Will the Lib Dems ever recover?

Question

I was tempted to vote for them, until the mess of the Coalition. They have abandoned all their promises. Will they ever recover from this, will anyone ever trust them ever again?

Answer 1

Not entirely.



I think they're pretty much f*cked in the northern cities or in Scotland (mainland at least; they did hold Orkney and Shetland in the parliamentary election last year) - in fact it wouldn't surprise me if Clegg lost his seat in Sheffield (don't feel too sorry for him though, he'll get a nice cushy job in Brussels followed by a peerage).



However, in some areas (examples: Portsmouth, most of the south west) they could recover pretty quickly, especially in areas where the Tories are the main opposition (Labour being pretty much non-existent in the west country outside Bridgwater, Exeter and Plymouth, for example).



That said, they'll be a smaller party and probably barely recognisable from the one that went into the 2010 elections.

Answer 2

I think their only chance is if they ended up in a coalition with Labour after the next election, but if Labour or the Tories win outright then they are sunk. Terrier doesn't seem to get the point why they are so despised, so I'll try and explain it. Getting through 75% of their manifesto through may seem a good thing, but what they got through was small fry in comparison to what they gave way on, especially the betrayal of the NHS. They have achieved nothing that can excuse this betrayal and the people of this country will never, ever trust them, or forgive them for this. As for the young who backed them over their promises of tuition fees, they've lost their vote. As for the people of Sheffield who saw Forgemasters shafted, they won't be getting their vote. The one thing that Libdems keep spouting is that they got the tax threshold raised and have taken 2 million people out of paying tax, the problem is that the vast majority of these people will most likely end up no better off, the reason being that the majority of these low paid people most likely get benefits of one form or another, so when they take home more money the benefits will be lowered as they are based on incomes. The fact that millions of people on low incomes have been hammered by the cuts that have been backed by the Libdems will mean that they will surely pay the price at the next election and they will only have their spineless selves to blame. The Libdems will try and convince you that they joined the coalition in the national interest, BOL/LOCKS, they joined it for their own selfish reasons. They were third in the elections and therefore shouldn't really have expected to get any of their policies through, so, having absolutely nothing in common with the Tories at the time, they should have let them run a minority government, they could then have voted for and against things that they agreed or disagreed with. Can't see what the problem with this would be as, since being in a coalition, they seem to agree with just about everything that the Tories do, or could it be they are just lying about this?

Answer 3

I felt that the Coalition had until the Budget of 2013 to put the economy right. Any later than that, and they are on a hiding to nothing in 2015. They haven't got a lot of time yet, but don't rule it out completely. Events happen. if the Euro collapses and the US debts are called in, folk will be looking for a sound independent currency, not too highly taxed and big enough not to be swung around by speculators, to keep their trading money with. Osborne is gambling that this will be the pound, not the Reminbi, the Aussie dollar, the Swiss Franc, the Brazilian Real or the Zloty.



Assuming for one moment that events enable the Coalition to pull it off, what happens in 2013? If it all goes on tax cuts for the rich - those who deposit their money in London confident that it will be taxed less than it would be in New York or anywhere else - then this might be good for the coffee bars and clubs and corporate hospitality venues in the capital, but still pretty rough for everyone else in the UK who cannot get a job and are still being taxed to the hilt to pay for the expenses and bonuses of these London oligarchs.



The Lib Dems have a choice of going along with this, or going into Opposition and backing Plan B - at the risk of putting off the billionaire oligarchs in London, they raise taxes and restore some of the more idiotic public expenditure cuts forced on them by the banking bailout scam. If the Government, and chums Osborne and Cameron in particular, won't play, then a sizeable part of the Lib Dems might cross the house, and you'd get half the party sitting on one side of the House of Commons and half on the other.



It won't be enough to force a Vote of Confidence in what's left of the Coalition, but it might well save the seats of all those who crossed over, since they had shown at long last the sort of integrity, independence of mind and balls that got them into Parliament. If there is another hung parliament in 2015, the rebels could well be back in Government, this time in coalition with Labour.

Answer 4

Given that theirs was a protest vote or an aspirational young-persons vote then they are not likely to recover until the Parliament after next. The Student Fees fiasco was an exisitential disaster for the party. The loss of the A/V referendum likewise. The mandate the voters gave them was not to govern but to seek to moderate and at the very least abstain on issues the Party did not agree with.



If Scotland opts for Independence then they'll need to try their luck as English or Welsh Liberals following a likely wipe-out in the General election of 2015.



I'm in one of those potential Tory/Liberal marginals and at the moment (things can change) I have no idea who, if anyone, will get my vote. It will likely depend on local issues and who is more in touch with the grass roots here.

Answer 5

I hope they lose every seat. The amazing feature about this whole LIbDem Clegg thing is the lack of guts by the LibDem members who would rather keep Clegg but lose the whole party and destroy its grass root workers, than dump Clegg and save and rebuild the party from a base of integrity and principle. people will stick by you if you have principled base, even if you do some things they disagree with.

Goodbye Clegg - the sooner the better.



