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The Hacked Revolution
October 27, 2017 7:55 AM
‘Take back control’ and the demand to transfer power back to the people were apparently central demands of the Leave campaign during the EU referendum in 2016. These aims were regularly put forward as the main reason for walking away from the European Union. Who can deny these aspirations? The need to share power and reduce the influence of the executive has been a long-standing challenge in British politics. In fact these aspirations have been at the heart of progressive thinking for a number of years, so how was this agenda taken over by groups on the right and how can these principles be re-energised by Liberal Democrats?
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To Tackle Inequality, the Liberal Democrats must reach out to Working People
September 14, 2017 11:11 PM
Britain is deeply divided. The harsh economic realities of Brexit are beginning to be known. Years of austerity have weakened the public sector. Personal debt levels are out of control, while the financial sector appears to have failed to learn the lessons of the 2008 crisis. Even workers at McDonald's are going on strike. There is growing inequality across the country.
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The Dangers of Learning from History
August 09, 2017 7:11 AM
Conventional wisdom tells us if we don't know our history we're doomed to repeat it. But in politics the risk of fighting yesterday's battles means we should treat historical lessons with caution - and remember that the “will of the people” can change quickly.
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2017 William Beveridge Lecture: Is a liberal and democratic society compatible with globalization?
July 23, 2017 12:03 AM
First delivered at the Social Liberal Forum Conference on 15 July 2017
Dani Rodrik, one of my favourite economists – a Turk teaching at Harvard – wrote some five years ago that we may be discovering that democracy is not compatible with unconditional globalization; and that if we have to choose, we must prefer democracy and open society to globalization. I take that as my text, and will explore its implications for Liberals, who believe in open societies and international cooperation but also in individual freedom within settled communities. I have a second text, which is President Macron’s declaration that France must support a market economy, but not a market society’ – which is a good phrase for us to adopt in Britain, when Corbynistas are close to rejecting the market as such and the Conservative right sees the market as governing social provision.
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Northern Discomfort: SLF Chair, Helen Flynn, replies to Michael Mullaney 's article
June 25, 2017 7:51 AM
Having had something of a break over the General Election period, the SLF is back with its nose to the grindstone, publishing new content to stir the interests of liberals – in particular social liberals – everywhere.
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Jeremy Corbyn just won 40% of the vote on a Social Liberal Platform
June 14, 2017 8:32 AM
OK, not every part of the Labour manifesto was Social Liberalism, that’s true, but it’s worth pointing out that while Corbyn may talk the talk of Socialism the Labour manifesto didn’t walk the walk.
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A Progressive Alliance can stop the Tories at the next General Election
June 12, 2017 7:37 AM
The 2017 general election has delivered one of the biggest upsets in modern British electoral history. Far from winning a landslide majority, Theresa May just narrowly failed to get any majority at all. Now the Conservative Party is in hock to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Britain is now being governed by a right wing regressive alliance.
One of the lesser-known stories of this campaign was the impetus to try and create a progressive alliance between the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and other smaller progressive parties. First Past The Post is a broken electoral system and yet the major progressive parties keep playing by its rules. Both Labour and the Lib Dems historically have been obsessed with standing as many candidates as possible even though this could help to split the progressive vote and get the Conservatives elected.
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Strengthening a Progressive Alliance: what can social liberals bring to the party?
May 02, 2017 8:01 AM
Talk of progressive alliances is all around us. The fear of five years of right-wing Tory rule with the prospect of a hard Brexit, regressive environmental policies and growing inequality, and all the serious social and economic consequences that will bring has been the stimulus for the initiatives.
As the SLF statement asserts:
“We believe agreements should be based on common aims. In our view, these must include a cast-iron pledge that progressive candidates will vote to keep Britain in the single market and support the introduction of a proportional voting system for Westminster election.”
For some time I have been pondering; what else do we bring to the party? Speaking at the SLF fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat Conference Lisa Nandy, the impressive Labour MP, acknowledged our policy contribution in civil liberties and constitutional matters, people often do when they are trying to be nice to us, but I would argue that there are some other key areas where we have much to offer.
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Progressives in different parties must work together
April 25, 2017 12:12 PM
As the most important General Election for a generation approaches, the Social Liberal Forum are calling on people across the UK’s progressive parties to work together to stop a Conservative landslide victory and the hard Brexit that would follow.
We call on members of the Liberal Democrats, Labour, the Nationalist parties, the two Green parties and the Women’s Equality Party to explore and forge progressive alliances at a local level.
We recognise that such arrangements could be made within seats or across a cluster of seats. We believe that whether parties step down for each other or merely plan non-aggression pacts – targeting their firepower on the Tories and not each other – this must be decided locally, with parties and candidates planning what works best in their areas.
