Politics

Liberal Democrat manifesto: the verdict

Our panel pronounces on Nick Clegg's centrist mission statement

April 15, 2015
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Nick Clegg today stood beneath a set of dangling glow sticks at a trendy South London art space to launch his party's pitch to the reasonable centre ground of British politics. 

You can read the full document here, but below we've gathered together some key pledges, plus responses from our expert panel.

What are the Lib Dems promising?

"It is not a shopping list of pie in the sky ideas, but a set of proposals that builds on our record of action in government," said Clegg of his party's manifesto this morning, and that sums it up pretty well. The document, weighing in at 155 pages (compared to 85 for Labour and 82 for the Conservatives) spends a lot of that ample space reminding readers of what Liberal Democrats have already achieved. The pledges here are mostly presented as building on existing accomplishments—the manifesto writers use the word "continue" 79 times—and there are plenty of graphs and charts to show us how well things have gone under the Coalition. Clegg is setting out a clear pitch, then, if not an especially ideological one: a vote for the Lib Dems is a vote for a reasonable, centrist voice with a record of delivery, and a restraining hand on the party of government. The alternative, he says, is to see a coalition of the more unpredictable hard left or right.

Six key pledges

The Lib Dems have set out their policy stall according to five "priorities" for coalition negotiations, so we've tackled one from each, then added one quite distinctive pledge in at the end.

Careful spending The first Lib Dem priority is "prosperity for all:" achieved in part with the setting out of two clear fiscal rules. The first is a commitment to cutting debt as a share of national income every year from 2017/18. The other is to balance the overall budget, with no borrowing to pay for everyday expenditure, but borrowing for investment in "the things that will help our economy grow" permitted. That second point puts them squarely in between the Tories (who have ruled out all borrowing) and Labour (who only want to balance the current budget, leaving room for more borrowing).

A boost for working parents All three main parties have offered to increase the government's offer on free childcare, but the Lib Dems arguably have the most ambitious offer. They may be offering just 20 hours—more than the current 15 but less than Labour and the Tories—but the Labour and Tory plans only cover working parents with three and four-year-old children. The Lib Dems have targeted their pledge at all parents with two to four year old children, and all working parents from nine months to two years.

Tax breaks at the bottom The party says it was in large part the work of Lib Dem Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander that secured a hike in the amount of yearly salary below which you pay no income tax from £6,475 in 2010 to £10,600 by the end of this parliament, though George Osborne later took a lot of the credit. In this manifesto, as part of their "fair taxes" priority, the Lib Dems want to raise this threshold to £12,500—the same as the Tories and more than Labour who have promised not to increase the basic rate but have made no mention of thresholds.

Help for mental health In line with its "quality health care for all" priority, the party wants to see mental health given the same attention as physical health, pledging £500m to mental health services and promising waiting times for those suffering with mental problems as physical illnesses.

New green laws The final Lib Dem priority is to protect the environment, which the party says it will do with five new laws, putting a range of green issues from the electrification of railways to the proper tallying of natural resources on a statutory footing.

A digital bill of rights Though it doesn't feature as a "priority"—which means it might perish in the heat of any coalition negotiations—the manifesto includes plans for a new law "defining and enshrining" civil rights relating to online privacy and surveillance.




Responses from our panel:

More of the same

Anatole Kaletsky, Chairman of the Institute for New Economic Thinking

While Liberal Democrat leaders are desperately trying to persuade their core voters that they hate the Tories, and Tory leaders must convey the same message about the Liberals, both the Coalition parties could sum up their manifestos with the same sentence: “Vote for us and if you liked the past five years, you will love the next five.” Just as the Tory promises to sell housing association properties and raise tax thresholds have failed to distract attention from their main political mission, which is to reduce the size and scope of government, the Lib Dems cannot avoid complicity in the coalition’s public spending cuts or its health and education policies, whatever commitments their manifesto purports to guarantee.

As a result of the past five years’ experience, the Lib Dems’ promises to expand university opportunities, reverse administrative reforms in schools and the NHS and pursue the more aggressive environment, infrastructure investment and industrial policies always advocated in theory by Vince Cable, are bound to fall on deaf ears. As long as the Lib Dems’ over-riding economic commitment remains reduction of public borrowing and balancing the government budget, they cannot hope to escape from their present embarrassing position of combining the most unpopular policies of both the other main parties. They stand, along with Labour, for ever-higher taxes and more government intervention in private business and, with the Tories, for further aggressive spending cuts and unpopular public service reforms. It is small wonder, therefore, that the biggest political shift resulting from this election will probably be the replacement of the Lib Dems as the kingmakers in the next parliament by the SNP.

