Lib Dem Broken Promises

I shouldn't even be writing this post – I have a huge pile of work to get through today and I haven't even had a cup of tea yet.

But I couldn't resist.

I had a brief conversation on twitter with a friend yesterday. He tweeted about the huge rise in tuition fees. I, like many supporters of the Lib Dems, sigh when I hear this because, as I replied to his tweet, 

"I lament at the number of people who say the LDs broke lots of promises and, having named fees, can't name any significant others"

And I really do. I lament for one thing because tuition fees is such a raw wound for a lot of Lib Dems. They'd proposed something neither of the other parties did: zero fees. But it became clear the others would raise fees. They pledged not to cave in to consensus (in fact, to vote against any rise – naïvely in the extreme). Then, votes cast, the only real potential for a coalition was with the party who wanted limitless fees. Nightmare.

Well, as they say, the rest is history. But I'll often hear someone say the Lib Dems have broken thousands of promises, I'll ask which, they'll reply, "Tuition fees..." in that rising voice that suggests a list could follow...

A list never follows.

Here is my friend's response to my list request:

"Trident, electoral reform, benefits reform, drugs, asylum practices (the list could go on)."

Now, this guy is one of the sharpest and most astute political pundits out there, so surely he's found some 'Lib Dem broken promises'? Well, no:

• 1. Trident. We said we didn't want to replace Trident. Everyone else said they did. We haven't replaced Trident. (The blue stronghold of the Dept. of the Defence has throw a bit of money at R&D, with red support). We may be losing the argument, but it's hardly a broken promise.

• 2. Electoral reform. We had a referendum. The reds and blues teamed up in a cabaret of political expediency and won convincingly. LDs then pushed for Lords reform, but the reds wouldn't support it (they almost always choose embarrassing the Lib Dems over supporting policies they, er, 'support'). We managed to give some important powers to local govt., fix parliamentary terms, bring in the right to fire MPs, devolved more power to Wales/Scotland & are pushing for votes for 16 year olds. Broken promises?

• 3. Benefits reform. The main promises in the benefits section of the 2010 manifesto were to fix the pensions system & have no income tax on the first £10,000 people earn. We did both. The latter was criticised by both reds and blues, although it has been a huge success and the blues are now busily telling us all it was their idea. Broken promises? Exactly the opposite.

• 4. Drugs. Nothing at all has happened here, so I'm unsure why it's included. Theresa May is well known for being hardline, whereas Norman Baker, the Lib Dem below her, is a firm reformist. It's a conversation that's ongoing, and eventually we will win, because evidence is on our side. Broken promise, though? Really? Scrapety-scrape.

• 5. Asylum. I'm hugely proud that the first thing Nick Clegg rushed off to do after that rose garden speech was to get child detention (the locking of children seeking safety in Britain in prison) scrapped. Broken promise? The best promise you could ever keep.

• 6. He finishes off with "the list goes on". This is often what people say when they have nothing further to add to a list. But in this case, the list hasn't really started yet, has it?

Oh, but then again, there was tuition fees. Lest we forget that.

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UPDATE: The gentleman whose tweets prompted this post has written a response, which you can see here if you'd like to read some significantly better writing than my own.