desperate for change. Life under the Conservative government had significantly worsened – Booth’s study found that at least 30% of London’s population was living in poverty. Therefore, the British electorate responded with a landslide Liberal victory. But what sort of change would the New Liberal government bring?

The New Liberal government recognised that the only way to move the country forward was to embrace radical change. Thus, New Liberalism was born. It was a philosophy which for the first time recognised that the state could have a positive role, acting as a safety net for the most vulnerable. New Liberalism laid the foundations for one of our country’s proudest achievements: the welfare state. Free school meals in 1906, National Insurance in 1911 – these welfare reforms were only possible thanks to New Liberalism.

Liberalism laid the foundations for a new paradigm before, and it is now time for Liberalism to do so again. Climate change is the biggest issue that humanity has ever faced, and such a pressing issue requires a radical response. Just as New Liberals realised that classical liberalism was failing them, we must realise that neoliberalism is failing us. If neoliberalism had the answer, then why is inequality the highest it has been in 30 years, why are ecosystems being pushed to collapse, and why are global temperatures still rising? The only way we can progress is if we recognise the obvious – neoliberalism is dead. It must be stopped dead in its tracks and consigned to history.

Posted in Op-eds | 20 Comments

Is this a Liberal moment?

By Jonathan Parry | Tue 8th April 2025 - 10:03 am

Can the election of Donald Trump be a major opportunity for Liberal Democrats? Quite possibly, though the jury is still out. In fact I’ve just written a short history of British Liberalism which ends with that question.

I’ve argued in the book that British Liberalism has made the political weather when it has mobilised public opinion in favour of a political reset, or against a particular threat. Liberals have campaigned best when they have attacked powerful vested interests and damaging concentrations of power – when they have urged constitutional reform (the nineteenth-century Reform Acts) or stood against tariffs and sectional economic policies (the Corn Laws; Tariff Reform). But it’s not always easy to convince voters that constitutional and structural issues should matter to them. Timing is always central to political success.

In the nineteenth century, Liberals’ favourite slogan was ‘Reform’, which was shorthand for changes to the distribution of parliamentary seats and to the franchise. Reform was demanded for several reasons, particularly to stop high taxes and government oppression of minorities. It was a call for a new, more responsive politics.