Good for the doorstep

Caron Lindsay, Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice

Uniquely, Liberal Democrat members have been able to contribute to the manifesto and it’s approved by a party committee. The Carer’s Bonus of £250 per year is one new idea which came from a member.

Activists will be happy with a strong, positive message of opportunity to take to the doorsteps—investment in children’s future, giving the NHS the money it needs, particularly on mental health, looking after the planet, more powers for Scotland and Wales, further cuts in income tax for those on low and middle incomes. All this and more detail on how it’ll be paid for than we’ve seen from others.

Liberal Democrats are instinctively passionate about education and providing opportunities for young people. We know that voters like it when we tell them that Nick Clegg personally championed giving extra help for disadvantaged kids in school and that this is already increasing attainment. We will enjoy sharing the manifesto’s plans for further improvement in schools and giving discounted bus passes to young people—as well as protecting their rights to welfare benefits which are under threat from both Labour and the Conservatives.

No more mudslinging about the "Snooper's Charter"

David Omand, former GCHQ Director and Commissioner for the Global Commission on Internet Governance

A "digital bill of rights" is a worthy aim but we already have the fundamental UN Declaration on Human Rights—those rights already apply in cyberspace as much as in the three dimensions of physical space. What is needed is something more that covers responsibilities as well as rights. In The Hague this week former Swedish PM Carl Bildt called on behalf of the Global Internet Governance Commission for a new social compact—a mutual understanding between citizens and their state where the state takes responsibility to work to keep its citizens safe and secure under the law, while in turn citizens agree to empower the authorities to carry out that mission, under a clear and accessible legal framework that includes sufficient checks and balances against abuses.

For the UK, that means no more mud-slinging, please, about so-called "Snooper’s Charters." It means government after the General Election taking the time with private corporations, civil society and the technical community to hammer out how best to combine security, successful business models and human rights—thus providing the rest of the world with a model for how that can be achieved.

Childcare is key—don't waste it

Vicky Pryce, Chief Economic Adviser at CEBR and co-author of “Why Women Need Quotas"

There is much here to woo female voters, but the party needs to make sure the message on childcare is communicated effectively. Free childcare is the key to achieving equality in the workplace and closing the “motherhood penalty” pay gap. Although the Lib Dems are offering slightly less in terms of free hours of childcare per week (20 rather than Labour’s 25, or the Tories’ 30), their plan to make it available for all 2 year olds too and to extend it to all working parents from the end of their paid parental leave when their child is nine months old is the strongest of the three main parties.

This is, though, phrased as “an ambitious goal” rather than offering concrete timelines, and there was no mention of how that cost would be met in the manifesto itself. They will also introduce incentives for shared parental leave, which they introduced while in government, extending it with a “use it or lose it” extra month specifically for fathers.

They also make the clearest pledge of all parties to directly address the gender pay gap, stating that they could fine companies who refuse to publish data on the salaries of their male and female employees up to £5,000 and a pledge to achieve gender equality in government programmes which support entrepreneurs. Finally, the promise of halving departmental spending cuts in the future from what is already envisaged for 2015/16 should mean fewer job losses ahead for women as they make up more than 60 per cent of total public sector employment.

All heart and no brain on education

Emran Mian, Director of the Social Market Foundation

As Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg has attempted to provide a lead on social mobility for the Coalition. It follows that the education section of the Liberal Democrat talks about breaking down “the unfair divisions in our society” and reducing “the gaps between rich and poor”.

Clegg said today that the Liberal Democrats will provide the "heart" to a Conservative government. This manifesto certainly says where their heart is at. But he also suggested that they would provide a "brain" to a Labour government. On education at least, it feels like the brainy stuff has been held back.

The Pupil Premium, funding for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, was a key part of the last Liberal Democrat manifesto. This time the promise is to protect the amount in real terms, then “consider carefully the merits of extending it." This is a timid commitment and contrasts with the ongoing progress the party wants to see on another of its signature policies: increasing the personal tax allowance. Equally the document hints at wanting to ensure “fair local schools admissions” but doesn’t say whether the problem is rich parents elbowing out the others—or what to do about it.

On higher education, the manifesto suggests that the party ensured no undergraduate student in England has to pay fees upfront. No such proposal was on the table during the Coalition. Nevertheless the bigger issue for social mobility in higher education is continuing to increase the participation of disadvantaged young people. The Liberal Democrats are the only of the three major parties to mention this, but they don’t take the opportunity to announce a significant new policy or ambition. The party’s specific pledge on tuition fees in 2010 led to a row—and then a climbdown. No such risk is being taken this time.