Categories: election-2010
Date: 08 May 2010 08:07:39
It's great when party's you were formally part of don't update their records or generally e-mail people who have said they want updates. You find yourself getting e-mails that really should be going only to members not to the already disillusioned. Today I woke up and found this e-mail from Ros Scott to Lib Dem Party members in my inbox. I publish it on here because it is already in the public domain and I believe it is important that whilst the BBC is still claiming "Clegg is deliberating on Tory Deal" people should know that it is pretty much a done deal. Finally I want to share the text and use it to explain why it sums up why I left the party and part of the reason why I felt forced to switch from Lib Dems to Labour when I voted this time, something I felt I'd never do.
Internal note to members
From Ros Scott, Party President
Dear Sally,
As the final election results come in, it is clear that no party has been granted an overall majority by the British electorate. There have been disappointments, as there have been for all of the major parties. The Conservatives have not won the majority that they thought was theirs at the beginning of the campaign, Labour have lost scores of seats across the country.
We took seats from the Conservatives in Chippenham, Eastbourne and Wells and staged some remarkable swings to capture Redcar and come so close to winning in Ashfield.
We have waged the best campaign we have ever fought, engaged more voters (nearly 7 million) than ever before, and in Nick, we have a leader who has won the respect, admiration and trust of the British people. These are priceless assets. We must remain unwavering in our determination to deliver the change that this country so badly needs.
Our aim now is to stick to the principles on which we fought the election and seek to ensure that a future government reflects our priorities of fair taxes, a fair chance for every child, a strong rebalanced economy that delivers sustainable jobs and political reform.
We are a democratic party (unlike the other two old parties) and our internal processes will always reflect that. At the same time, our process will not stand in the way of the need for decisive action in the interests of the whole country. I promise to keep you informed.
We have all worked hard and for that I thank you - my travels around the country showed me just how much everyone has put in. We have achieved this not only due to that effort, but also by sticking to our fairness message. In order for us to maximise our chances of delivering our fairness agenda we now have to keep this discipline up, avoiding speculation as to what happens next.
Baroness Ros Scott
President of the Liberal Democrats
So why does this reflect my disillusionment with the party? Well, in short despite the plea to avoid the spectulation the tone and contents of this letter when put along side Cameron's statement mean they are talking about effectively going into coalition or proppring up the Tories through this e-mail. When they talk about "fairness" in those areas that Cameron said he would work with them on I wonder what they mean by "fairness". I think it actually means that they have abandoned the ideological principals they were working on just 5 to 10 years ago completely, principals which led to policies which would lead to "fairness".
Whilst most of my voting was based upon local candidates in the end I realised that to me a fair tax system has to be one based on taxation rises to protect public services, as much as we are able in view of the cuts which must come, and the rise in National Insurance was the nearest anybody was offering. In terms of education I support choice but not at the expense of children and communities which are in "sink" areas. The way to improve these communities and childrens lives is not to give more opportunities for people to ship their kids out. I believe that many of these policies designed to give "fairness" will actually disenfranchise further the very people they are intended to help giving more of a divide between "the lower middle classes" and the "lower working classes" and "the underclass".
In terms of a strong economy, we are all aware cuts will be needed. However, it is clear these cuts will be felt more harshly in some areas than others. Again I believe it is those at the bottom end of the economic scale who will suffer, whether or not they are "deserving" or "undeserving" poor, (a distinction I am wary about anyway).
Living in the North East and working, researching where I am I have become aware of the facts which explain why public spending is higher in this part of the country. I came up here from the South East and am accutely aware of the areas of social deprivation that exist down there aswell, (I have taught young people from some of the poorest wards in the country - and they were in apparently affluent parts of the country). Living up here I am also aware that there are areas of real affluence in the North. However, overall there is a very clear reversal between the two in terms of the numbers of each type of area I pass through on my bus journeys. The North East does have much more social deprivation which public spending is effectively dealing with. I believe that in some ways the cuts will be deepest here because the votes of the two parties cannot generally be bought or depended upon, although their are pockets of support for the two parties.
This does not mean that I am opposed to all Tory or Lib Dem policies, or that I now support Labour policies, in many cases I don't. I also believe that the Torys should have the right to govern and form a government because they clearly did get the biggest mandate in the election. My concerns entirely lie with the Lib Dems continuing to sell out and take the path they continue to take of "votes and power at any cost". As I see it the party is losing any claim to integrity it had.