The Lib Dems; sacrificed for Britain's future?

It has now been 100 days since the start of this coalition government and rather than give a general review, I thought a more specific comment on the important Liberal Democrat involvement was necessary.

As we now know, the days following the general election result saw the future of the country in Nick Clegg’s hands as the two major parties met with him, offering deals and compromises with the hope of forming a government (needing the additional seats his party provided for a mandate to govern). Often I feel credit was not given in its rightful amount to Clegg for the sheer scale of the decision he had to make, and the sacrifices that would follow.

The most obvious choice for the Liberal Democrats was to form a government with the Labour Party; a party that fell much closer to itself on the political spectrum than it did to the Tories. The Conservatives, a party that has always been deemed elitist and a party where the policy was steered toward helping the wealthy was at first look a staunch contrast to the Liberal Democrat foundations which plug the importance of greater equality and individual freedom.

However, whilst all of this historical differences between the two, the crucial facts were the same. The leaders of both the parties wanted the same two important things: to put the stability and future of the country before party politics and to remove a party that had done, and were planning to do, great damage to this country.

In choosing to enter into the coalition government with the Tories, Clegg has faced a crisis of conscience and constant opposition to any move he makes. With polls suggesting that ‘of those who voted for the Lib Dems on May 6th, only 46% would vote now’ and ‘just 40% (of those who voted Lib Dem) approve of the coalition’s performance’. A common view – and fear for many liberal supporters – is that the result of this coalition government will leave the party in tatters and set them back years on the progress they have made.

However, this is nonsense! If you’d asked me prior to May 6th to comment on the Lib Dem campaign and ‘Clegmania’ I would have laughed and spent five minutes arguing that the party, although having some cute ideas such as ‘no tuition fees’, were not serious candidates and definitely not ready for government (their plans for crude bank legislation and the removal of Trident supported this decision). But in the 5 days that followed the general election, with Nick Clegg at the helm, the Liberal Democrats went from being political lightweights to heavyweights and an important part of a reforming government boldly confronting the deficit and making some of the biggest decisions made in recent years.

So, I would conclude without second thought that the country and its future are in much safer hands with the current government. But a more important conclusion is that Britain’s more prosperous and stable future is as a result of the brave move made by Clegg and his party to move into the unknown, at the cost of present popularity in exchange for the bigger and wider issues we face.