Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrats
Party leader	Edward Davey , Sal Brinton (acting)
founding	March 3, 1988
Place of foundation	London
Headquarters	4 Cowley Street London, SW1P 3NB
Youth organization	Young Liberals
Alignment	Liberalism Left Liberalism
Colours)	orange
British House of Commons	11/650
British House of Lords	95/794
London Assembly	1/25
Number of members	107,000 (as of August 2019)
International connections	Liberal International
European party	ALDE party
Website	libdems.org.uk

The Liberal Democrats [ ˈlɪbəɹəɫ ˈdeməkɹæts ] ( Lib Dems for short ; German  Liberal Democrats ) are a liberal party in the United Kingdom . They emerged in 1988 from the union of the Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party . The party was in government for the first time between 2010 and 2015, but achieved a historically poor result in the British general election on May 8, 2015 .

At the European level, the Liberal Democrats are members of the European party Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe . In the European Parliament , they were up to the withdrawal from the EU of the United Kingdom represented by 16 deputies, the Renew Europe fraction (RE), the third largest group in the European Parliament belonged.

history

British majority voting means that smaller parties are underrepresented in the House of Commons. That is why the two smaller parties in the middle of the political spectrum, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, merged in 1988 after they had already formed an electoral alliance in the general election in 1983 and 1987. The associated hope of replacing either the Conservative Party or the Labor Party as one of the two leading parties was not fulfilled. However, the Liberal Democrats represent several local governments and were part of the governing coalition with the Labor Party in Scotland until 2007 . In an opinion poll shortly before the parliamentary elections on May 6, 2010, the Liberal Democrats were in the lead with 32 percent for the first time - an increase of twelve percentage points.

The Liberal Democrats originally hoped to replace the Socialist Labor Party as the second strongest force in the 1980s. Under John Smith and Tony Blair, however, the Labor Party moved more into the political center and thus closer to the Liberal Democrats. Their strategy was now to replace the conservatives, who in recent years have tended to move to the right in the political spectrum, as the strongest opposition party. The concentration on the most promising constituencies led to a significant increase in the number of seats for the Liberal Democrats in the general elections in 1997 , 2001 and 2005 . In the elections on 5 May 2005, the Liberal Democrats reached with 62 mandates, the best result since 1923. In May 2010, they won in the general election, 57 seats. After the elections, the party was a coalition partner in the government under Prime Minister David Cameron ( Conservative Party ) until 2015 and had five ministers in the cabinet.

General election 2010

The election campaign for the British general election in 2010 was very promising for the Liberal Democrats and party leader Nick Clegg did surprisingly well in the televised duels with his opponents Gordon Brown and David Cameron . In the polls that followed, the Lib Dems were roughly on par with the Labor Party , in some cases even in the lead, and could therefore have realistic hopes of participation in the government.

In the end, there was no absolute majority for one party in the 2010 general election, which resulted in a so-called hung parliament . This gave the following options for a future government: minority government of a party, coalition or new elections. The Lib Dems, which received 23% of the vote, but only 57 out of 650 seats due to the British majority vote, agreed to negotiate with the Conservative Party , which came first, about future cooperation. A coalition of Lib Dems and Labor did not have a majority in the lower house.

Negotiations were successful, with David Cameron sworn in as Prime Minister while Nick Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister. A total of seven government posts were placed by the Lib Dems in the Cameron I cabinet .

Coalition 2010–2015

Participation in the government had a detrimental effect on the polls of the Liberal Democrats. The increase in tuition fees decided by the coalition, which the Lib Dems had rejected during the election campaign, had a major impact on this. Clegg defended the passed law, but later publicly called it a mistake.

In 2011 a referendum was held in Great Britain on a planned change in the electoral law. This had been one of the central demands of the Lib Dems. The Tories spoke out in favor of retaining the existing majority voting system. With a turnout of 42.2%, a majority of 67.9% of the voters rejected the option to change the electoral law.

In the following local elections in 2012 and 2014, the Lib Dems lost over 300 seats each, and the 2014 European elections also lost a lot of support. The result fell from 15% previously to only 4.8%, which means that from now on there is only one representative in the European Parliament .

General election 2015

The opinion polls predicted heavy losses for the party in the general election in 2015 , but the Lib Dems had the hope of being able to go back to a coalition as a junior partner. The losses were even more severe than expected, the party fell from 23% of the vote to 7.8% nationally and only had eight members of parliament instead of 57. Many long-standing parliamentarians and ministers lost their seats. Thereupon the party chairman Nick Clegg announced his resignation. Tim Farron was his successor .

