Lib Dems will not enter coalition with Labour (Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats)

Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats <info@wantagelibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems will not enter coalition with Labour

September 30, 2009 1:07 PM

Vince Cable with Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg

As reported in The Guardian, Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' deputy leader, has ruled out a coalition with Labour because the Lib Dems' experience during the Tony Blair era had left a "very sour taste" for his party that was "probably permanent". Cable told delegates at a Fabian Society fringe debate at the Labour conference in Brighton that his party had no plans to seek a formalised arrangement with Labour.

"We have been there, done that," Cable told Labour delegates, referring to negotiations described by former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown in his diaries. "We are not looking for a formalised arrangement."

The Ashdown Diaries claimed that a coalition government was discussed by Tony Blair and the then-Lib Dem leader, together with the prospect of electoral reforms set out by the Lib Dems, before Labour achieved its 1997 landslide. Cable said the experience had left the party with "a sense of disillusionment which is probably permanent on our side that it was not taken seriously and Tony Blair, who initiated it, had no vision to deliver it ... It left a very sour taste."

The debate began after a delayed start as Cable and his Lib Dem colleague Sarah Teather were faced with two empty chairs before the former home secretary Charles Clarke and the higher education minister David Lammy arrived. Clarke sought rapprochement as he talked about the "substantial common ground" between the two parties, on issues such as international policy and the EU. "There are many aspects we have in common and we ought to be promoting it," he said.

He denied that the forthcoming general election offered the two parties the last chance for a progressive coalition - the theme of the fringe debate. Pressed on whether his stance was influenced by Labour's dismal poll ratings, Clarke said "irrespective of the precise political situation" the two parties should talk rather than engage in a "slag off tit for tat".

Lammy expressed reservations about the Lib Dems' position on some policy fronts but said he was not "indisposed" to dialogue. He said the huge policy programme challenging politics in the future would require the liberal instincts of both parties to forge "collective solutions".

Sarah Teather, the Lib Dems' housing spokeswoman, said that unlike the Conservatives the two parties were informed by a passion about social justice and tackling poverty. But she made clear that the Lib Dems would be unwise to join forces with an "unpopular" Labour government. Gordon Brown could not drive through progressive policies because "that time has passed", she said. "I don't think Gordon Brown can lead these issues because when he picks them up the public is so turned off they don't listen."

Teather rounded on Lammy after he said he supported electoral reform - a key Lib Dem demand - including changing the electoral system and lowering the voting age. She said the government ought to use the Queen's speech to push through the reforms. "It is no good talking about it. If you are in power you have the power to deliver it." She told a packed Labour audience: "I am probably pushing my luck in a room full of Labour activists but if you want a party pushing for progressive policies join the Lib Dems. In 12 years your views have not prevailed."