Friday, November 06, 2015

The Lib Dems won't flourish in 2020 by blaming the voters for 2015




Liberal Democrat Voice recently posted a couple of cheering links.

A letter in the Independent had said:
After the election, one commentator remarked that history would treat the Liberal Democrats better than the electorate did. 
After less than six months of this spiteful government it is already clear what a restraining influence the Lib Dems were.
And Nic Dakin, the Labour MP for Scunthorpe, was reported as saying that he wished Nick Clegg was still in government to stop cuts to tax credits and steel closures.

These were good to read - even if the writer of the letter has a long history of saying nice things about us.

It is important that we are not reduced to apologising for our time in government. We need a story to tell the voters (and ourselves) that shows we were right to take office and will do so again when we get the chance.

But that story by itself is not enough.

After Margaret Thatcher won her first election in 1979, Labour started using the slogan "Look what happens when you don't vote Labour." Essentially, they were telling voters off. Much good it did them come 1983.

We Lib Dems are far too polite to tell people off, but making the voters feel guilty won't work either.

If people are to vote for us at the next general election, they have to believe we have answers to the problems facing the country in 2020.

They will not do so because they are sorry about what happened to us in 2015.

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