In support of the new government

I can understand why people are so ambivalent about this Lib Dem – Tory coalition, and my instinctive response to it was also negative. But the more I think about it the more I think it is for the best. It is the best of a collection of less-than-perfect outcomes. Which is a strange thing to say, I guess, given that with a relatively feeble performance at the election we (I keep saying “we” and then deleting and replacing with Lib Dems, but I am getting sick of doing it. To qualify, I am a Lib Dem voter, not a party member. But I do feel a certain loyalty to the party) have found ourselves with a taste of power.

Bottom line: we believe in PR. That system requires forming coalition governments based on what the public has voted for. If all the parties say, in effect: “We will never ally with the Tories” then PR is not representative or democratic. For better or worse, more people voted Tory at this election than for anyone else. So it is fair enough they be in office. Personally, I would rather the Lib Dems came in with them and exerted some influence over policy than the Tories had an outright majority and allowed their right wing to run riot.

And yes, this will involve compromises. But then, it’s not like we would be getting more Lib Dem policies through if we didn’t form part of this coalition. Given the choice of either 20% of our manifesto or 0%, I’d take 20%. And given the choice of 100% of the Tories’ or 80%, I’d take 80%. I actually think the compromises are pretty reasonable, in the main.

I’m sick to death – and its only been a couple of weeks – of people talking about how the two parties have been merged into one now, and hinting at the LDs as now being a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tories (this position was most notably put forward, from what I have seen, by Mehdi Hasan on Question Time last week. For the record I thought he was great value. I imagine if the conversation hadn’t been predominantly about the coalition I would have agreed with a lot of what he said).

The LDs are not a subsidiary of the Conservatives. Of course both parties deserve to be represented in a debate, even if they both support the same government. They represent completely different people within the electorate, and have almost diametrically opposed ways of looking at life. When a Tory looks at criminal figures, he demands more prisons. When a Lib Dem looks at the same thing, he demands schools, youth clubs or economic opportunities, to try to prevent crime being committed in the first place. To most people in this country that sounds naïve. So be it.

So I understand those that believe the LDs are spiritually and in terms of policy closer to Labour. I just about agree (despite not liking Labour’s authoritarian streak, and finding the constant repetition about “tax credits for middle income families” faintly ludicrous in the context of the economic situation we are in. Trying to seduce the middle classes with goodies is SO 1997 – come on Brown, get with the programme: 2010 is all about manageable austerity). But that is not what people voted for. Let’s not feed the view that we are just a protest vote for alternative Labour voters by giving the impression we do not have the independence to go it alone.

I am proud the LD politicians who have their reservations about this have so far held their peace and seem to be trying to make it work. I appreciate a lot of what I said above has been said before. But I hope some of the criticisms of the party die down – at least those from within – and the debate turns to more constructive things.