Abstract
The impact of New Labour on Liberal Democrat policy-making and positioning has been mixed. On the one hand, the centralising and authoritarian nature of much of New Labour’s legislation has helped focus attention on long-standing Liberal positions on decentralisation and civil liberties. On the other, the Government’s substantial injection of extra funding into public services, notably health and education, has undermined one of the Liberal Democrats’ key policy messages of the 1990s — the need for investment in public services — and revived an internal debate over the role and size of the state that had seemed to be settled a decade before.
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Notes
For a longer discussion of this, see C. Russell, An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Liberalism (London: Duckworth, 1999).
It should be remembered that both these terms, together with ‘social liberal’, are imprecise and have meant different things at different times in different contexts; this will be explored further in the text, but for a longer discussion, see: D. Doering, ‘Classical Liberalism’, D. Brack, ‘Economic Liberalism’ and ‘Social Liberalism’, in D. Brack and E. Randall (eds), Dictionary of Liberal Thought (London: Politico’s, 2007).
Richard Grayson has argued that the case for decentralisation increasing individual freedom stems primarily from the Liberal inheritance of the Liberal Democrats; while the SDP also supported decentralisation, it was mainly on the grounds of efficiency. See R. S. Grayson, ‘Social Democracy or Social Liberalism? Ideological Sources of Liberal Democrat Policy’, Political Quarterly 78.1 (2007), pp. 32–9.
C. Huhne, ‘The Case for Localism: The Liberal Narrative’, in D. Brack, R. S. Grayson and D. Howarth (eds), Reinventing the State: Social Liberalism for the 21st Century (London: Politico’s, 2007), pp. 244–7.
Liberal Democrats, Make the Difference: The Liberal Democrat Manifesto 1997, section on ‘Renewing Democracy’ (available at <http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/e01/man/libdem/Fed2001.htm>, accessed 1 July 2009), p. 43.
Liberal Democrats, Freedom, Justice, Honesty: General Election 2001 Manifesto, section on ‘Reforming Politics’ (available at <http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/e01/man/libdem/Fed2001.htm>, accessed 1 July 2009), p. 14.
Liberal Democrats, Quality, Innovation, Choice, Policy Paper 53 (Liberal Democrats, 2002), often known as the ‘report of the Huhne Commission’, after the chair of the policy working group which drew it up, Chris Huhne (then an MEP, now an MP).
Liberal Democrats, The Real Alternative: General Election 2005 Manifesto, section on ‘Stop the Abuse of Power’ (available at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/LD_uk_manifesto.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009), p. 18.
Liberal Democrats, The Power to Be Different: Policies for Local and Regional Governance in England, Policy Paper 79 (Liberal Democrats, 2007; available at <http://s3.amazonaws.com/ld-migrated-assets/assets/0000/9390/Policy_Paper_79_-_The_Power_To_Be_Different_-_motion_as_passed_by_conference.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009); and For the People, by the People: Policies for Better Governance in the UK (Better Governance Policy Paper), Policy Paper 83 (Liberal Democrats, 2007; available at: <http://s3.amazonaws.com/ld-migrated-assets/assets/0000/9368/Policy_Paper_83_-_For_the_People_By_the_People_-_motion_as_passed_by_conference.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009); both agreed by the autumn 2007 conference.
Liberal Democrats, Empowerment, Fairness and Quality in Health Care: Policies for Health and Social Care in England, Policy Paper 84 (Liberal Democrats, 2008), adopted, as amended, by the spring 2008 conference; and Liberal Democrat Justice and Home Affairs Team Paper, Cutting Crime: Catching Criminals with Better Policing (2008), a policy motion based on this paper was adopted, as amended, by the Autumn 2008 conference.
See, for example, A. Russell and E. Fieldhouse, Neither Left Nor Right? The Liberal Democrats and the Electorate (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005), pp. 92–3.
P. Marshall and D. Laws (eds), The Orange Book: Reclaiming Liberalism (London: Profile Books, 2004).
P. Wintour, ‘Lib Dem radicals call for pro-market switch’, The Guardian (4 August 2004).
Liberal Democrats, Fairer, Simpler, Greener: Policies for Tax Reform, Policy Paper 75 (Liberal Democrats, 2006; available at: <http://s3.amazonaws.com/ld-migrated-assets/assets/0000/9370/Policy_Paper_75_-_Fairer_Simpler_Greener_-_motion_as_passed_by_conference.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009); and Reducing the Burden: Policies for Tax Reform, Policy Paper 81 (Liberal Democrats, 2007; available at <http://s3.amazonaws.com/ld-migrated-assets/assets/0000/7926/Policy_Paper_81_-_Reducing_the_Burden_-_motion_as_passed_by_conference.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009).
See Liberal Democrats, Zero-Carbon Britain — Taking a Global Lead: Policies for Tackling Climate Change, Policy Paper 82 (Liberal Democrats, 2007; available at: <http://s3.amazonaws.com/ld-migrated-assets/assets/0000/7889/Policy_Paper_82_-_Zero_Carbon_Britain.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009).
Liberal Democrats, Make It Happen (2008; available at <http://www.libdems.org.uk/assets/0000/7654/A08MIH.pdf>).
Leader, ‘Why we need the Lib Dems’, Independent on Sunday (14 September 2008).
Leader, ‘A split party: will the real liberals stand up at last?’, The Times (18 September 2008).
Leader, ‘The Lib Dems stay in the game’, The Independent (18 September 2008).
Liberal Democrats, Fast-Track Britain — Building a Transport System for the 21st Century, Policy Paper 85 (Liberal Democrats, 2008; available at <http://s3.amazonaws.com/ld-migrated-assets/assets/0000/9430/Policy_Paper_85_-_Transport_-_motion.pdf>, accessed 1 July 2009).
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© 2010 Duncan Brack
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Brack, D. (2010). The Liberal Democrats and the Role of the State. In: Griffiths, S., Hickson, K. (eds) British Party Politics and Ideology after New Labour. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230248557_21
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