Earlier today, I expressed:
“I am staying in the LibDems to hopefully see that I am wrong, and that this coalition does work. Ideologically I am a lot closer to the Libdems than the other parties. But if I continue to suffer from these attacks I will not stay a Libdem for long. Nor will I stay for long if the LibDems seriously compromise our values within the coalition.”
After a day of sustained personal attacks (some have asked for some evidence – scroll to comment 31 where I provide some quotes), and my views around this coalition becoming the clearer the more I state my opposition to it, I have decided to leave the Liberal Democrats and join The Green party. Staying in this party has apparently to some lead to me bringing this party into disrepute, and I do not want that to happen. If I cannot voice my opposition to the coalition without being said to threaten the actual party, I am afraid my position as a LibDem member is untenable.
My policy disagreements are vast, but here are a few I am specfically adverse to:
- I did not like our policies on immigration already, but we are now going to support a total cap – illiberal.
- We are accepting their eurosceptic stance on EU, saying that we will not let anymore powers go from Westminster to Brussels. Illiberal and out of touch.
- Most of our policies are watered down or sent to comittees. Take breaking up the banks, house of lords reform, tax reforms are not as comphrensive as we wanted.
- We have removed our commitment to removing Trident, and actually today seeing the confirmation of more nucelar power.
- We can only abstain against many Tory proposals such as marriage tax, higher education policies that may include an uncaping of the tution fees.
- Inheritance tax is not dropped – will most likely reappear.
- It is undemocratic to have a new 55% majority to bring down the govrenment, basically securing the term.
- We are going to cut at a much faster and deeper rate, something Vince Cable had said would threaten a double dip recession.
- This is not a case example of the coalition PR government – it is a FPTP system – there would be more compromise and more consideration of other parties in a proper PR system. Furthermore, we have failed case examples of FPTP coalitions – take 1974 for example – which has not destroyed the case for electoral reform (my opposition has said to be a threat to PR).
I do leave the Liberal Democrats still fully supporting what they stand for. Unfortunately, I think we have compromised too many of our central beliefs in a bid for power. I know many of you agree with the coalition, and it has become apparent that it is best I leave instead of trying to argue my case within.
I wish the Liberal Democrats all the best in the future, there is no nasty feelings between me and LibDems. It is instead, like a lot of people, a great sense of disappointment. I hope people understand why I did this.
I have enjoyed my time in the Liberal Democrats. I wish the party good luck.
Thanks,
Jane
May 13, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Thats very sad Jane your obviously very upset but your not alone whether inside the Party or just ordinary voters if the Libdems consider this dissent and somehow damaging then frankly that is utterly ridiculous that they should feel so threatened, their loss is the Greens gain.
May 14, 2010 at 2:18 pm
yes the liberal democrat leadership clearly feels very threatened by any dissent – note for example that the media will not be allowed in for the lib dem conference this weekend –
they have a real fear that many of the left-wing members of the party will desert them as they have now become part of a government that is pursuing very clear right-wing policies
May 13, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Sounds like you’ve had a tough time from those who either refuse to see that they’ve swapped Liberal principles for the trappings of power, or those who think their leaders’ actions should remain unquestioned. In either case such treatment is shameful and it cannot hide the fact that the Lib Dem support base is far from united on Clegg’s dealings with Cameron.
The Liberal’s loss is most definitely the Green’s gain. Good luck for the future.
May 13, 2010 at 9:14 pm
I am sorry to hear of your decision. You are not alone in your views. You have made some very relevant points and I am deeply disappointed to hear that you have been bullied into leaving. Is is possible to make one last plea to you to stay and fight this illiberal coalition from within the party?
May 13, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Sad to hear that…
I have much the same concerns.
However I have rejoined today after a lapse of 30 years.
..
May 13, 2010 at 9:28 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Benjamin Dobson, Philippe Bossin, Don Lands, Thomas Byrne, Christopher McKeon and others. Christopher McKeon said: RT @JaneWatkinson: New Blog Post: Why I am leaving the Liberal Democrats…: http://wp.me/pDU8E-aQ [...]
