Origins And Development Of Liberal Democrats Flashcards
How did liberal Democratic Party start ?
As a result of merging of two parties
what year was the Liberal Democrat party formed ?
1988
What two parties merged together to form the sodial Democratic Party ?
The social democratic party which stemmed from their split from Labour Party because they felt that they moved too far to the left and the liberal party
When was the liberal party formed ?
Since 1877
How did the liberal party emerge ?
As a coalition between the whigs and the radicals
Who were the first leaders of the liberal party ?
Lord Palmerston and William Gladstone
What was the problem between the liberals and the SDP in 1981
They were competing for the same voters
In the 1983 general election the liberals and SPD did what together
Made an electoral pact to not put candidates against each other
What was the electoral pact between SDP and liberals in 1983 known as ?
The alliance
What happened to the alliance of liberals and social democrats
Plan failed and two parties won fewer than 30 seats between them
in 1988 what decision was made between liberals and SDP?
For liberals and SDP to merge completely and form the Liberal Democrat’s
In 2010 no party won overall majority so what 5 choices did the Liberal Democrat’s have ?
- Join labour (which voters rejected)
- or conservative in a coalition ( them being opposition of spectrum when it came to issues)
- refuse to participate in the goverment
- no power at time of financial crisis
- lastly, lose opportunity to influence events first hand
Who was the Liberal Democrat’s leader in 2010 ?
Nick clegg
What option did the Liberal Democrat’s go with in 2010
Nick Clegg chose the conservatives with no good option and found themselves in goverment for the next 5 years so coalition agreement with conservative
What is a coalition
coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal
A coalition government is a government formed jointly by more than one political party
During the coalition years the Liberal Democrat’s were able to act as a positive influence to goverment by 4 things what were they ?
- Inject own green policies
- Pupil premium to support funding in schools
- Take Low income people out of paying tax
- Prevent conservatives from implementing extreme les acceptance policies
Examples of Nick Clegg (lib dem) blocking the Conservative policies proposals
- inheritance tax cuts to profit-making state schools,
- powers for bosses to fire at will - scrapping housing benefits for young people to ditching the Human Rights Act.
Despite arguement of a successful coalition era , what lead to disaster for the liberal Democratic Party ?
- The electorate decided to punish the Liberal Democrats for broken promises which was their commitment not to raise tuition fees
- working with the conservatives party which alienated ex labour supporters who voted Lib Dem to prevent conservatives winning
Due to disaster for the lib democrats what happened to the liberal Democratic Party
- only won 8 seats in 2015 election
- Nick Clegg resigned as leader and Tim Farron became leader
- Lib Dem become a minor party again
Core values of Liberal Democrats
Where does Liberal Democrat’s get their values from ?
Liberal and social democratic (new labour) values
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What is the Liberal Democrat’s core liberal value
Liberty
Core values of Liberal Democrats
Why is Liberal Democrat’s core liberal value of liberty
- complete freedom is not practical in modern society but the state should have little interference in people’s personal private lives e.g regulating what people can buy and sell , who they can trade and how much can be charged for
- individual rights, freedom and privacy should be protected e.g by police that only intervention
Core values of Liberal Democrats
When was the stress of Liberty and the liberty as core value begin ?
19th century fundemental liberalism, classical liberalism but liberals expand their ideas outside protection of liberty and accept wider role of the state promoting welfare state and social justice
Core values of Liberal Democrats
but liberals expand their ideas outside protection of liberty and accept wider role of the state promoting welfare state and social justice, what is this called ?
Modern liberalism
What is classical liberalism
Individual freedom would be best achieved by state playing a minimal role
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What is modern liberalism
Emerged as reaction against free market capitalism believing this lead to many individuals not being free, so freedom no longer defined as being left alone
Core values of Liberal Democrats
Individual freedom would be best achieved by state playing a minimal role
This is the definition for what liberalism ?
Classical liberalism
Core values of Liberal Democrats
Emerged as reaction against free market capitalism believing this lead to many individuals not being free, so freedom no longer defined as being left alone
This is the definition of what liberalism ?
Modern liberalism
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What did liberal also pursue for liberty ?
Social justice
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What is social justice in (three things) ?
- removal of unjustifiable inequality in income in society
- equality of opportunity
- removal of artificial privilege people are born with
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What is the liberal high suspicious of
Power of the government so should be controlled
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What is the way of controlling the government power according to liberals and what is this called ?
By limiting power of the goverment by through strong constitution
This is called constitutionalism
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What are the liberal Democratic know as
Social reformers
Core values of Liberal Democrats
By the Liberal Democrat’s being social reformers what did they support ?
They support :
- same sex marriage
- disabled
- rights of women
- LGBT+ community
Core values of Liberal Democrats
What are the other core values of Lib Dem’s
- multiculturalism: different cultures and lifestyles should be welcomed, pluralism
- concerned with the environment for human life to be healthy
