Sunday 12 August 2012

The Lib Dems are revolting

Today's independent carries two stories about angry Lib Dems. The first, 'Get tough on Tories' urge Clegg activists, suggests that local constituency parties are preparing a raft of motions either calling for withdrawal from the coalition, or for the Lib Dem leadership to take a tougher stance against the Tories, perhaps calling for the parliamentary party to vote against some of key Tory proposal in revenge for Lords Reform.

A Liberal Left member, is quoted as saying:

"It looks now as though we will be going through a term in government with no form of constitutional reform to show at the end of it. People like me have never made any secret of the fact that we didn't want a coalition with the Conservatives, but there will be more complaints and motions about it at conference this year. It will be very difficult for the leadership."

The second story, Liberal Democrats slam Osborne over green policies,  explains how Danny Alexander, the Tories' 'Lib Dem darling', will move a motion about the economy at the September Lib Dem Conference over  "the refusal of the Conservatives to acknowledge that investing in carbon reducing technologies has the potential to make an important contribution to long-term growth".

And so it begins. The grassroots revolts, prompting the vacuous sabre-rattling by the leadership to give the pretence of still having influence, and who better to rattle the sabre than the Tories favourite Lib Dem for maximum effect? Interesting that he intends to slam the Tories on the Economy given that Clegg came out last week saying that there was no rift over energy policy within the coalition and that they were all committed to a low carbon economy. As well as marking out Clegg as a liar, it further highlights the non existent Lib Dem influence within the coalition.

As for the activists outrage over the dropping of Lords Reform, it shows a warped sense of priority. Whilst accepting that Lords Reform is long overdue, why is it only now that they've decided to put on the pressure? Where was the membership on Welfare reform, for instance?

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