Why be in someone else’s Government?

There’s no escaping it, this week has been a difficult one for the Lib Dems. We had the Browne review on Tuesday which very imaginatively recommended removing the cap on tuition fees. By mid afternoon we saw Vince Cable, one time political heavy weight, conducting one of the most humiliating changes of position I have ever seen. Of course now he supports the Browne review recommendations and his justification? The economic situation means that there simply is no other option. Sound familiar?

In their election campaign the Lib Dems ran on a platform of free education for all but because there was a recession on, they proposed to phase out tuition fees over 6 years rather than scrapping them over night. Here’s Nick to explain more.  

But now we see the leaders of the Lib Dems, not only arguing for tuition fees but actively raising the debt burden that young people will face if they want to get an education. This is more than just a U-turn. That is someone else’s policy.

And it’s not the first time we have seen this from the Lib Dems while they have been in coalition. I am sure we all remember this picture (although I am sure Nick would like to forget)

Hum there does seem to be a trend emerging.

The Lib Dems have one view the Tories have another.  Dilemma! Oh no it isn’t the Tory view simply gets swallowed by the Lib Dems and all is right with the world.

But why? What’s in it for them? Is the allure of Government so strong that they will support any policy, even the opposite of what they say they believe in? Is power the ultimate prize so much so that it is valuable as an end in itself?

And to think there was a time when we all thought that the Lib Dems might actually take some of the sting out of Tory policies. (Ah those heady idealistic days)

But seriously what are they getting for their trouble? They can’t honestly think they are creating a fairer Britain, as they rip up state funded education at all levels (remember free schools) and preside over ruthless and ideological cuts to public services that are quite likely to devastate our whole economy.

I can only think of one thing that they are actually getting out of all this: a referendum on voting reform. Yes, they are getting the chance to ask the country to make coalition Governments a reality forever and perhaps for them this does make this soul sacrificing process worthwhile. They would, after all, hold the balance of power for the foreseeable future.

But all this makes me wonder, what happens if they lose this referendum? What happens if one term is all they get before being cast out to be the junior opposition for another fifty, sixty, even a hundred years?

Will their shot at Government have been well used or will their lasting legacy be easily summed up by a satirical poster?

Helen Martin- STUC

Calling all Lib Dems

The STUC today wrote an open letter to all Lib Dem MSPs and MPs in Scotland. Their conference begins tomorrow in Liverpool and we hope that Scottish Liberal Democrats will join us in rejecting calls by George Osborne and Nick Clegg to remove an additional £4 billion on top of the £11 billion that they have already taken out of the welfare budget.   

In our letter we condemn Nick Clegg’s comments that welfare payments should be “an engine of mobility...rather than a giant cheque written by the state to compensate the poor for their predicament," and we make the point that with long-term unemployment on the rise there simply aren’t enough jobs to go around.

Here is an extract from our letter:

STUC is receiving a very clear message from its own members particularly its disabled members, not to mention our sister organisations in the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform. People are becoming increasingly fearful for their futures and increasingly angry as it is insisted ‘that more people must find work’ when so little is being done to tackle unemployment.  Figures released this week by STUC showed a 132% increase in long-term unemployment across Scotland with the highest regional increase of 475% being recorded in the Scottish Secretary’s own constituency.

It remains the fact that benefit payments in the UK are low compared to most other countries, income inequality is stubbornly high and work is not the automatic route out of poverty that it should be with the incidence of working family child poverty on the increase.

Two thirds of the UK welfare budget goes to those above working age, with just one third being spent on those of working age and children.   Whilst fully supporting the pledge to safeguard elderly benefits, STUC is horrified to contemplate the cuts that will be borne by the others.

The letter ends by calling on Scottish Liberal Democrats to join us in our Better Way campaign in order to ‘buttress the most draconian attack on welfare in a generation.’

Along with the open letter the STUC also unveiled its campaign banner which is a humorous depiction of the respective roles of David Cameron and Nick Clegg. The banner is currently hanging on the outside of the STUC building and is designed to raise awareness of the Better Way Campaign and challenge the myth that there is no alternative to the Government’s cuts.

Helen Martin – STUC.

Nick Clegg, Generational Failure and Looking Young People in the Eye

Nick Clegg made a speech this morning in which he set out one of the strategic aims of the coalition Government. He said that he wanted to achieve a ‘horizon shift’ which he defined as focusing on long-term goals rather than short-term issues, to build a ‘fairer and more prosperous future’. He then went on to say that one the aims of his speech today was to ‘argue for justice between generations and warn that we are in danger of failing the next generation.’


I have to say I was genuinely quite interested in what he had to say on this issue. One of the hardest hit groups in this recession are young people. Youth unemployment in Scotland is currently running at 19.4% which is higher than for any other age group. So I believe that the Government should be putting more emphasis on what’s happening to young people in this economic crisis and that there should be an emphasis on avoiding ‘failing the next generation’

So what did Clegg actually say on this issue. Well here it is:

‘The Prime Minister and I are from the same generation. And frankly, we know that both our generation - and the one before us - got it wrong. We have run up debts, despoiled the planet and allowed too many of our institutions to wither. For us, the longer-term view we are adopting in government will help to wipe the slate clean, and ensure that future generations can thrive, without being burdened with the dead weight of our debt, and our failings.


We are absolutely determined that we will be able to look our children and grandchildren in the eye and say we did the best we could for them, even if this means taking some difficult, unpopular decisions today.’

I have to say I am quite disappointed by this. Nick Clegg seems to have completely missed the point that there are young people who need the Government’s help and support now. Instead he is holding up some lofty ideal of ‘I’m doing it for the children’ as a justification for making dramatic public spending cuts and for his Government’s obsession with the deficit.

One of the first cuts this Government made when they came to power was the Future Jobs Fund. They scrapped this initiative overnight as part of their £6 billion ‘efficiency’ savings which they had promised before the election would only come from money that was being wasted.

This scheme was helping young people who would otherwise be out of work find a job. It was giving them experience of the labour market, giving them training and paying the minimum wage. But now it is gone.

I can’t help but be annoyed at Nick Clegg’s view of his obligations to the next generation and I can’t help but think that this ‘horizon shift’ and focus on the long-term conveniently lets him forget those who are being hurt today by the Government’s political decisions.

I think to be able to look the young people of Scotland in the eye Nick Clegg will have to do better than empty words.

Helen Martin- STUC