The strange rebirth of European liberalism

Written by Chris Huhne MEP and published in "Taking New Ground for the Liberal Democrats" on Wed 1st May 2002

The left-right spectrum in British politics is now an absurdity. If it ever represented a truth, it was only for a brief period after the war when the dominant political cleavage was class, and the political issues of the day flowed from perceived class interest: redistribution versus incentives, universal public services versus private choice, nationalisation versus the private sector. Though there are still echoes of that linear view of politics, the old economic issues are increasingly embedded in a consensus in favour of liberal capitalism. By post-war standards, the economic debate is marginal (though economic competence is not).

Modern democratic politics in country after country is opening up. Old loyalties have died, as Canada's Conservatives found when they were reduced in 1993 from one of the two big parties to an also-ran with 16 per cent of the vote and 2 House of Commons seats . More voters are available to be wooed. And voters increasingly cohere around differences of attitude on many other concerns. Just as one of the most important cleavages in nineteenth century society was the difference between non-conformists (usually Liberal voters) and Anglicans (often Conservatives), today's defining issues are as much over attitudes to personal freedom, choice and lifestyle as economic management. I would add two other defining axes: the environment and the belief in international structures like the EU as a way of expanding our control over policy problems such as acid rain, international terrorism and currency instability.

The erosion of class identification has been proceeding since the sixties. But it has been accelerated by the evident failure of communism. The collapse of communism in 1989, and of the threat that it posed during much of the post-war period, has vastly increased the political space in which to argue the case for liberal values. As class conflict retreats, and socialism is seen to be the dying if not dead ideology that it always was, many important differences within the forces that opposed socialism can come once again to the fore. The historical position of the European liberal family - to believe in economic freedom as well as personal freedom - is now not only the most coherent ideological position in European politics, but it is also proving itself to be singularly attractive to voters whether in Belgium, Denmark - both now with Liberal-led coalitions - Britain or the Netherlands. The German Free Democrats' most famous political slogan - Leben und leben lassen (Live and let live) - could be the motto for our age, and I believe that they too will prove to be riding an electoral surge when the German elections come on 22 September.

We often underestimate in Britain just how successful a liberal party we are. We do not blow our own trumpet enough. We are, in terms of the popular vote, the largest Liberal party in Europe. If you draw a trend line for support and elected members, we have been growing since the early seventies. Although metropolitan commentators have repeatedly predicted that we will wither and die, they have also repeatedly underestimated our strength at the grass roots. We control Liverpool and Sheffield. We participate in government in Scotland and Wales. We jointly control countless local authorities. We run budgets worth billions across the country. As I know from chairing the public services working group, we now have a group of experienced, open-minded and dynamic administrators from local government who know how to deliver effective services and value for money.

We have just been through a general election when we proved not only that we could hold on to our gains in the 1997 election, but add to them gains in areas like Guildford which have shaken the Conservative party to its core. We are closest to the positions that the electorate itself wants: an improvement in public services with adequate funding, but commitment to value for money. Moreover, we now have parliamentarians at Westminster from every region and nation of the country, and from big and small conurbations as well as rural areas. By contrast, the Conservatives have no inner city seats and an increasingly rural, southern and suburban representation. Though our parliamentary group is still smaller than that of the Conservatives, it is clearly more representative of the diversity of the United Kingdom. And it has talented and experienced members, often with successful careers and expertise outside politics before their election. That is a great strength for us as we review and renew our policies and our appeal.

Perhaps most significantly for the future, the last general election saw the first occasion in the entire post-war period when a swing away from the Labour party went to the Liberal Democrats. Until June 2001, any anti-Labour swing also meant a swing away from the Liberal Democrats as the Conservatives argued that they were the only way to eject a scary Labour government. On this occasion, not only did we gain - in itself, an unprecedented achievement - but we also gained more than the Conservatives (1.5 per cent of the vote, against 1 per cent). We also, of course, won more seats than the Conservatives last June (up a net 6 compared with a net 1). Our task for the next election, as Labour struggles to defend an increasingly unattractive record for failing to deliver on public services, is to turn that swing away from the Government even more decisively in our favour. The indications so far are good. Not only does Charles Kennedy have the highest satisfaction rating of all the party leaders, but our support in the general election has stayed with us. Normally, our poll ratings wither as the oxygen of election-time publicity disappears.

I am therefore delighted that the Peel group has been formed to act as a bridge for those who are leaving the Conservative party into the expanding Liberal Democrats. With fourteen former Conservative parliamentarians now in the Lib Dems, and many more councillors and other leaders of local opinion, I know that we are an appealing, friendly political home. Only the Liberal Democrats now stand for many of the principles that originally attracted moderate Conservatives to their party, such as Europeanism, liberty under the rule of law, personal freedom and choice, a belief in local communities and their responsible self-government, a commitment to social solidarity expressed as the 'one nation' tradition in the Conservative party. This ground has now been vacated by Iain Duncan Smith and the Tory front bench.in what I believe to be a fundamental miscalculation for them and a vast opportunity for us. We have an open goal. With the help of all those now joining us from the Conservatives, we can succeed together.

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat MEP for South East England, is a council member of the Peel group, economic spokesman of the European Liberal group in the European Parliament, chair of the commission on public services, and a council member of Britain in Europe.