EDIT > Whats the point in raising the tax threshold then keep putting the price of Petrol/Diesel up ??

Very clever, the money goes straight back to the government.

Answer 6

They have one chance.If they exposed and insisted banks and big business moving billions of untaxed money to offshore accounts and tax loopholes for the rich are stopped.The elitist Conservatives would try and protect their friends so would have a showdown in parliament.Labour would vote with the Lib Dems and this would bring down the government and bring back respect for the Lib/Dems.

Answer 7

No not far at about 7 years and most leaders of the party have moved on people hold to much agenst them and feel they need to be restructured from the top down to restor the damage done to the coalition

Answer 8

If Romney gets in and the senate flips, he would be reelected. the present administration has forgotten one common rule of better point administration. bypass away the situation on the three 12 months mark considering is the time it takes for the errors to take place.

Answer 9

Coalition politics is always difficult.



Right now, there are so many looming disasters in Europe that it would be impossible for any party to stick to its promises. To do so in this massively uncertain environment would be extremely unwise.

With the Euro zone economies on the brink (Greece, Spain, Italy etc) we are in a phase of crisis management. Promises will always go out of the window because we don't know what losses we are going to burdened down with.

Answer 10

You said, "They have abandoned all their promises. "



They made many promises in their manifesto. According to a study done by UCL, 75% of that manifesto is being implemented in this parliament.



I'm not saying that all of that 75% is good (some of it I strongly disagree with), but that's not a bad total for a party with only 8% of the seats in government.



In answer to Mac:



WRT the betrayal of the NHS. I don't agree with the bill either, but take a look at Andrew Lansley's original plan & tell me the new version ain't better. The link below gives some details of changes to the bill that were made as a result of LibDems being in coalition.:



http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/political-science/2012/mar/06/health-social-care-bill



Which of those changes would you have got rid of?



On tuition fees.

Agreed. Horrible system. I'm not sure how they could possibly have got a better deal for students though. The limit has been tripled, but the tories wanted the limits scrapped entirely. They based this upon a report that Labour comissioned. Prior to that report, the labour government were content to slash university funding. The options from the largest 2 parties were to price people out of university, or take away the opportunity altogether.



Here, people at least get support with living expenses & repayments on their 1st degree. 2nd degree, they're screwed (& I'd like to see how anybody can get a well paid job that utilises just one degree!).



It's a shame that they've trumpeted their achievement though. They have - at best - mitigated a disaster. They haven't imporved things as they claim.





Forgemasters? Another example of labour making promises without putting aside a single penny to pay for them.



The Libdems DID get the tax threshold raised. They DID take 2 million people out of paying tax. The vast majority DON'T get benefits. Even if that was the case though - a tax cut is better targetted according to need, because it's based on what you earn NOW (as opposed to benefits which are based upon what your income was during the last tax year). Your salary 23 months ago has more bearing on your entitlement to benefits than this month's pay cheque. Lost your job today? Family existing on just one salary? You'll be entitled to apply for government assistance in April 2014. The tax cut applies in the 1st month.



"Millions of people on low incomes have been hammered by the cuts that have been backed by the Libdems will mean that they will surely pay the price at the next election"



They have been hit, & it stinks. Lets not pretend that labour wouldn't have hammered them just as hard. After all - labour hit them even harder. They did this when they were in majority government. They did this when the economy was strong, and they could afford to help the low paid, but chose to give a massive boost to wealthy landowners at the expense of people struggling to put a roof over their head.



Anybody disagreeing with this, please explain how somebody on a 4 figure salary was supposed to find £100,000 in 5 years?



"They were third in the elections and therefore shouldn't really have expected to get any of their policies through"



Fine.



* Would those who attack the LibDems prefer it if the lowest earners in the country paid £hundreds more in tax?



* Would it be better if pensioners conned by ponzi life assurance schemes from the early 1990s onwards continued to go without compensation?



* Should those suffering from mental illness continue to be ignored? Lib Dems have ensured that mental health services are better funded to the tune of £400million, and that access to CBT is improved.



* Would it be better if people caring for infirm family members were still not entitled to respite care?



* Would it be better if the super-rich were still entitled to pay just 18% in capital gains tax? Sure, there are still loopholes available, but tell me what either of the 2 largest parties ever did. Some loopholes are being closed. Not enough - I grant you, but better than none, as would have been the case without the LibDems.



* Would it be better if the link between pensions & earnings (scrapped by Thatcher, & never reinstated by labour) was never reinstated?



* Would it be better if we continued (during an economic crisis) to spend £billions on Trident - which even our military commanders said was a waste of money? Both labour & tory wanted to keep that. It still might be kept, but the money won't come from the budget in this parliament.



* Should I go on......?



"they should have let them run a minority government", & so we would have had another general election later that year - which the tories would almost certainly have taken a majority government win. LibDem vote would have collapsed here as well, this time for refusing the chance to implement their own policies.

Answer 11

Due to their most recent **** up with the coalition... No. The public hate them because even with them in power, Clegg didn't follow through with views and plans previously made on election.

Answer 12

We got fools out here today running at the trap because of polls that always change check the electorial polls then run your mouth