General election 2017

The starting point for the 2017 general election was difficult for Lib Dems. The clearly pro-European party had previously suffered a defeat with the British vote to leave the EU , and there was a risk of being worn out between the ruling Tories under Theresa May and the Labor Party of polarizing party leader Jeremy Corbyn . The fears turned out to be partially justified, the Lib Dems received 7.4% of the vote and thus lost half a percentage point compared to the poor performance in the 2015 election. At least 4 seats were gained (especially in Scotland) and thus held for the time being 12 MPs in the House of Commons .

On June 14, 2017, the party chairman Tim Farron resigned because he could not unite to lead a party and at the same time to be a believing and professing Christian. Farron had previously faced distress several times when journalists asked him if he viewed homosexual intercourse as a sin. He had mostly evaded the question by pointing out that it was not his personal opinion that counted, but his party's clear position in favor of homosexual equality, but had finally denied it.

The Scottish MP Jo Swinson and the political veterans Norman Lamb and Vince Cable , who had previously led the party, were considered favorites to succeed Farron . Vince Cable was elected with no votes against on July 20, 2017. At 74, he was the oldest party leader to date.

The Liberal Democrats are not running in Northern Ireland , but support their “sister party”, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland , in elections there . Some leading Alliance politicians are also party members of the Liberal Democrats.

European and parliamentary elections 2019

In the 2019 European elections , the decidedly pro-European party gained a large number of votes and became the second strongest force, ahead of Labor and the Conservatives. A total of 16 seats went to the Liberal Democrats.

In May 2019, Vince Cable resigned as party chairman. On July 22, 2019, 39-year-old Jo Swinson was elected to succeed him. She is the first woman in this position.

By converting former Conservatives and Labor MPs and winning a by-election, the party has held a total of 21 seats in the House of Commons since October 30, 2019, nine more than it won in the 2017 election.

In the 2019 general election , the Liberal Democrats ran with the aim of ending Brexit without a vote in the event of a majority and otherwise campaigning for a second referendum. The party was able to increase its share of the vote, but in the end it only had eleven seats, one fewer than in 2017. None of the members of the Liberal Democrats who defected could win a mandate. The party leader Swinson lost her mandate against the SNP and resigned.

aims

Domestically, the Liberal Democrats advocate strengthening civil rights, which were restricted under the Labor government in the context of the fight against terrorism and crime, and improving public service performance. In this context, the Liberal Democrats should also consider raising taxes for funding - an issue on which they differ from the other two major parties. Liberal Democrats politicians criticize the behavior of the Conservative Party and Labor Party, while promising general tax cuts and no deterioration in public services, as a ruse . The Liberal Democrats are the most pro-European of the three major British parties. In terms of foreign policy, the Liberal Democrats advocate renouncing nuclear weapons and, unlike the Labor and Conservative Parties, opposed the Iraq war . In their party program for the 2005 election they put a focus on environmental protection .

In its program before the 2015 elections, the party advocated a lower deficit, a reduction in CO ₂ emissions , a lower entry tax rate , the introduction of the right to vote for 16-year-olds and more government subsidies for the national health service . The party is also committed to reforming the House of Lords . They are also calling for a change in the electoral system for the House of Commons from majority voting to proportional representation .

In the course of Brexit , the Liberal Democrats called for a second referendum and close ties to the EU . At their party conference in September 2019 it was decided to go into the next general election with the demand that Brexit be canceled entirely.

Party leader

The party leader ( Leader of the Liberal Democrats ) is the actual party leader and holds the highest office of the party (the party president is more responsible for administrative and organizational tasks). He must also have a seat in parliament. If he loses this in an election, he also loses the party chairmanship. In this case, or in the event of the resignation or death of the incumbent, the elected deputy party leader automatically takes over the party leadership until a new party leader is elected. This has been the case three times so far: after Charles Kennedy's resignation , Menzies Campbell initially took over the party leadership on an interim basis (he was later elected party leader), and after Campell resigned, Vince Cable became party leader. After Jo Swinson's resignation, her deputy Ed Davey took over the interim leadership together with party president Sal Brinton . On January 1, 2020, Sal Brighton was followed by the new party president Mark Pack .

