This is the final report of the Meeting the Challenge project, enitled Trust in People: Make Britain free, fair and green
Many thanks to all those who contributed their ideas. The report will be debated at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton on Wednesday 20th September between 15.20 and 16.50.
The Meeting the Challenge working group would like to thank all those who have made contributions to the Meeting the Challenge exercise. We received a large number of high quality submissions from across the party, including from individual members, local and regional parties and party groups. Thanks also to all those who have taken part via this website, which has provoked a range of interesting debates. Throughout the consultation period the site has been visited on a regular basis by members of the working group, several of whom have taken part in the online discussions. A consolidated summary of all responses will be posted on the site shortly. Building on the success of the Meeting the Challenge exercise, we hope to make further use of websites and online discussion tools for future policy working groups.
The next stage - the drafting of the final policy paper itself - is currently underway under the chairmanship of Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell QC MP, and the final paper will be debated at autumn conference 2006 in Brighton. You will shortly be able to pre-order copies of the paper. Please keep an eye on this website for further details.
Duncan Brack and William Wallace, vice-chairs, Meeting the Challenge Working Group March 2006
This essay was written by Duncan Brack , vice chair of the Meeting the Challenge working group, in February 2006, and is one of a series highlighting issues to be addressed as part of the Liberal Democrats’ ‘Meeting the Challenge’ exercise. The opinions expressed in it are solely those of the author and do not represent the collective view of the ‘Meeting the Challenge’ working group or the official policy of the Liberal Democrats.
EQUALITY
Of the three ‘fundamental values’ which the party’s constitution claims we ‘seek to balance’ – liberty, equality and community – equality has traditionally held least appeal for Liberal Democrats. The very title of the 2002 policy paper on the Lib Dem philosophy, It’s About Freedom, relegates it explicitly to, at best, second place. As the paper made clear:
‘We place the principle of freedom above the principle of equality. Equality can be of importance to us in so far as it promotes freedom. We do not believe that it can be pursued as an end in itself, and believe that when equality is pursued as a political goal, it is invariably a failure, and the result is to limit liberty and reduce the potential for diversity.’
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Meeting the Challenge, mid-term conference
14th January 2006
Political narrative
This has obviously been a very challenging week. It may have great consequences for the party.
Opinion may change radically because of the events of the last weeks and our actions over the next two months. We have to remember Harold’ Macmillan’s phrase that politics is “driven by events, dear boy, events”
Events are part of the essential story about a political party. Narrative is a word I don’t like. Partly, just prejudice because it is known as Peter Mandelson’s expression. Read the rest of this entry
But more because I tend to favour simpler words and expressions. We always used to say that what a party needs is a story. A tale of why it is there, where it is going and what it will do.
This essay was written in January 2006 by Jeremy Hargreaves, member of the Meeting the Challenge working group and a vice chair of the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee. The essay is one of a series highlighting issues to be addressed as part of the Liberal Democrats’ ‘Meeting the Challenge’ exercise. The opinions expressed in it are solely those of the author and do not represent the collective view of the ‘Meeting the Challenge’ working group or the official policy of the Liberal Democrats.
Putting You in Control
Meeting the Challenge grew out of a desire to set out a coherent and planned programme for the party’s policy development over the next few years. It is not a re-examining of the philosophical underpinnings of what we believe (we did that excellently in the last Parliament, with It’s About Freedom, which remains the philosophical basis for the current exercise); it is certainly not a line-by-line review of existing policy, giving us the chance to enjoy those old rows all over again; and it is definitely not a comprehensive document listing all the policies we will want to go to the electorate with in three years’ time.
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This essay was written in January 2006 by Neil Stockley, member of the Meeting the Challenge working group and the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee. The essay is one of a series highlighting issues to be addressed as part of the Liberal Democrats’ ‘Meeting the Challenge’ exercise. The opinions expressed in it are solely those of the author and do not represent the collective view of the ‘Meeting the Challenge’ working group or the official policy of the Liberal Democrats. Read the rest of this entry
INTRODUCTION
One of the objectives of Meeting the Challenge is to develop a political narrative for the Liberal Democrats. This essay tries to progress that discussion by explaining what a political narrative is and how it might work in practice. It does not try to suggest in any detail what the narrative should be or advocate any particular version of the narrative.
The paper begins by providing some background for the party’s discussion of a narrative, showing why this debate is important. It then offers some explanations as to why a clearer brand and identity may have proved elusive.
Click on a thumbnail to see a larger photograph.
All photos by Alex Folkes/LDDPics.
Meeting the Challenge, mid-term conference
14th January 2006
‘Modern Liberalism in a global setting’
William Wallace
John Stuart Mill, in On Liberty, talks of ‘the deep slumber of a decided opinion’. The British media is decidedly in the deep slumber of an opinion that a political party must be either on the right or on the left, and that the dividing line must be drawn over the level of taxation. But there are many other divides in British politics, which arouse strong passions on both sides, and on which the dividing line runs between liberals and anti-liberals: civil and political liberties versus an authoritarian state; local democracy versus central direction; active citizenship versus passive consumerism; nationalism versus international cooperation; sustainable economics versus conventional economic growth. Read the rest of this entry
This essay was written by Andrew Duff MEP in January 2006, and is one of a series highlighting issues to be addressed as part of the Liberal Democrats’ ‘Meeting the Challenge’ exercise. The opinions expressed in it are solely those of the author and do not represent the collective view of the ‘Meeting the Challenge’ working group or the official policy of the Liberal Democrats.
Summary Read the rest of this entry
Meeting the Challenge should set the partys agenda not only for domestic politics but also for the European dimension. The consultation paper fights shy of the partys European vocation. Liberal Democrats should make themselves relevant to the current period of reflection on the future of Europe.
This essay was written by Andy Mayer in January 2006, and is one of a series highlighting issues to be addressed as part of the Liberal Democrats’ ‘Meeting the Challenge’ exercise. The opinions expressed in it are solely those of the author and do not represent the collective view of the ‘Meeting the Challenge’ working group or the official policy of the Liberal Democrats.
What do we mean by fair?
Overview Read the rest of this entry
Fairness is one of most frequently used expressions of social justice spanning our public statements and policy agenda. It was one of three words we used to define who we are in the manifesto “Freedom, Fairness and Trust”. We support “Fair tax not higher tax” and this year’s New Year message was premised on the basis that “Unfairness had become embedded in the most basic aspects of life - housing, social mobility and education”. Fairness is the principle most commonly associated with social liberalism, one of the strands of liberal thinking that form the basis of our political philosophy.