May 13, 2010 at 9:38 pm
I disagree with your opposition to the coalition, but of course the decision is yours – best of luck with the Green Party.
May 13, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Hi there
I am saddened that you feel you have to depart the party and I really wish that you would reconsider your position and stay to fight for the things we stand for from within!
Although I am not keen at all on the coalition, I am staying with the party, however, I will voice my concerns openly and without fear.
I have already written about Theresa May’s apalling voting record on equality and gay rights legislation, and am compiling data on the remainder of the Tory cabinet’s viting records on the same matters.
We need like minded people to stay and remind our parliamentary colleagues of the grass roots members feelings!
Please, please reconsider!
Chris
May 13, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Sorry you’re going, and I disagree with you on many issues – I can’t understand how you think getting half the Lib Dem manifesto into govt is worse than leaving the Tories to do whatever they want, only made worse by the DUP – though there’s one where you’re plain wrong.
“It is undemocratic to have a new 55% majority to bring down the govrenment, basically securing the term.”
Wrong, wrong, wrong. 50%+1 can bring down the govt, as always – the new suggestion is that the Commons has the power to dissolve itself with a 55% vote. You can argue about whether that’s too much or too little, but it gives a power to the Commons that it has never had before in UK history: always before just the PM & the Queen.
May 14, 2010 at 6:54 pm
I think that explanation needs to be nailed to the head of every Lib-Dem-hating Labour/Greenscum supporter in the twittersphere.
The idea that this new government has actually taken power away from the PM and given it to parliament – it simply does not compute in their tiny brains, because it flies in the face of “Whatever the Condems (hur hur, sounds like CONDOMS) do is evil, vote Labour to kick them out”
May 13, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Fair enough if you want to leave the party, I’m sure a few people will. However if you care about economic competence you shouldn’t join the Greens. Taxing the highest earners 63% is not liberal. Wealth leaves the country and the poorest end up having to pay the tax the rich people would have had to. Also the Green manifesto is unashamedly a tax rising manifesto, taking money out of peoples pockets taking away there choice of where to spend it. These are just a few concerns I have with the Green manifesto which I won’t list all of but look closely as the Green manifesto it is unworkable. I appreciate though that at least you gave things a chance to settle and check if you agreed with the policies which makes a welcome change from some people.
May 13, 2010 at 10:34 pm
I’m sorry you feel like this Jane but I think you are wrong. Having principles without power means nothing but putting your principles into power means everything. For the first time in almost a hundred years Lib Dem policies are being implemented in government.
I got involved in politics to change this country, not just to shout from the sidelines about how it should be changed.
I hope you’re more at home in the Green party but you will probably never have the oppurtunity to change the things we’re changing now.
May 13, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Jane, That people are attacking you for your views is wrong. Do not let them win, please stay.
We have to deal with the world as it is and the result of the election was a hung parliament. I think that this is one of the things that people are forgetting right now. The electorate have voted and we all have to live with it.
We Lib Dems could have;
a) created a rainbow coalition with Labour, SNP and Plaid. Extremely difficult to create and maintain and inherently unstable.
b) left the Tories to sink or swim. Tempting but they would not have lasted long and would be damaging to the country.
c) agreement with Tories. By joining with the Tories we not only damp down some of their bad policies but can implement some of our good ones.
As we are the junior partner, we do not get it all our own way. That is the nature of coalition and political compromise.
May 13, 2010 at 10:36 pm
Oh, forgot to say: the act written by the Labour Party which set up the Scottish Parliament did the same on no-confidence – 50% + 1 – and gave it the power to dissolve itself… By *67%* vote. Labour didn’t trust the Commons to have that power, though. Interesting that a Tory-Lib Dem coalition gives Parliament so much more power than Labour dared give Scotland, isn’t it?
May 13, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Hi, Im really sorry if any Libdems have made personal attacks on you but you cant just make vague allegations about unspecified people like that, its deeply unfair & anti-democratic. Either you should delete your allegations or substantiate them, ie who said what & in what form, verbal or written.
I am really sorry if the above feels like another personal attack, its not meant to be, just a defence of the people you are dissing yourself.
May 13, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Congratulations on joining the Greens. That is the first thing.
