Coalition

Dear friends,

After the astonishing events of the last few days I wanted to share my views with you, particularly since I've been contacted by voters who supported us in the election but are not convinced with our decision to form a coalition Government with the Conservatives.

I was brought up in the 80s to support the Labour party as the natural champion of my family and ordinary working and middle class people. Learning about liberal ideas and seeing the disappointments of Labour in the 90s and noughties I became a firm supporter of the Liberal Democrats. Still my gut reaction on learning no party had an overall majority was to hope for a coalition with Labour - a progressive coalition that could implement some of our key manifesto policies, most importantly:

1. making taxes fairer for ordinary people
2. giving every child a fair start through a pupil premium and investment in state schools particularly in poorer areas like Lewisham
3. political reform to make politiicans more accountable and ensure that every vote counts
4. serious environmental commitments

If, like me, you wondered what happened to the talks between our party and Labour, then you may find this account from our party's spokeperson sheds some light:

"Key members of Labour's negotiating team gave every impression of wanting the process to fail and Labour made no attempt at all to agree a common approach with the Liberal Democrats on issues such as fairer schools funding for the most deprived pupils and taking those on low incomes out of tax.

It became clear to the Liberal Democrats that certain key Labour cabinet ministers were determined to undermine any agreement by holding out on policy issues and suggesting that Labour would not deliver on proportional representation and might not marshal the votes to secure even the most modest form of electoral reform.

It is clear that some people in the Labour Party see opposition as a more attractive alternative to the challenges of creating a progressive, reforming government, not least in the context of a Labour leadership election campaign."

So the choice for us was either forming a coalition with the Conservatives, or taking no place in Government and seeing another election under an unfair system that may have again produced no overall majority (or a majority Conservative government).

Our MPs and Federal Executive decided the better option was to form a coalition government with the Conservatives based on firm policy commitments in all four of the key areas I have outlined above. The Conservatives have also agreed to shelve some of their election policies which were unfair - such as inheritance tax relief for the rich. So in Lewisham our schools should see up to £8million of investment to make class sizes smaller and improve children's education.

Whatever your political leaning and upbringing there is an important principle to remember here - that of Democracy. Like it or not the Conservative Party got many more votes than any other party. Whatever the voting system they should have the first right to seek to govern.

This is an unprecedented situation and I can't predict what lies ahead, but whatever happens I am not going to change or compromise my core beliefs in the importance of civil liberties and fairness. They are important principles that I intend to continue to campaign for - whether we're in Government or in opposition, and I hope that you will join me in this.

Tam