Liberal With The Truth

For me the Liberal Democrats summarise everything that is wrong with UK politics. They seem to have no interest in honesty and integrity and only care about how to gain, and retain, power. From their creation as a merger of the Liberal party and the Social Democrats, the party seems to have been determined to gain as much power as the Liberals had in the early 20^th Century. But before this descends into me posting a personal vendetta on the internet let me show a few reasons of why I have such a dislike for the Liberal Democrats.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, Student Tuition Fee’s.  For many years the Liberal Democrats went around the country, visiting students and promising to vote against any increase in student tuition fees. They even signed pledges and allowed photographs to be taken with them holding their pledges to vote against any increase in tuition fees. Then came the 2010 general election and the Liberal Democrats formed that beautiful coalition that is currently in government. Out the window went the pledges and in their place were pledges to triple tuition fees. Some people went ‘hang on, didn’t I see a picture of Nick Clegg with a pledge never to increase tuition fees’ but good old Nick reminded the electorate that the coalition was about compromise, with the Conservatives being able to do what they wanted to and the Liberal Democrats getting useless, but impressive sound titles like ‘Deputy Prime minister’. Student Tuition Fees was, and still is, the prime example of how the Liberal Democrats are willing to go back on promises in order to obtain power. Maybe, shock horror, they never intended to vote against an increase in tuition fees but merely said so to win student votes.

Now, let’s move on to the coalition itself. This coalition based on compromise and working together seems to actually be a coalition of Conservatives and that other party that they walk over. The only thing the Liberal Democrats seem to have achieved is their long desired AV referendum, which went down like a lead balloon. But what else have the Liberal Democrats achieved? In nearly two years have they made a difference in the coalition? I expected the Liberal Democrats to be the moral compass of the coalition. I expected them to stand up to their Conservative partners, telling them when they were cutting too deep or hitting the working and middle classes too hard. Instead they put on their doormat outfits and let the Conservatives walk all over them.  Not only that but they have become the Conservatives whipping boys. They take all of the blame for the coalition, hence why only around 8% of the population say they will vote for them in the next election. They create none of the policy yet take all of the blame, all because they enjoy the position of power they currently have.

The Liberal Democrats are either stupidly naive or they know that they will not be voted back into a position of power in the next generation. The current generation does not trust them, and my generation blames them for the £45,000 worth of debt they will be in after university. So my dislike of the Liberal Democrats stems from the fact that they have no interest in political policy but only in political power. They have sacrificed their integrity to gain five years of power, but they will suffer the worst fifty years in the history of any British political party as a repercussion. Well done Liberal Democrats, you really have shot yourselves in the foot.