New at Reason

Julian Sanchez | May 27, 2005

As the UK Tories nurse their wounds, Patrick Basham has some ideas on how the party can recapture the magic.

Comments

|5.27.05 @ 6:24PM|#

...could hold their discussion groups in one of their police boxes and still have seats available.

TARDIS's excluded, of course.

|5.27.05 @ 9:51PM|#

I would have figured libertarians would identify with the Lib Dems.

|5.27.05 @ 10:13PM|#

Maybe, but the Liberal Democrats are in favour of even more government interference with people's lives, even higher taxes and all the other bad stuff associated with leftist, statist parties. The only things they're vaguely libertarian on (big or small L) are drug policy, opposition to the national ID card scheme, and a few other civil liberties issues. They're also the least un-libertarian of the parties on immigration.

The party closest to having my vote was the UK Independence Part, but their stance on immigration is shameful in my view; it borders on xenophobia.

The problem in the UK is that reducing government handouts and the unfair wealth redistribution associated with them is unlikely to get anyone elected. The "oppressed" masses benefit from this redistribution to the detriment of the massively over-taxed "oppressive" minority, and in a democratic system the masses generally get their voices heard.

|5.27.05 @ 10:13PM|#

There should be at least an extra 'y' in my post above.

|5.27.05 @ 10:21PM|#

Then again, maybe the Monster Raving Looney Party has a shot?

Warren|5.27.05 @ 11:32PM|#

So it's beginning to look like a Silly landslide when the prospect of five more years of Silly government facing us

Whole thing seriously worth checking out here

|5.28.05 @ 1:18AM|#

I would have figured libertarians would identify with the Lib Dems

Yes, because there's nothing a libertarian loves like 50% marginal tax rates and the expansion of welfare benefits (to the elderly and students among others). Like almost every other party out there they are "libertarian" in their views only to the extent that it distinguishes them from the party in power in a positive way (much like the minority party in the States has a federalism rebirth that lasts exactly the amount of time it takes to get back into office). A LibDem gov't would most likely make the Blair years look like a model of restraint. Libertarians were especially shit out of luck in the British elections this year.

|5.28.05 @ 1:33AM|#

I'm with Akira. Trying to hold a Libertarian convention in the UK is like the (former) Montreal Expos having Free Cap Night: you still can't get people interested in showing up.

That point is hammered home by the fact that it's the LibDems, not the Tories, who are the No. 2 party now; they had the most impressive gains versus both other major parties.

|5.29.05 @ 2:53AM|#

"But the fact that the Conservative party at least managed to gain some ground is a good sign for them."

Not really, given that they barely increased their percentage of the vote from 2001. The reason they gained those seats was primarily that Labour voters who didn't like Blair (especaily because of Iraq) voted Lib Dem and thereby split the non-Conservative vote. Very likely many of them will go back to voting Labour once Blair is out.

Even with their gain of seats, the Tories have fewer seats than Labour did after Foot's fiasco in 1983--and it took *three* subsequent elections for Labour to get back into power...

|5.29.05 @ 3:33PM|#

See, I read the dissing of the Lib Dems as phony demi-libertoids, and can't tell if I'm actually wrong in considering them more sympathetic libertarian ideas than Labor and the Tories, or if it's just one of those libertarian purity constests.

What's the general opinion about the three Britich parties - is one of them generally considered more libertarian-friendly? Is there an argument about whether it's the Liberals or the Conservatives?

|5.29.05 @ 3:56PM|#

If pressed, I would say that the liberal democrats are the most libertarian-friendly of the three major political parties in the UK. However, that doesn't mean that they aren't "phony demi-libertoids", merely that they're the best of a bad bunch.

If economic liberty is more important to you than social liberty, then the conservatives are a closer fit than the liberal democrats. The liberal democrats are stronger on social liberty and weaker on economic liberty.

I refuse to vote for someone who I don't want in office, so neither of them gets my vote (although I have voted conservative in the past).

The Liberal Democrat Manifesto
The Conservative Party Manifesto

|5.29.05 @ 5:05PM|#

First I'll lay my cards on the table:

1) I'm no expert on British politics
2) I'm sympathetic to third parties as a rule of thumb

That said, my understanding is that the Lib Dems are starting to improve on economic issues. No, that doesn't mean that they'd ever pass one of our purity tests. But it's interesting that they're sensing an opportunity in moving (however so slightly) in a more libertarian direction. What's most encouraging is that they've done it without moving to the right on social issues. (For some reason that I'll never understand, movement to the right on economic issues is frequently accompanied by movement to the right on social issues.)

The editorial page of the Economist basically said that they'd love to endorse the Lib Dems, but they haven't moved far enough on economic issues yet.