liberalism

Question 1

What are the core values of liberalism?

Answer 1

individualism- individual is of supreme importance- emphasis of rights and entitlement
freedom- individuals should enjoy greatest possible freedom
toleration- people should be willing to accept ideas and practices of which they disapprove.

Question 2

What happened in 1909?

Answer 2

Lloyd George’s “peoples budget”- old age pensions paid for the first time- proud tradition of govt “one of four nation changing governments

Question 3

What happened in 1951?

Answer 3

Lib Dems win just 6 seats in the general election- becoming an irrelevance

Question 4

What happened in 1978?

Answer 4

August- Lib-Lab pact brought to an end p, help labour survive as minority government- lib/lab pact

Question 5

What happened in 1983?

Answer 5

Alliances wins 25.4 percent vote in gen election, and David still proposes a merger of two parties. Owen opposes merger, but loses the SDP vote.- “the alliance years” liberals and SDP. Absurdity of first past the post

Question 6

What happened in 2003?

Answer 6

Collation w labour continues in Scotland, but in Wales labour wins enough seats to govern alone.
Experience of government in devolved institutions- coalition with labour in Scotland and wales in 1990s

Question 7

What happened in 2005?

Answer 7

Gen election sees party’s vote rise to 22 percent- it wins 62 seats, highest number of liberal mps since 1923- Kennedy claimed election “broke the mould” of 2 party politics

Question 8

What happened in 2010?

Answer 8

Clegg performs exceptionally. Final result sees party increase vote to 23 percent but loses seats to 57. Hung parliament leads to coalition, five Lib Dems enter cabinet. Being in coalition nearly finished party electorally

Question 9

What happened in 2019?

Answer 9

Lib Dems make record breaking gains in local elections. However, leader jo Swinson loses seat in December general election, where party’s vote goes up but number of mps goes down.- to what extent recovered?

Question 10

What are the signs of recovery for Lib Dems from 2015?

Answer 10

June 2021- Lib Dems took formerly safe Tory seat overturning majority of 16,223
December 2021- Lib Dems took by-election in North Shropshire overturning Tory majors nearly 23,000 and seat cons had held for over 200 years