Layla Moran has given a major interview to Matt Withers of the New European in which she attempts to sweep away the characterisation of her coming from Ed Davey's camp.
Think of the unworthy "We don’t need to lecture the electorate about what they ought to think" from Tim Farron.
Or as Withers puts it:
Moran is also eager to dispel some of the murmurings among those backing Davey that she will be a "woke warrior" - my words, not hers - focusing on trans rights and statues, important issues but rarely those which come up on the doorstep.
So Layla says:
"I think we need to major on the things that matter to the broadest number of people, and you’ll notice in my three pillars of education, the environment and the economy, that’s what I’ve chosen to really focus on," she says."But that doesn’t mean that we give up on those important progressive issues. And the Lib Dems have always been at the forefront of that bit of society - you know, we were one of the first ones who spoke about equal marriage.""I don’t think we should concede that ground. But I think there has been a perception that that’s all the party talks about. And I think we should be leading with things that are a bit more bread-and-butter."
And that sounds very like Ed Davey something might have said. Which suggests we may not hear a lot about policy differences in this Lib Dem leadership election - but then we usually don't.
It's also bollocks. It's been non conformist progressive issues (I guess they're called 'woke' these days whatever it means) - like Ugandan Asians in the 60s or Paddy Ashdown's demands for passports for Hong Kong Chinese people in the 90s that have shown what liberal actually means and why the Tory and Labour parties are not and can never be liberal. These are the issues that unite progressive people to a banner called liberal.
ReplyDeleteAnd liberals have never prospered when they accept authoritarian ideas (even in the name of religious freedom).