It is time to put the pressure on Cameron
It’s a terrible time to be a Liberal Democrat. Pollsters have them between 8-13% nationally, they're likely to be placed in 6th in Wales and they're 4th in Scotland. Meanwhile Vince Cable (and several other Lib Dems) has been stung by the Telegraph with the result that a pro-Murdoch conservative is now in charge of the BSkyB decision.
Really, this is almost a comeuppance Vince Cable & Nick Clegg’s absolute refusal to engage with students over recent months; when Vince was faced with ‘constituents’ he gave into the need to show off about something. The problem is that it was only a matter of time before someone clipped Cable’s wings; the flip-flop over graduate tax vs. Lord Browne’s proposals on tuition fees and whether he should abstain on his own proposal had left him in a very vulnerable position. The worrying thing is that, whilst his offence was a small one, Cameron could easily have dropped him from the cabinet but they didn’t which means that a deal was made somewhere.
Vince’s “nuclear weapon” has been diffused leaving him with little or no power, which means that he has become a true puppet head of department; the fact that he lost the decision over BSkyB to an openly biased individual is a demonstration that the Lib Dems are losing the battle that is forever raging in Whitehall. This is all a little worrying for the tuition fees white paper coming up in the New Year; it would not surprise me if the package being proposed for tuition fees will be made ‘less fair’ in the detail. The rise in fees was rushed through intentionally ahead of the white paper and before Christmas so that they could brag about the 'improvements' later on.
Part of the problem for the Lib Dem has stemmed from the fact that they're suffering so badly in the polls, Cable's 'nuclear weapon' was never realistic because Lib Dem High Command will be terrified about the prospect of triggering an election. Significantly the student movement has thrown all its weight into trying to force Lib Dem MPs into voting against the tuition fees proposal, damaging the Lib Dems dramatically; causing the unfortunate side effect of compounding the problem for them and allowing Conservatives to come out relatively unscathed by all this, whilst they've lost their lead in the polls; it has become apparent that the argument has not been brought to Conservative voters (those who currently support the proposals) and instead has become rather confined to “how awful” the Lib Dems U-turn has been. If we are to win the debate over tuition fees we must win the argument against those who are supporting these proposals, not those stubbornly shouting about this being a “compromise”.
And, sadly, of course we have the small problem that the other mainstream party (Labour) haven’t got the best track record on the subject of tuition fees. The lurch towards the Graduate Tax is a healthy one in my opinion, whilst ideally I would prefer free higher education; I can understand and appreciate the argument that students should make a contribution (My views about a graduate tax). The important matter, however, is that we need to look into the ways to ensure that political reform does not just touch Westminster. In order for politics to move into a new era the mainstream parties must look into their democratic structures; they all operate with a top-down approach and the memberships only true option when dissatisfied is to leave the party.
This is all significant, but if we are to oppose those things which we do not like about this government then it is so very important to ensure that we’re both targeting the right people and finding ways to make organisation who are supposed to represent us more accountable to the electorate.
So, if you’re thinking what I’m thinking, remember that the true enemies right now are not the Liberal Democrats, but the Conservatives. But remind yourself that working with others is important, and that forming bridges (not burning them) is crucial to the success of any movement; so please open up debate on how to improve things not whining about who has been the worst in government.
It's time to put the pressure on the Conservatives.
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