Radical and rebellious.
After a gruelling election campaign in the depths of winter and at the end of the decade, it’s natural and necessary to take some time out and reflect on the outcomes. Whilst they might not have been to my liking, the result is the product of our electoral system, and therefore we must respect the Government that formed in its wake.
However, bigger questions are raised due to its outcome, especially for a party like the Liberal Democrats. And whilst we all wallow in the downtime between Christmas and New Year, it seems like the party (at least on social media) is tearing itself apart over the future stance on the European Union, on the new leadership contest and whether Jo Swinson was a good leader.
Over the next few weeks, I will publish each chapter of this mini-series reflecting on a specific issue to help shape the debate going forward.
Before we think about our position on the European Union going forward, we first must address some fundamental issues which cannot be ignored.
Firstly, since the 2016 referendum, the Liberal Democrats have positioned themselves as a party focused solely on stopping Brexit and they’ve been the strongest voice of remain since then too. This has led to the party’s membership growing to unprecedented levels, and some within the party have linked this grown as representing the wider British public as a note of discourse in the way the Brexit result was being dealt with.
Secondly, at conference, the party’s membership passed the motion to revoke article 50, essentially stopping the UK from leaving the European Union altogether. The influx of pro-European members since 2016 may have helped to shape this decisions. It lead to the policy becoming the Lib Dems’ flagship commitment to voters on 12 December 2019.
There were other options for what the party should post as its main policy going into this election. To me, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to push for electoral reform. With three General Elections, and one referendum in four years, it is clear to me, and to the public, that politics within the UK is completely broken. This election looks like the perfect storm for the party to reclaim its status as the rebels in parliament – shaking up our democracy for the better.
This leads me to my main problem with revoking article 50 – it’s huge conflict on how the Liberal Democrats are seen in wider society. On one hand, the party is seen as protecting the status quo of an institution that the majority of people think is undemocratic, full of bureaucracy and unaccountable. At the same time, the party have tried to (but arguably not with much vigour) be seen as the party of fundamental institutional reform and upsetting the status quo – think proportional representation, abolition of the House of Lords, etc..
Whilst we might understand the nuance and benefits of each of these positions, to the wider public, the Liberal Democrats appear to favour the cold-faced, distant governance of Brussels, over the warmth of the Palace of Westminster. To the average person, the Liberal Democrats are hypocrites.
So as the party debates whether we should update our policy to rejoin the European Union at the earliest opportunity, or throws people under the bus for backing the revoke policy in the first place, we need to think about where our priorities are. And though we tried, and failed, in 2011 to introduce the alternative vote system, we should be steadfast in our ambition to reform British politics, and rebuild the trust broken in our systems.
Imagine a country where every vote cast counting towards the result. Imagine a new system that also protects the MP-constituency link. Imaging where everyone is informed to make a rational choice when casting their vote. This can be achieved, but only through institutional reform.
The Lib Dems have the opportunity to regain the rebellious status they once had, and over the next five years I hope that we push further for change. Instead, I fear that we’ll spend the next five years campaigning solely to re-join the European Union, losing even more touch with the British public.