An answer for Leslie Strathearn

Leslie Strathearn of Glasgow asks: “Should the Liberal Democrats change their name to something more reflective of their current approach to politics? The LibDems would not consider a Holyrood coalition in 2007 because the SNP proposal of a referendum was a deal breaker. So much for Liberal, as in broad-minded and favouring reform.

“They have now thrown away their own UK manifesto, in a coalition helping Conservatives implement ideological cuts in the public sector.

“Bang goes the Democrat bit. At the moment their name is a misnomer akin to George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth. How about the Bipolar Conliberals?”

“Or the Oxymorons?”

The Herald thinks there is nothing the party can say to answer such sharp witted criticisms. I disagree with The Herald and with Leslie Strathearn. Showing why I'm right to do so shouldn't take much time.

Leslie Strathearn suggests that the Lib Dems are no longer liberal because we refused to go along with the SNP in sanctioning a referendum on Scottish independence. This is true if being liberal means having as many referendums as possible. However, Leslie clearly states that Liberal is meant to imply "favouring reform" and "broad-minded". Having a referendum may imply favouring reform, but not having a referendum does not imply a disparaging attitude towards reform. The argument offered by Leslie can be broken down as "If X is in favour of referendums, then X is liberal. X is not in favour of a referendum, therefore X is illiberal". Even the most basic logic course will drum this fallacy out of you on day one.

Still looks like we can be Liberal.

Leslie then contends that we have thrown away our manifesto. In fact, we have not. We have retained much of the manifesto and it's worth noting that they are policies of some importance which would otherwise not have been implemented (Increase in the income tax threshold, triple-lock on pensions, Green Investment Bank, amongst others). If Leslie means that only implementing some of your manifesto is as good as throwing it away, then I propose that everyone ever who has produced a manifesto has thrown it away and that it is actually impossible for any person to not throw away a manifesto. Maybe we should be a bit more generous. If implementing your manifesto is what Leslie means by "throwing away", then I suppose Leslie is onto a winner.

Still looks like we can be Democrats.

Still looks like we can be Liberal Democrats.