I know that amongst my colleagues and also amongst the Conservative party activists there are some concerns about the coalition and what it means to them at the grassroots level.
I would be dishonest if I said that I did not also share some of their concerns. There are real concerns at what this will do to our vote at the next general election.
In the constituencies we fought on the basis that a vote for us would keep the Tories out. With the old "Labour Cannot Win Here" mantra still ringing in their ears, they awake to apparently find that they have a Tory government anyway.
These areas will have some difficult questions to answer next time we go to the polls, not least of which is, why should anyone vote LibDem if all they are going to get is a Tory government anyway.
The answer is staring us in the face...
The answer is in the concessions that the Tories have had to make to form this coalition. The answer is in the policies that we have influenced.
The answer is we do NOT have a Tory government.
We have made progress toward implementing the four key promises of the Liberal Democrats at the last election. We have made progress towards fair taxes, a fair start for every child, fairer politics and a green sustainable economy.
We will not in any coalition get it all our way, but we have delivered on some of our promises.
You do not have a Tory government, you have a Tory LibDem coalition that draws on the policies and principles of both parties.
It is not a total victory, the war has not been won, but the first battle has. We have made progress towards the fairer Britain that we promised.
Our voice is being heard!
And to all of you who may still have doubts it is worth noting that if we are to prove our case for proportional representation then we also have to prove that coalitions work, because under PR this situation will become the norm.
If we want to realise our dream of a truly representative house then we must prove that coalition governments can work.
No comments:
Post a Comment