Members should have received an email last week regarding a new policy consultation which has just launched. All members should respond to it.
I joined the party in 2016 – the evening after Brexit, in fact. I was not alone. That summer saw the biggest increase in Lib Dem membership in the post-merger era.
Since that day, it has been a period of intense turmoil for UK society and politics. We have had six prime ministers, three general elections, a pandemic, and an ongoing cost of living crisis.
For much of that time, the Liberal Democrats have been, in terms of UK influence, a tiny third party. While I do not mean to ignore the achievements of the European Election in 2019, or our government in Wales, it has to be admitted that we have been, mainly, a party of protest.
The Liberal Democrats on the Rise
But this is changing. We now have a large number of MPs and face an increasingly unpopular government. We should expect the Liberal Democrats to continue to thrive and grow. It is not unreasonable to expect that, in five years or ten, we may find ourselves back in government.
This opportunity is not merely born from the fact that we got a lot of votes one day in July. It is also because we are a party of expertise, evidence, and accountability. While other parties are mired in scandal, chronically dysfunctional, or reliant on populist personalities, ours is not.
This is not a coincidence. It is because our party is led, not from the top, but by people like you. It is because our expertise, evidence, and accountability are democratic.
And our responsibility to make good on this opportunity, as ordinary members, comes now – not later, when elections are called, campaigns go into their highest gear, votes are counted, MPs are elected, and ministers are appointed. And that responsibility is not merely to serve as cheerleaders and staff for those of us who pursue higher office. It is also to vet them, instruct them, and hold them to account.
This cannot be done without robust, evidenced policy.
Bringing our Policy in line with our Electoral Success
We are arguably the only party in the UK where members get several bites at the policy apple – at conference, through members’ organisations, and by the nomination of representatives to public office, to name a few.
But despite these channels, many members over the years have shared frustration with me that they don’t feel like their voices are heard, or that they have a real impact on the policies of our party, despite many of us being people of immense expertise.
This is why it’s so important to attend conference, join an AO, and to respond to consultations, like the Policy Review consultation launched this week.
The Policy Review Working Group and Consultation
This consultation is not like other consultations, where there is a single topic or question to be addressed. Rather, it will help us set the broader policy agenda for the party for the next five to ten years.
Myself and a few other Liberal Democrats – representing a diverse cross-section of our party – are working on a Policy Working Group called the Future of Policy. This working group will take your views and combine them with analyses of our party and the wider public to formulate a policy plan for the years to come. The output of this exercise will help instruct the party as to where we should concentrate our policy efforts, and why.
This is incredibly important. It is a once-in-a-decade chance to set our policy agenda on the bedrock of the membership, supported by your expertise, and your passion.
In the words of my partner, “A policy consultation about policy is the most Lib Dem thing ever”. I hope you agree, and I’m sure you will find it worth your time.
Please respond here to the consultation – and if you have time, also respond to the open answer version as well.
* Em Dean is a scientist and author, and is serving on the Future of Policy Working Group. They are a member of Harrow Liberal Democrats.
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7 Comments
The correct link to the open answer version is here – https://digitallibdems.typeform.com/to/yRePm2JA
I went through the consultation. I’m not convinced that asking LD members what they think the electorate thinks is very sensible. I know what I think – I can only guess at what the electorate thinks. My guesses may be very well informed, but there’s plenty of polling that tells you what they think.
I also found the ranking of policy areas simplistic and possibly misleading. I believe (and the evidence from the USA elections backs this up) that the electorate want, quite reasonably, to feel more prosperous. I think that means both an improved public realm (NHS/gp appointments A&E etc, potholes, school buildings, well paid teachers/ doctors, justice system working properly and so on) AND better access to housing, enough money for food, fuel, xmas presents and so on.
