Origins and development of the Liberal Democrats Flashcards
The Liberal Democrats were produced by an amalgamation of which two parties in 1988?
- The social democratic party; which had split off from the labour party and contained a group of moderate social democrats who felt that the labour party had moved too far to the left
- The liberal party, that was a century old at that time
Describe the history of the liberal party
- Existed since 1877
- Emerged as a coalition between the whigs and radicals
- Its first leaders were Lord Palmerstone and William Gladstone
- The party was important until it started to decline in the 1920s
- It was eclipsed by the labour party during WW2
Describe the SDP
- Formed in 1981
- The problem was that they were competing with the liberal party for the same voters
- The two parties formed an electoral pact not to run candidates against each other in 1983. The pact was known as alliance
- The plan failed and they won fewer than 30 seats between them in 1987
- This led to the decision to completely merge the two parties and form the Liberal Democrats in 1983
When did the Liberal Democrats reach the height of their electoral success?
In 2005, after winning 62 seats
What three options were the Liberal Democrats faced with following the 2010 general election?
- Join with a Labour party that had just been rejected by voters
- Join with a Conservative Party who set on the opposite end of the political spectrum on many issues
- Refuse to participate in government; missing out on a chance to have a first hand influence on policy and leaving the country with a power vacuum at a time of financial crisis
What did Nick Clegg choose to do following the 2010 general election?
With no ‘good’ options, he chose the conservatives and remained in government with them for the next five years
How did the Liberal Democrats claim that they would be a positive influence in government?
- Injecting many of their own green policies
- Introducing a pupil premium to support funding in schools
- Taking millions of low-income people out of paying tax altogther
- Preventing the conservatives from enacting more extreme and less acceptable policies
Why was the period in coalition a disaster for the Liberal Democrats
- The electorate punished them for breaking promises; especially their decision to ababdon their commitment to the abolition of university tuition fees
- Working with the conservatives alienated many labour supporters who had previously voted Lib Dem tactically to keep the conservatives out of government
How many seats did the Lib Dems win in 2015?
8
Who replaced Nick Clegg as party leader following his resignation from the role in 2015?
Tim Farron
How did the Lib Dems fare in the elections for the European parliament under the leadership of Vince Cable?
They won 19.6% of the vote and 6 seats in 2019, second only to the Brexit party and ahead of all the other parties
How many seats did the Lib Dems have in October 2019?
21, thanks to gaining seats in the 2017 general election and some labour and conservative MPs defecting to the Lib Dems
What was the outcome of the 2019 general election for the Lib Dems?
They won only 11 seats, with party leader Jo Swinson losing her own seat to the SNP, after previously claiming that the Lib Dems would be the next party of government
What are classical liberals?
Philosophy developed by the early liberals who believed that freedom would be best achieved by the state playing a minimal role
What are modern liberals?
Modern liberalism emerged as a reaction to free-market capitalism, believing this had led to many individuals not being free. It is the idea that freedom can no longer simply be defined as ‘being left alone’
