An Alliance of Labour and Liberal Democrats could do so much more

In the news this week has been talk that, come 2015, negotiation between the UK Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats over an alliance or coalition at the next election could be very likely (Mason, 2014). It isn't an outcome hard to imagine, as the parties have much in common and have been down this road before.

The recent commitment by Labour to a government of, should they be elected, 'big reform, not big spending' certainly closes a lot of the gaps between the two groups (Sparrow, 2014).

The Lib Dem wing closely associated with the Orange Book, a work encouraging the market liberal strain of thought within the party, would certainly be able to work with the new Labour Party direction (Priestland, 2014) - as long as they remain open to various political, social and economic reforms, that don't involve expanding the state, or state spending (Mason, 2014).

Yet it seems like there is a much more that the two parties could do. From interest in social liberal causes, like decentralisation and the extension of liberties, to progressive economics, like co-operativism and mutualism, both parties have a strong progressive heritage.

Right now, though, both sides are too concerned with meeting the present political orthodoxy. Under pressure from the right and left-wing strands of pressure groups, Labour have tried to walk the tightrope between the two. On the one side, the left-wing Trade Unions have called strikes and been active at protests, yet at the same time seen their influence within the party reduced by internal party reforms (BBC, 2014).

On the other, the right-wing has pressured Labour to seize the political centre and play to the interests and concerns of the middle class. To encourage the capitalist market and related ambitions, and to distance themselves from the policies of state management, public ownership and nationalisation of the past.

Among those applying that pressure has been former Labour leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair (Wintour, 2014). He has said that Labour needed to stay in 'reality' with their progressivism, and not be derailed by delusionary ideological views. Yet, when Ed Miliband, the present Labour leader, spoke before a trade union audience, he still made conciliatory noises supportive of rail renationalisation (Wintour, 2014{2}).

However, the latest step Labour have made, to commit to 'big reform, not big spending', demonstrates a first real commitment to Labour's right-wing, to a market liberal direction. And that move brings the party very much in line with Clegg's market liberal Lib Dems.

An alliance between the two, though, would not have to go in such a mainstream, pro-Market Capitalism, direction. The two parties certainly have much more progressive ideas in common.

The late Roy Jenkins, formerly a leading member of both parties, described the two parties as sharing in a great liberal tradition (Jenkins, 2001). From the decentralisation of power, such as the Liberals' support for Irish Home Rule to Labour's realisation of Scottish and Welsh devolution, to the campaigns for social reforms, such as pensions and the NHS, the two parties have a major heritage of social liberalism.

On the matter of economics, both parties have expressed their support for co-operatives and mutuals. The Labour Party has a long standing relationship with the Co-operative Party and the Liberal Democrats have also stressed the importance of worker stakeholdership, in their call for a John Lewis economy (Ashton, 2012).

The Left has long been divided between these two parties, despite their having much in common. If they are able to negotiate an alliance at the next election it would be a significant step forward for Leftist politics in the UK. And yet, an alliance between Labour and the Lib Dems has so much potential there is the danger of it proving to be a massive let down. To avoid that, they need to be brave and take the risk of not sticking to the moderate, middle of the road, middle class capitalist agenda.

References

Rowena Mason's 'Ed Davey: Lib Dems will have coalition talks with Labour in 2015'; in The Guardian; 21 July 2014.

Andrew Sparrow's 'Labour leaders win crucial policy forum vote on spending plans'; in The Guardian; 20 July 2014.

David Priestland's 'The Lib Dems' eternal dilemma shows why Britain needs a four-party system'; in The Guardian; 9 April 2014.

The BBC's 'Labour approves union membership reforms'; 1 March 2014.

Patrick Wintour's 'Tony Blair: Labour must avoid 'delusionary thinking' to win in 2015'; in The Guardian; 21 July 2014.

Patrick Wintour's 'Miliband vows to end epidemic of insecurity sweeping through Britain'; in The Guardian; 12 June 2014{2}.

Roy Jenkins' 'The British Liberal Tradition'; University of Toronto; 2001. [Buy Now]

James Ashton's 'Nick Clegg set for 'John Lewis' economy'; in The Independent; 28 October 2012.