Today has been an emotional day for me, as well as for a lot of friends. So, we have a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government. I have been mostly angry all day, but here’s a list of some of the other emotions I’m seeing around me:
– Anger is a big one.
– A sense of betrayal, especially among Lib Dem voters.
– A lot of people looking for justifications – it was the only choice, it was the only stable configuration in the current Parliament. Whether they genuinely believe this, I don’t know.
– There is a fair amount of worry and concern: what will a Tory government do to us?
– And a few people looking for a silver lining – the sense that this is the least bad option we could have ended up with, hoping that the Liberal Democrats will moderate some of the worst Tory excesses. I can see where those arguments are coming from, but whether I believe them I don’t know.
So here’s where I’m coming out after about 16 hours of knowing that David Cameron is Prime Minister: I don’t like it. I don’t trust the Conservatives as far as I can throw them. I can see the line of argument that led the Liberal Democrats to make the choice they made. I can see how they might think that this is the best chance they have to actually influence something, put some of their policies into practice, limit the damage the Conservatives can do on their own. I don’t envy them for being in this situation.
So I will suspend my disbelief. I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I will judge them on outcomes, not on beginnings. But I think it’s only fair to lay out what I will judge them on. So here is my list of things that I will hold the Liberal Democrats personally accountable for over this Parliament, regardless of whether they formally have that portfolio in cabinet or not. This is what I expect them to deliver.
Women’s Rights
(Has anyone else noticed that so far diversity – of any kind! – in the cabinet seems to extend to Teresa May and one of them being ginger?)
Here’s what I expect: No reduction on the time limit for abortion. Significant steps to address the gender pay gap (paying women £3 a week to stay at home once married doesn’t count). No reduction in the availability or affordability of childcare.
Gay Rights
Civil partnerships must not become in any way significantly different to marriage. That includes tax breaks. Bonus if you manage to turn civil partnerships into marriages but I’m not holding my breath. No reversal of any equality legislation so far passed – on any of the six pillars.
Political Reform
Some of this is already in the coalition agreement, but it’s worth spelling out. Coalition agreements have a tendency to fall by the wayside when the going gets tough. Fixed term Parliaments. Fully elected upper house, with no reserved seats for, say, bishops. Upper house elected by proportional representation. Commons elected by AV at a minimum. (No, not a referendum. The real thing.)
Education
Every single child in every single school must receive high-quality sex and relationships education. No opt-outs. No child in no school must be taught any form or creationism on an equal footing with evolution.
Civil Liberties
Some of these are low-hanging fruit that both parties in government have already successfully identified and started to move on. It is also actually a real opportunity area – the one area Labour got consistently and deeply wrong for over a decade. Scrap ID cards. Scrap the National Identity Register. Remove innocent people from the DNA database. Repeal the Digital Economy Act and start from scratch, involving some people who actually know something about the digital economy, rather than people who would like it best if the whole digital economy just disappeared.
Europe
No repatriation of powers. Not the social chapter, not criminal justice, and most definitely not human rights.
Work & Pensions
I do not expect this government to make the minimum wage a living wage. But I do expect the Liberal Democrats to ensure that it does not fall in real terms. Not by a penny.
Strong and Stable Government
We, the people, were sold this deal on the narrative of it being the only one which could produce a strong and stable government. I will be judging both parties on whether they make it work. If there is a general election before May 2015, I will consider the deal a failure and a con.
Make no mistake. These are incredibly low expectations. The Liberal Democrats are essentially tasked with maintaining the status quo in the face of the full-blown return to the 1980s that would be Conservative government. It is also far from an exhaustive list and I may add things to it as I think of them. I’d encourage everyone to make a similar list of the things they care about. And then maybe we can mail them to Lib Dem MPs.
Looking at the above, I am increasingly less convinced that this coalition is in any way an opportunity for the Liberal Democrats to put some of their policies into action. It is only an opportunity for them to curb the worst of Tory excesses. Whether that is good thing remains to be seen, and whether the Liberal Democrats ever recover their credibility as a political party, let alone a progressive one, is also for history to judge.