Ed Miliband is going to form a new centre-left grouping with Francois Holland, the French President that will challenge the centre-right ideology of austerity. Ed says in an interview with The Independent that, “There is a grip of centre-right leadership on Europe which has said there’s only one way forward and that’s austerity…’
I fear Ed maybe right. The Greek have split their vote between the centre-right and centre-left party tonight. France
It sounds to me as if Ed is adopting a Keynesian approach and if so where is it going to leave the Lib Dems? Will Ed’s anti-austerity approach be a vote-winner and if so he is the iceberg that will sink the Lib Dem ship because we are in coalition and aligned with an austerity package that has not produced results or growth.
Lib Dems are sleep walking along with the Conservatives and it is time to redefine our ideology. This week we saw Eric Pickles announce his ‘troubled families’ policy and Iain Duncan Smith redefine poverty. Lib Dems are in this. There will be no point in 2015 saying ‘we had to do this because we were in coalition’. People aren’t going to accept this standpoint.
What do Lib Dems stand for in the coalition?
Difficult questions! I am wondering if you can come to the SLF conference this time where we will try and find the answers? The theme is about future generations, so it is all about you :-)
ReplyDeleteDear Left Lib,
ReplyDeleteI would love to come to the Social Liberal Forum conference but I have a UN conference booked on the same day. I may change my plans though.
From
Maelo Manning
I remembered this entry and I thought you might be interested in this article about the great Keynes; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18923542
ReplyDeleteThank you Left Lib for leaving this link. I read the article with fascination.
ReplyDelete