Commiserations for the circumstances which forced such a move.
For the last couple of days I’ve been chatting with my Lib Dem friends and colleagues and all show disquiet over this new arrangement. None have yet left the Lib Dems. But I think they all will as time goes by.
It appears that Lib Dem beliefs were in fact hobbies.
Do let me know where your ‘greenpoliticalramblings’ will be so I can link.
Good luck
May 14, 2010 at 11:01 am
[...] I finished this article I found another person who has left, what is more disturbing about her story is the "personal attacks" that she mentions [...]
May 14, 2010 at 11:10 am
If there is a form of proportional for the next general election then all future governments will be coalition governments. So for there to be an opposition all parliamentary divisions will have to be a free vote. Party whips will have to be abolished. True Democracy at last?!
May 14, 2010 at 11:10 am
Jane: I understand your feelings.
But the thing I’ve come to realise in my own personal life recently, is that in life you can’t always get everything you want. Life is a mixture of the good, the great, the bad, the downright horrible. Just like this coalition. These are the cards that the electorate have dealt the parties. Labour didn’t want a LibLab deal. A Tory minority government would’ve led to a Tory majority government. This is the best we could do with what we’ve been given.
Progress takes years, decades, centuries. All of the rights we now take for granted took a very long time to be delivered. If there’s any chance, any chance at all this coalition could deliver some positive change, it’s got my support. There’s just as much reason to be optimistic about that as it is to be pessimistic that the Greens will deliver these changes (they might!).
If you feel the party is no longer a place you want to be, then you should go with your heart. I feel the party hasn’t changed. The circumstances have changed. And in return for some compromises we’re getting quite a lot from the Tories – it was either this, or get nothing at all. But yes, there are some lines to be crossed. All the things you cite as having been ‘lost’ – they’re not. They’re still party policy. But we just can’t do them right now. Maybe if we do well in government, next time we can get more seats and them implement more. Who knows!
Saying, and doing are two different things:
http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/2010/05/doing-not-saying.htm
I wish you well in the Greens. I will say, however, that they are even more prickly about ideological purity than most Lib Dems. I think there is a balance between ‘saying’ and ‘doing’ – Labour and the Tories do too much, the Greens say too much and don’t do enough (because they haven’t got the power). I think the Lib Dems have struck the right balance. We never said we’d implement our manifesto all in one go! Step by step…
May 14, 2010 at 11:59 am
A warm welcome to the Greens. We’ve got many former Lib Dems in our number (including two friends of mine elected as Lib Dem Councillors in Aberdeenshire), and it seems to work very well.
May 14, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Sad to see you go – I don’t know if I have ever met you, but I thought I would respect your decision, let you know that I personally wouldn’t ‘attack’ you for opposition to the coalition.
However, I also thought I would highlight, in a genuinely discursive way, some errors:
- The 55% is to bring about a General Election – not to no-confidence the government which is still only a 50% vote.
- I still oppose Trident, and yes, many of our policies are in review, but our policy was always, fundamentally, to put it in a spending review.
- Labour refused to back down over Yarl’s Wood and the detention of children. The Tories did back down. So on immigration, we have achieved something I never thought I’d see.
- Finally, better the cuts were overseen by Laws and Cable than Osborne and Clarke alone.
As I say, I respect, but disagree with your decision, and it is a shame there are some in the LDs (and any party, including the one you are considering joining) who are offensive and, yes, illiberal.
Best wishes,
May 14, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Jane
Great to see there are some people who are willing to stick by their principles and ideals! Good for you girl! Looks like a Social Democratic Green Alliance is emerging for disafected LibDems and progressive left wingers… I guess there is an political oposition vacuum where LibDems used to be…
May 14, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Hello Jane,
The difficult thing about life is that it isn’t perfect. We COULD have left the Conservatives to rule on their own; as a result we would not have got any of our manifesto on to the statute books. I’d rather achieve some of our manifesto than none. Oh, and the electorate didn’t vote us into first place. Perhaps you didn’t notice that detail.
Best wishes for the future. Maybe you will achieve your dreams with the Greens. In the meantime the Lib Dems will be doing our utmost to bring in some of what we campaigned for. When you want to rejoin I’m sure you’ll be welcomed back; but it would be better if you didn’t run away just when we are getting the chance to actually achieve a lot more than has been possible for the next ninety years.
If we have to wait another ninety years I shall certainly be dead by then and you probably will too.
Judith
May 14, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Of course I meant, “more than has been possible for the LAST ninety years.”
May 14, 2010 at 1:23 pm
I think you will be happier in the Greens – not having to worry about governing & the difficult choices that have to be made.
The presure group that is the Green party may well have to make difficult choices if part of Government one day – like they did in Germany & then perhaps you may move on again. Good luck anyway.
May 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Jane,
I write as a Lib Dem councillor who will openly admit to having had serious thoughts about leaving this week – even as far as consulting the Green manifesto.
But – and it was a difficult decision, given I’m in a traditionally Labour seat – I’ve decided to stay, for now at least. I look at it this way.
Firstly, Europe. What’s in the coalition deal is far from my beliefs and probably far from most other Lib Dems – but then any political observer will realise that. It’s also far from the beliefs of Ken Clarke too. However, in reality, there would be no consideration of joining the Euro in the next 5 years anyway, and given that the Lisbon treaty took so long to ratify I doubt that there’ll be much, if any, transfer of power to Brussels.
On immigration, our policy was defendable but maybe not politically the best. The Govt might want to introduce a cap, but the questions which Nick Clegg raised during the debates are still valid – how many, when, and from where? That’s still to be answered and I can’t see one coming quickly.
Trident is to be included in the defence review. From what I hear, it’s highly possible that the review will conclude that we can’t afford Trident. So, by default, we get our policy, and the Tories can use the review to justify not proceeding.
Marriage tax – personally this wasn’t a proposal I was either for or against, so I’m sanguine about it. Can’t see it being hurried in though – the govt needs the money!
Public spending cuts aren’t to be as fast as the Tories wanted, but not as slow as we wanted.
Coalition really is the art of the compromise. If you are a real supporter of PR systems, you have to appreciate that this will become the norm under PR and that no party will ever get all its manifesto enacted, even if it goes it alone in minority. We’ve got good experience of this in Scotland, having made an often strained coalition stick for eight years, and getting through some 70 – 80% of our manifesto commitments.
However, I’m sorry you’re going, and I’d say you’re best to try to argue from within – better to be inside the tent p***ing in, as it were. I’m disappointed that people have been taking you to task for your views – I’d defend the right of any member to publicly criticise our policies without bringing the party into disrepute, while fully understanding why it’s not possible or certainly more difficult for me to do so as a councillor.
May 14, 2010 at 2:00 pm
“It is undemocratic to have a new 55% majority to bring down the govrenment, basically securing the term.”
It would be, but this is not the proposal. It would still require 50%+1 to bring down the government, but it would require a separate vote with the enhanced majority of 55% to dissolve parliament and go to the polls again. The idea is that a different government could be assembled from the same parliament if possible, but if there is total deadlock there is a mechanism for parliament to concede collective defeat and go back to the country.
If you support fixed term parliaments, then what did you think this policy would mean? Fixed term except for when the government fancies calling an election early, by whipping its MPs to vote for dissolution? If anything, 55% is too low; it’s 66% in the Scottish Parliament, for example. Perhaps you’ve been reading too much misleading tribalist Labour drivel on the subject?
Anyway, I fail to see how you can support PR but be against entering coalitions with other political parties who – shock horror – have different policies to ours. I would suggest you need to rethink your stance on this, or else that you were never in the right party to begin with. I hope you enjoy your splendid ideological isolation in the Green Party.
May 14, 2010 at 2:11 pm
For a little more on the 55% rule, here’s my view:
http://www.twodoctors.org/2010/05/55-a-quick-constitutional.html
Also, in the Scottish Parliament – also without a majority party – the Greens haven’t been in “splendid ideological isolation”. We voted with the SNP and the Lib Dems to abolish tuition fees, with the SNP and the Tories to oppose ID cards (the Lib Dem MSPs abstained), with Labour and the Lib Dems to oppose a new coal power station, etc etc.
By going issue-by-issue we’re achieving a lot, and we’re also honestly honouring what our voters asked for. But we got no Ministerial Mondeos..
May 14, 2010 at 2:41 pm
[...] Wһу I аm leaving tһе Liberal Democrats… « Mу Political Ram… [...]
May 14, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Jane it’s much easier to shout from the sidelines and never get involved in changing things by getting your hands dirty. Whilst you can rest easy being politically pure for ever, you’re never going to get anything done.
May 14, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Hi Jane,
I’ve left too, after many years as a committed activist, so you are not alone. After studying the document in detail and speaking to a number of (recently elected) Tory friends about the attitude of their party to the coalition, I simply think it is unworkable. I would rather fight positively for progressive policies than hold my tongue and feel like a hypocrite.
I was also disappointed in the party response. I resigned quietly, saying that I was broadly supportive of coalition with the Conservatives but felt unable to support cuts this year. I would have thought it dishonourable to contact other members of the party after leaving and wouldn’t have considered it, but after years of commitment and having made some good friends, was saddened to be told that I shouldn’t contact any executive member in future. I can imagine how you must feel and it doesn’t need to be like this. We can part friends, continuing to support lib dem policies from outside the party, rather than feeling like we have been ideologically purged!
Good luck with everything and thank you for your posts over the years. Hope things go well for you in future.
May 14, 2010 at 6:28 pm
It is sad that you feel this strongly about leaving a political party you obviously love.
I get how you feel, I am on the left wing of the party too. When I sit back and think about what has happened, I find it difficult to think it is still the party I first joined. However, politics is ever changing. As long as the Lib Dems stand by the same principles that I agree with, then I stick with them. The Greens are not the party for me and there is no other alternative out there.
The point for me was coalition. We had to make a coalition a reality because this is the sort of government we have been arguing for. The type of government which would be part of a proportional representational system. If we could not make coalition work now in our “broken” political system of FPTP, then how would we make it work in a more proportional voting system? I do not believe those doubters saying the Lib Dems are only out for themselves to gain power. I have seen the Lib Dems in action and know that it is principles which drive them. I believe that Lib Dem influence in government is ten times better than without. We argued for change, we wanted a system where political parties moved away from their tribalism and attempt to work together for the betterment of the country. This is what is happening.
Change takes time and it involves little steps. I think we are all a little bit afraid of something we do not know. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe this will all fall apart soon enough and we revert back to the old ways. But I want to remain optimistic. When the Lib Dems start to lose their principles, when their core values of Liberalism and fairness starts to pale, then I will consider leaving them. But at present I will ride out this storm in the hopes that we are working towards something fairer.
I wish you well though. It is a shame that I only found your blog recently, because I have enjoyed reading it. I do hope that you link to any new blog that you create!
May 14, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Hi, thanks for all the comments – means a lot. I am going to try and reply to some specific points, I hope I reply to all of you as best I can. If not, just comment back.
Thanks for those who have wished me to reconsider. I Just don’t feel like it makes much sense for me to continue to be within a party whose direction i strongly disagree with. Furthermore, I want to feel as though I can voice my opposition to the way things are going without feeling as though I am being watched.
Paul Barker, you asked me specifically to provide evidence for it. I am not going to name the author of the quotes, but here are some quotes from it – it was a private email:
“I just annihalted your standing point because there wasnt a standing point to stand on it got disproved on BBC news the past few days and you got peeved about it since its got no academic or political ground to stand on, this is something I would of expected someone to say as a member of the public who does not study or follow politics in depth. It has no backbone your standing in a bog and its sinking around you, by the overwhelming majority of those who have spent hours and hours and hours analysing this and are thinking “WTF!” when they read your emotive piece. It is wrong its not an view its just been disproved. ”
another quote from the same passage:
“If you want PR dont be a fool and write malicious things to bring the party down. What you have is not much of a viewpoint as you call it, it was shot down and destroyed on every basis by the rest of the party. Must be a good reason for this no? Perhaps you was wrong?”
another one:
“You can feel this way but you should not act on it until you have calmed down, you have now tarnished the name of the LD’s nationally for that im hurt to know the person who was used as a tool of propaganda and the Guardian. ”
“Do you or do you not accept what you said was dangerous and harmful to PR? Because I have proved it was, you bring down the coalition with your statements”
“I didnt expect you of all people to stab us in the back”
“Your acting childishly in my opinion just no one else has the stomach or backbone to say it”
“Just give up and concede this was the right thing to do and is in the interest of our long term aims, which have not been forgotten that idea has certainly been put in your head from somewhere, i refuse to believe otherwise.” – a snipe at my boyfriend, who also left the LibDems because of censorship issues.
“Persisting your vendentta will result in making a joke of yourself,”
” I should of realised that your a little sensitive and not used this level of political debate”
“If you want to speak out with such aggression and anti sentiment then people would expect you had left the party… Others who spoke out like you did, did just that. But you hang on and make a fool of the party and its principles and its members. ”
“I read your blog over and over it reminds me of a reporter it lacks actual political theory or academic foundations.”
Oh and my favourite one:
“You cant talk like that and remain in the party… You took things majorly to far..”
I have many more a quote – this is someone i know personally and would have been working close with next year at uni – so that is another reason it hurt like it did and was the push I needed to leave.
Thanks for the welcomes to the Greens too. I have not just left on a personal attack basis. I did a blog a few weeks ago about how I liked the manifesto. I know that some of my policy views have proved to be controversial, and I think I will be more ideologically better placed there.
This talk about running away and not changing things now we have power, my response is as follows: I agree, its nice to have power. But, when the compromises take the party in a direction I never thought possible, I can’t fight for that. I accept compromise, but some of the massive issues that I joined this party for seem to be lost. This is my personal opinion, i stress that again and again, and I just know i couldn’t campaign with my heart in it.
Jenny,
thanks for your comment. I really can’t believe you have been told to not contact them anymore, as you say – I really don’t know why it has to be like this anyway. There has to be more acceptance amongst some that we don’t all have the same ability to compromise what we stand for so easily. I don’t think a lot of the LibDems I met will want to stay in contact with me either, not my choice, but judging from the comments i quoted earlier I am not really liked anymore. O well, I guess its what you get when you stand up for what you believe in.
To those who want to read my blog again, I have created a new one because of the ‘liberaldemocrat’ mentioned within the URL at http://janespoliticalramblings.wordpress.com/ – i still need to get working on it but i have imported all my blogs from here so its pretty much the same.
Thanks again to you all.
May 15, 2010 at 1:36 am
Just wondering what you’d set as the basic non-negotiable conditions for your new party joining a government.
That they didn’t go to a particular school, were born in a particular area, or that they prefer a particular colour shirt…
It’s the old choice, purity or power, and it seems you’ve made your mind up. I hope you don’t regret your choice, just remember the door is always open for you to change you mind again (as everyone does when events take hold).
It will obviously be to the benefit of our politics if the Greens can become more professional in their outlook and I hope you can have a positive effect in this regard – I personally found it hard to take my local Green candidate seriously after he said at a public hustings that he wants to ban all cars so we can ride horses instead. Nice for a giggle, though.
May 15, 2010 at 6:37 am
I totally agree and I respect you. It shows balls and independent thinking as well.
It’s distrurbing how many members ahve now “re-aligned” themselves after the initial disquiet.
I am one of the millions of people who voted Liberal Democrat and feel completely betrayed.
Clegg was very clear in the run-up to May 6. It’s now either the Tories or the LibDems. He said that “we have now replaced Labour as the only progressive choice”.
You cannot say those things and then do the very opposite a few days later. I’m sorry, but that’s conning people.
I also agree with Jane that this is not necessarily the result of coalition governments. Like I argue on my blog (<a href="see here"), in countries with PR, parties are generally clear beforehand who they’re going to get together with in a coalition.
You vote Green in Germany you just know that they’re either going to go it alone in opposition or ally themselves with the SPD.
Some of my mates in the South-West of the coountry (areas where Labour is traditionally very weak) fought a whole campaign against the Tories. Futile.
May 15, 2010 at 6:37 am
Oops…I forgot the link:
http://mymarilyn.blogspot.com/2010/05/lib-dems-campaign-case-of-false.html
May 15, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Hi thanks for the comment. It was a hard decision as it feels a part of me has gone away, but my core beliefs were being compromised too much. I am surprised, like you, at how many people seem to have been able to ‘re-allign’ themselves as you say.
Thanks for the comments on PR – I have been attacked by people saying that I am damaging the chance for PR (if you look at the comment above by me i provided some quotes of personal attacks by a LibDem member).
Ah, it must be very demoralising for them.
P.s. Just read your blog and I really agree and liked it. I wish I had had that information when trying to battle it out with some of the LibDems lol!
May 15, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Jane, I’m sorry you feel you have to leave, but could I suggest a pause.
A lot of people are, frankly, exhausted, after weeks of electioneering, and the emotional rollercoaster of the rise of Cleggmania, the last minute squeeze of our vote, and then these extraordinary events in the last week.
Now is not a good time to make a major decision.
Take a sabbatical. maybe stop blogging for a while. Stop reading the comments of immature idiots who abuse you for having a different opinion. Come back when the maelstrom has subsided, and then decide.
I am pro-coalition, but I think our party needs the anti-coalition people too. We need to hold on to our tradition of welcoming dissent, and that tradition will be the weaker if people like yourself leave. We also need constructive criticism from within.
But if you do feel you have to leave, please leave with good will.
May 15, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Thanks for the comment, very kind of you but I have made my decision.
It wasn’t an easy one but I just can’t see me ever being able to fight and campaign for this coalition with my heart in it. I hope the LibDems don’t compromise what they stand for to the scale that it appears they will, I just miss the old LibDems – feels like a piece of me has gone tbh.
Part of me is still a LibDem and always will be, I just hope that the part the LibDems i will always support does not change due to this coalition.
May 17, 2010 at 12:57 pm
[...] of those to have resigned is Jane Wilkinson, who summed up the feelings of many in the Lib Dems by saying: “If I cannot voice my [...]
May 17, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Well done, Jane! When I saw the policies you cared about, I guessed immediately that you were leaving the LDs in favour of us (the Greens).
As a former LD myself, can I say: Welcome!
May 17, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Hey, thanks for the comment and the welcome. I totally agree, the Greens seem to have the important values of fairness and equality (etc.) expressed throughout their policies much more clearly.
May 17, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Sorry to see you go Jane, but there was really only two options:
1) Let the Tories form a minority and call and election within two months which no other party can afford to fight, gain a majority and then implement right-wing regressive policies; or
2) Form a coalition and negotiate out right-wing policy and replace with stuff from our own manifesto.
Labour never offered an alternative. It would have been nice to have a ‘progressive aliance’, but with only 58 progressive MPs, there’s no chance of such a government being formed!
May 17, 2010 at 4:12 pm
I disagree.
LibDems could have still prevented these right wing regressive policies within a minority government.
What LibDems are getting out of this deal does not seem worth letting their own policies and values suffer from – I have yet to be convinced that they got a good deal out of it.
Furthermore, I personally don’t think our leadership ever really wanted a deal with Labour – and we never really tried far enough.
If we are supposed to try and champion PR – how can be shoot down the progressive alliance as unstable?
May 17, 2010 at 5:31 pm
[...] Why I am leaving the Liberal Democrats… on Jane Watkinson’s My Political Ramblings. “I wish the Liberal Democrats all the best [...]
May 18, 2010 at 10:05 am
Jane
Though I disagree with you almost completely and have myself just joined the party now seeing they are biting the bullet and takining on the responsibilities of govt., strangely this makes me the sadder to see you go. As time goes on we really need to keep the broad spectrum of peple inside the party to ensure that ideals are not lost just because we have to compromise in govt. Anyway, I wish you well and abhor the bad mouthing that has gone on.
best wishes to you and stay in touch!
May 18, 2010 at 11:37 am
Thanks a lot for the comment, much appreciated. Good luck within the LibDems! Hope it goes well
May 27, 2010 at 9:32 am
[...] Why I am leaving the Liberal Democrats… [...]