Why Vote Lib Dem tomorrow?

Green Economy, Equal Society, Democratic Reform

Nearly everyone I speak to has an election wish list which goes something like:

X No to Corbyn

X No to Johnson

X Brexit to be over, fast, one way or the other

X Action on climate and nature

X Investment in our NHS, Social Care and Education

They don’t believe in Labour’s proposed spending spree and they don’t believe that the Conservatives, who have just spent 9 years dismantling our public services have really seen the light.

The Lib Dems offer the answer to all of these woes. So why are some still finding it hard to decide where to put their X tomorrow? 

One reason is that most people have a much stronger sense of what they don’t want than what they do. Traditional Blue voters just don’t want Red and vice versa despite the parties they have voted for in the past being an ugly imitation of what they used to be. 

But a vote for Lib Dems, even in seats we can’t win, is a vote for change. Its your chance to make a positive call FOR an economy that can win the green industrial revolution, its a vote for a more equal society and vote for a new era of sustainable investment in our public services.

We are the only party which can be trusted on the most important issues of the next parliament: Economy, Equality and Environment. 

Our spending plans and forecasts have been judged realistic by the experts at IFS. Our plan to tackle poverty has been judged the best for the poorest people by the Resolution Foundation. Our plans to deliver a green economy have been deemed the most likely to succeed by Business Green.

If we can form a Remain alliance and push for a swift People’s Vote, the divisive issue of Brexit can be settled, as it started, by the people. I hope that a collaborative approach would enable options from every part of the Brexit spectrum to be put to the people. I don’t see the legitimacy of a vote only for a Corbyn Brexit vs Remain as I feel that this disenfranchises many passionate ‘harder’ Leavers. If we offer people democracy, we must ensure that this is democracy for all, not just those with whom we agree. We must also stop at nothing to implement the result.

And this brings me to a vital fourth issue, a cross-cutting theme in this election - the dire need for democratic reform.

We urgently need to move away from the politics of conflict and division, a race to the bottom to prove only that the other choice is worse. We need to make every vote count through proportional representation, abolish the unelected House of Lords, deliver more power to local and regional authorities and engage in much higher standards of democratic debate for example through a greater use of citizens assemblies. A vote for the Lib Dems will help to deliver this.

A vote for the two main parties, even as a tactical choice, is a vote to maintain the status quo and risk being back here, with an impossible choice or a ‘wasted vote’ again in 5 years time. (The two main parties repeatedly evidence their share of votes as a reason not to change as if it's proof that they are offering all we need.)

Now democratic reform might, in other times, have seemed a slightly geeky thing to be banging on about on the eve of an election. But as you turmoil tonight over a seemingly impossible choice I ask you to seriously consider NOT voting for Johnson nor Corbyn and voting to ensure that you NEVER have to make an impossible choice again.

Vote with your heart for a manifesto that offers us a positive future; for our economy, our planet, for our public services.

Vote for a party who will seek to change our democracy for ever so that we move into a new era of collaborative and progressive politics and leave the last three years of corrosive, divisive politics behind us for good.