The Labour Party in Blackpool: Labour and Lib Dems 'should begin dialogue'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.LABOUR and the Liberal Democrats should acknowledge that they are no longer divided by fundamental ideological differences and co-operate to create a parliamentary majority with a common programme, a fringe meeting on realignment against the Tories was urged yesterday, writes Patricia Wynn Davies.
Peter Kellner, the political commentator, said the differences between the two parties were less than the differences within them. 'If British politics was starting from scratch, would there be two or more parties at the progressive end? Twenty or thirty years ago one could have said yes.'
But where once there were deep divides between Liberals, Labour and Communists over issues like the role of the state and trade unions, there was now no fundamentally different design for British society.
Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat MP for Southwark and Bermondsey, said Labour would be dishonest if it did not contemplate that 'one last heave' might fail and that it might lose a fifth successive election. Pacts before the next election were out, but Labour and the Liberal Democrats were going to have to deal with each other, and a dialogue in which they learnt from each other would lead to greater trust from the electorate.
Mr Kellner said local party activists would not readily accept electoral pacts involving one party's candidate standing aside but the opposition parties should start in a gentler, more open- minded way, to identify the 'building blocks' - the common causes and values - that could lead to a common position in five or ten years' time.
Calum MacDonald, Labour MP for the Western Isles, who convened the meeting in defiance of the official line, said a dialogue would help to expand each party's ideas. 'This seems desperately radical in the context of British politics but is the norm in the rest of Europe. Only in Britain do we have this narrow, insular approach. This would be understandable if the Labour Party had an enviable track record.'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments