Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Speedy Revival of Liberal Britain
From the close of polls on Thursday night to 6 pm last night (the 9th May), 4,000 new members joined the Liberal Democrats.
If you too are interested in joining, you can do so within minutes at http://www.libdems.org.uk/fightback?splash=1 It costs £12.
Having talked with hundreds of voters during the campaign, I know that many people around here, who had considered voting for our party, decided instead to vote for other parties. Their main reason for doing so was that they wanted to be sure of keeping the Conservatives out of Downing Street.
As we now all know, the trouble with this view was that because of the way in which the rest of the country voted, a government led by Conservatives and restrained by us was succeeded by a government in which the Conservatives can do as they please.
As a result, they are likely to reintroduce a number of things, which we had blocked during the last Parliament, and to introduce some new things which we would be blocking now, were we in a position to do so. These include:
- the "snoopers' charter" (already announced by the Home Secretary) which will greatly increase the powers of the government to intercept private communications.
- £12 billion in welfare cuts.
- huge cuts in spending in non protected departments and in local authorities to pay for Tory promises to reduce taxation for the better off and to bring the current budget into surplus within an unnecessarily short time frame.
- slashing of expenditure on green energy.
- cutbacks to the BBC.
- reducing the rights of workers not to be "fired at will."
What is about to happen proves, in my view, that the identity of the Prime Minister is not nearly so important as what he or she actually does when in office.
I very much look forward, therefore, to our membership continuing to increase.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on
-
Since Thursday night our membership has now increased by 8,000.
-
Permalink Reply by Philip on
-
Apart from Vince Cable selling off our Royal Mail I can't think of any. Here's your chance to enlghten us?
-
-
I'm delighted you've decided to join, Max. I'm also delighted to say that since the election our membership has now increased by 10,000.
And locally, our membership in Haringey has increased by over a hundred.
Best,
David
-
-
I was talking to the Libdem Tottenham candidate last night and he supports TTIP! Having sold off the Royal Mail I wonder if there's anything the Libdems wouldn't sell off?
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
-
It feels to me, David, as if all the parties are to a surprising extent engaged in a let's-carry-on-more-or-less-as-usual exercise. With variations on:
"Sure, it was disaster/famous victory so let's do largely what we did before. Because we are right and the people out there have (a) voted for us and confirmed our rightness; or (b) failed to vote for us this time because we haven't yet persuaded enough of them of our rightness."
So I'd like to reprise an old posting which may be one of the most relevant TED talks right now. Because almost everyone - including the pollsters - seems to have 'read' the election wrong. But are resisting the need to learn from it.
The talk, by Kathryn Schultz was called "On Being Wrong". I think my original posting got about three views. One person, Maddy, commented with a helpful alternative viewpoint.
(Declaration of Interest. I was a Labour councillor; am still a Labour member; and helped in the election. And yes my party has also had a post-election surge of members.)
-
-
-
-
David, my post just vanished. It was a brief suggestion that, you and other people might like to read two articles today. By John Harris and Martin Kettle. Although they are both about the Labour Party leadership contest, I think they're as relevant to any centre or left of centre political party.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
David, in case you haven't seen them, can I recommend two thought-provoking articles in today's Guardian (15 May 2015). They're both about the Labour prospects for the Labour Party. But may also be useful for members or supporters of other parties, since all them are affected by the wider social forces now operating.
John Harris: Labour is in deep crisis – and trite guff won’t save it. The "trite guff" he's talking seems to include the thoughts of most Leadership candidates, plus commentators. He makes what may be a fundamental point - that there are similarities with other left/social democratic parties in Europe.
Martin Kettle: It’s vital to know why Labour lost – yet more so to know why the To.... Focuses more on the misleading polls and what they didn't tell us. He sees the Labour leadership contest as "premature" and a "handy duvet beneath which to hide from electoral and political reality".