Second there’s “Equality” If that means the sort of culture war things the Tories bang on about – typical examples: black lives matter, trans people and bathrooms – most don’t really care. But if it means something like “is it reasonable for the top 5 or 19% to own very much more wealth and earn much more than – say – the bottom 20%” that becomes much more interesting. Clearly many people are in precarious, poorly paid and insecure jobs or trying to live on inadequate social security payments, while some of the richest spend their efforts lobbying to pay less tax. Is a renter and someone who owns several rental properties living in the same world and contributing to society?
When it comes to defence, probably most think “this is very complicated , above my pay grade and we seem to be ok” Although the collective mind was dead right to demonstrate against the Iraq intervention, and that probably helped us avoid another quagmire in Syria.
Maybe the best option here would be a citizen assembly to come up with the best balance between – inter alia – NATO membership, GDP spend on defence, Ukraine support, Naval v Ground weighting, Nuclear deterrent, ammunition storage/ manufacture, advanced weaponry, new aircraft etc. Many of these issues require some specialist knowledge, eg you need to know that an Aircraft Carrier obviously needs its aircraft, but also needs AWACS capability, and typically 2 frigates(ASW), 2 destroyers (anti-air) an attack submarine and a refueller as escorts. which then means that you need to have at least eg 6 frigates to ensure that 2 are deployable. And similar non-obvious trade-offs throughout.
But no-one will be pleased if neglecting this area leads to the UK suffering significant damage from enemy action, so while most of the electorate won’t prioritise it, it still needs doing.
And then there’s Political Reform. Again, probably pretty low on most people’s priority list. See prosperity again. But it’s quite important for LDs. Most likely scenario for LD participation in government is as part of a coalition. Last time was a less than positive experience, and a possible LD red line for joining a coalition would be the introduction of Proportional Representation. No referendum, either. So potential voters would need to know about that, even if it’s not top of their priorities.
Many politicians pin their hopes for increased prosperity on growth. However, we have had almost no growth in GDP per capita in the last 15 years and it may well be that the same will apply for the next 15. If so “growth” will be a shaky hook to hang our hopes for success on. It has also been the case that elites have taken an increasingly large slice of the pie while those at the bottom are left in mouldy housing or on the streets and living off food banks. It would be good to have plans that would lead to Improvements for most, even at the price of the elites perhaps having less.
Members feel that their voices are not being heard, even where they have considerable expertise. Yes, I thought, you’ve got it !
And then a banal, brief and general survey about broad policy areas and priorities. What are the public’s priorities ? Do you need to be told ? I was recently in Dublin during the Irish general election. Political priorities in Dublin are the same as Dallas and Dagenham. Cost of living, energy prices, immigration. But this facile question represents the level of policy participation members can expect in this brave new world. Thanks a lot.
I’ve never responded to a comment on an article I’ve written, but I will disobey this 20-year rule for this occasion, mostly because the comments from Jenny above are rather pertinent, and the entire point of this exercise is to engage the membership.
I agree that some of the questions on the short survey are simplistic. That’s one reason I advised people to reply to the “long version” survey as well. I didn’t design the survey, but I suspect ranking is used because it’s the simplest method in survey sciences to quantify qualitative data. We could have no short version survey and just have a long version, but this would probably reduce response rates substantially.
I also agree that methodologies such as polling and focus groups are reasonably good at knowing what the public’s priorities are on basic topics of general interest. But we still need to document them, analyze them, and decide what relevance they have in the context of the Lib Dem’s political values and our political position.
You also make a very good point about the struggle of tackling advanced topics — particularly as someone whose main policy contributions have been on equalities and education, I’m often loathe to involve non-experts on such topics in policy advice to politicians, because it often results in counterproductive results. I think this is something our group is aware of and handles responsibly.
We have also discussed the need to lead on issues which may not be of prime importance to the general electorate, and electoral reform is an obvious example of this. I hope you have also said this in response to the survey, as “members’ views” like these are very important to document.
The broader point you make regarding communication to voters is pertinent, but I am not an expert in this area, so I can’t comment sagely.