Lib Dem supporters in this election must feel like they’re dreaming after the TV debates the other night. The Liberal Democrats have had a huge poll boost, and are now ahead of Labour in people’s voting intentions.

Why has this party, seemingly always doomed to be an also-ran, suddenly emerged as an actual contender for power? Mainly because people hate Labour and the Tories. The incredibly undemocratic election system used for the UK parliament has meant it has always been a two horse race, and the Lib Dems have never really stood a chance of getting into government. So people have always assumed that however rubbish both Labour and the Tories are, you have to vote for one of them. The telly rarely devote anything like the coverage to the Lib Dems as they do to the big two. And when you see parliament on the news, Brown and Cameron are down the front battling it out and Nick Clegg is somewhere up the back being shouted down.

So, for most people, who aren’t that political, the idea that there actually is an alternative to the different shades of shite being proffered to us by the big two is quite exciting. This is the first proper look they’ve had at the Lib Dems, and it’s people who don’t pay that much attention to politics who are driving their poll ratings.

The problem is, you could stick anyone up against Brown and Cameron and they’d end up looking good. We’re all bored of the two of them, and someone else is always going to seem new, different, and therefore, good. But unfortunately, the Lib Dems are just as much a party of the establishment as the other two.  If you really want change from the mess that all the right wing parties have got us into, they’re not going to give it to you. Here’s a few reasons why:

Lib Dems are not against the end of the world, but they do promise to make it cheaper

1. One of the biggest boosts Nick Clegg got in the leaders’ debates was when he said he was against the replacement of Trident. A lot of people will have thought that this means that the Lib Dems are against the UK continuing to hold Weapons of Mass Destruction that could destroy life as we know it. In Scotland, the trade unions, the churches and everyone with half a brain cell are against the madness of nukes. The Lib Dems, unfortunately, are not. Their manifesto only says they’re against “like for like” replacement of Trident, and that they’d hold a full review in government. Nick Clegg has previously talked about how an option they’d explore is using the Astute system instead of Trident – slightly less powerful submarines, but still capable of travelling anywhere in the world to deliver mass death on the orders of Prime Minister Clegg. The idea that the Lib Dems are clearly against nuclear weapons is just not true.

2. They support the idea of getting young people on to bullshit work placements, where they will only be paid £55 a week, for three months. To give them credit, they do support ending age-wage discrimination, by making the minimum wage the same for all workers over 16. That is, unless you’re on an apprenticeship, in which case it’ll still be perfectly legal to exploit your labour for less than the minimum wage.

3. They want to start privatising Royal Mail, meaning the postal service will get worse, and posties jobs will be attacked, as Royal Mail goes further down the road of making private profits instead of public service.

4. They want to set up a UK Infrastructure Bank, that will continue the idea of using private money to build public projects. That is, every time we build a new school, hospital or road, some private investor will get rich at your expense.

5. They are “critical supporters” of the UK mission in Afghanistan. Having voted for the imperialist slaughter and occupation of Afghanistan, they now explicitly support the strategy of a troops surge.

Clegg wearing everyday dress from the last time the Liberals were in power

6. Like the Labour manifesto, they lump crime and immigration in together, tail-ending the rhetoric of the far right. In the debate Clegg seemed desperate to join in with the “tough on immigrants” chat, promising that he would force immigrant workers to stay in the one region where their labour was needed, meaning people can’t move around the UK looking for work.

Probably most importantly, the Lib Dems accept, as do all the contenders to be the next UK government, that we should pay for the capitalist economic crisis. They’re up front that they’re going to make big spending cuts, and restrict tax credits. They claim their strategy is to be honest with people about the need to recoup the money paid out to banks.

The only vote against this pish is voting socialist. All the capitalist parties accept the banks have the right to take our money, continue to pay themselves huge bonuses and make huge profits, while we have to suffer cuts to pay for it. For the many people who are looking for an alternative and are attracted to the Lib Dems, unfortunately we’re not going to get a government that stands up for us, even if they win. We need to start building up for a fight against whoever gets in, and strengthening our forces to resist the cuts. One of the ways you can do that is by voting for the SSP where we’re standing on May 6th.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.