The Liberal Democrats Flashcards
What is the main aim of liberalism?
To promote freedom of the individual above everything else.
What factors do liberals want to promote?
Freedom of conscience, speech, religion, lifestyle, political association, economic freedom with it being free from excessive government control
What were the Liberal Democrats originally known as in the late 17th century to early 19th century land what did they favour?
The Whig Party who favoured moderate reforms like extending the right to vote and abolishing slavery
From the mid 19th century to the early 20th century, what did the Lib Dems then become known as?
Liberal Party who favoured the emphasisation of freedom to the individual and a free market with free trade
From the early 19th century to the 1970’s, Lib Dems were known as the Liberal Party. What did they support and did they get a good support?
They favoured social reform like old age pensions and National Insurance and tried to counteract the threat from Labour. They were squeezed by both the rise from Labour and middle class Conservatives, put themselves forward as a middle party but got very weak support
What happened to the Liberal Party in 1988?
They joined forces with the Social Democratic Party (Labour breakaway party) to become the Lib Dems.
The Lib Dems won their highest number of seats (as of 2022) in 1997. How many seats was this and what played a main role in their success?
They won 46 seats due to tactical voting where people who hated the Conservatives voted for the candidate in their constituency best placed to defeat that Tory. Most of these were Lib Dem candidates.
What are some of the main policies they’ve had since 1988?
Opposition to the Iraq war in 2003, university tuition fees, large cuts in public expenditure and increased powers for the police
What caused the Lib Dems to lose popularity amongst its voters whilst being in a coalition with the Conservatives during 2010-2015?
Large cuts in public spending as well as dropping their opposition to university tuition fees. In the 2015 election they got reduced to just 8 seats in parliament after previously having 57.
What were some of the key events whilst in a coalition with the Conservatives?
1) A referendum on changing the voting system to the Single Transferable Vote (STV) , although this was rejected 67% to 33%.
2) Convincing PM David Cameron to legalise same-sex marriage.
3) Favouring both high cuts to public spending and university tuition fees.
What are the 2 factions that make up the Liberal Democrats?
1) Social or modern liberals - These make up the majority of the party and are very socially liberal e.g favouring same sex marriage.
2) ”The Orange Book” - A smaller group who have centre right views on economic management and favour a more classical liberal approach.
Where do the Lib Dems stand on economic policy?
Since 2015 they’ve been committed to eliminating the budget deficit but it has to be done in a way that was fair to the poor. Whilst in the coalition government they introduced a policy to raise the basic income tax threshold so that low income people were relieved of paying tax. Also when “things are going well” the government should play a minimal role in the economy.
Where do they stand on welfare policy?
They support high quality public services to be delivered through more funding as well as the benefits system being needed for the poorest in society. However they are suspicious of private involvement in the NHS. Whilst in coalition they shared the Conservative objective of controlling spending on benefits, whilst uprating pensions and extending free childcare to enable parents to return to work
Where do they stand on law and order?
They strongly support the Human Rights Act but do feel it needs strengthening. They also focus on the cause of crime rather than how harsh the punishment is. They aim to see that civil liberties aren’t eroded as a consequence of giving the authorities more powers to fight crime. In coalition they opposed the Conservatives’ “Snoopers” charter and the Communications Data Bill which allowed the monitoring of Internet use. They also favour community service as an alternative to short-term prison sentences.
Where do they stand on foreign policy?
They’re arguably the most pro-EU out of any of the UK parties. They showed this when they wouldn’t accept the result of the Brexit referendum. They also think that the UN promoting world peace should always be preferred over war.