Party leadership		Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
1	David Steel Robert Maclennan	March 3, 1988	July 16, 1988
2	Paddy Ashdown	July 16, 1988	August 9, 1999
3	Charles Kennedy	August 9, 1999	January 7, 2006
4th	Sir Menzies Campbell	March 2, 2006	October 15, 2007
5	Vince Cable	October 15, 2007	December 18, 2007
6th	Nick Clegg	December 18, 2007	May 8, 2015
7th	Tim Farron	July 16, 2015	June 14, 2017
5	Vince Cable	20th July 2017	July 22, 2019
8th	Jo Swinson	July 22, 2019	December 13, 2019

Sub-organizations

• English Liberal Democrats
  • London Liberal Democrats
• Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats
• Scottish Liberal Democrats
• Welsh Liberal Democrats

literature

• Roy Douglas: Liberals: The History of the Liberal and Liberal Democrat Parties. Hambledon & London, London 2005, ISBN 1-85285-353-0 .
• Fisher, Justin, British political parties. Hall 1996.
• Garner, Robert, British political parties today. New York 1998.
• MacIver, Don, The Liberal Democrats. Hall 1996.
• Norton, Philip, The British Polity. London 2001.
• Schröder, Hans-Christoph, English history. Munich 2000.

Web links

Commons : Liberal Democrats  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official site of the party (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ed Davey and Baroness Brinton replace Jo Swinson as Lib Dem leaders . December 13, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
2. ↑ https://www.libdems.org.uk/young_liberals
3. ↑ Labor loses 125 members a day over Brexit and antisemitism complaints . Retrieved August 8, 2019.
4. ↑ Style guide LIBERAL DEMOCRATS VISUAL IDENTITY: 3. Colors. (PDF) Retrieved September 3, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Richard Seymour; translated by Sigrid Ruschmeier: Great Britain's Liberals - the third force . In: Barbara Bauer, Dorothee d'Aprile (ed.): Le Monde diplomatique . No. 10/25 . TAZ / WOZ , October 2019, ISSN  1434-2561 , p. 11 .
6. ↑ Survey: British Liberal Democrats are advancing for the first time , ORF online from April 18, 2010
7. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8624317.stm
8. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7605260/General-Election-2010-Lib-Dems-take-lead-in-new-poll.html
9. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8667071.stm
10. ↑ https://www.google.at/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1GTPM_deAT520AT520&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF- 8 # q = lib + dems + labor + no + majority + 2010
11. ↑ http://www.standard.co.uk/news/libdem-conference-to-attack-school-reforms-6501291.html
12. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/19/nick-clegg-apologies-tuition-fees-pledge
13. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-13297573
14. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-17920848
15. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/07/polls-analysis-data-david-cameron-win-votes-lack-support-stay-office
16. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/08/conservatives-win-most-seats-general-election-labour-lib-dems-collapse
17. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/08/nick-clegg-resigns-as-lib-dem-leader
18. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/13/tim-farron-poised-to-launch-bid-for-lib-dem-leadership
19. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tim-farron-resigns-liberal-democrats-leader-election-statement-announcement-a7790396.html
20. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/14/liberal-democrats-leadership-race-the-early-runners-and-riders
21. ^ Vince Cable: Challenges for new Lib Dem leader . In: Sky News .  from July 20, 2017
22. ↑ Manifesto 2015. (PDF) 2015, accessed on March 13, 2016 (English, " Our sister party, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, makes its own policy on devolved issues in Northern Ireland. "). 
23. ↑ Michael Carchrie Campbell: Opinion: The forgotten family member and what Nick said… libdemvoice.org, January 3, 2012, accessed on March 13, 2016 (English). 
24. ^ Lib Dems: Jo Swinson becomes party's first female leader. BBC News, July 23, 2019, accessed July 23, 2019 . 
25. ↑ Former Conservative MP Sam Gyimah joins Lib Dems. BBC News, September 14, 2019, accessed September 14, 2019 . 
26. ^ Heidi Allen: Former Tory MP joins Liberal Democrats. BBC News, October 7, 2019, accessed October 7, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Kate Devlin: Ex-Tory Antoinette Sandbach defects to Lib Dems in boost to Jo Swinson . In: The Times . October 31, 2019, ISSN  0140-0460 ( thetimes.co.uk [accessed October 31, 2019]).
28. ^ Peter Walker: 'Devastated' Jo Swinson apologises to Lib Dems for election failure . In: The Guardian . December 13, 2019 ( theguardian.com [accessed December 13, 2019]).
29. ↑ Lib Dem manifesto 2015 - the key points. theguardian.com (2015 article, accessed September 4, 2019).
30. ↑ Europe. In: libdems.org.uk. January 31, 2017, accessed February 19, 2019 . 
31. ^ Lib Dems pledge to cancel Brexit if they win general election. In: BBC.com. September 16, 2019, accessed November 14, 2019 . 
32. ↑ Who will be the next Lib Dem leader after Jo Swinson loses her seat? ITV News, December 13, 2019, accessed April 5, 2020 .