In the US, the Democrats are liberal and the Republicans are conservative.
Here in Canada, the Liberal party & the NDP are liberal. The Progressive Conservative party is conservative, and so is the Canadian Alliance (more like the anti-liberal party, though, but you get the idea).
But, what’s the situation in the UK? If I were liberal minded, which party would I vote for, or what choices do I have to vote for?
It’s Labor on the left and the Tories on the right, and I don’t know what sort of third parties are about.
Hundreds of parties in England! but I count only the ones represented in Parliament:
The Conservative Party. (Tories)
Democratic Unionist Party.
The Labour Party
Scottish Labour Party
The Liberal Democrats
Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Welsh Liberal Democrats
Plaid Cymru.
Sinn Féin
SDLP - Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Scottish National Party.
The Federation of Student Nationalists is the student wing of the SNP.
Ulster Unionist Party.
And speaking of the others:
I thought that the loony party was only a Monty Python sketch! It turns out it does exist:
http://www.fathom.com/feature/122211
And no, that web site is NOT Opal’s.
Depends on what you mean by “liberal-minded”. But, broadly speaking, the Labour Party and the Liberal Party occupy the centre-to-left ground in British politics, with the Labour party extending further to the left than the Liberal party. The present Labour leadership is, however, very centrist.
Most of the other parties mentioned in GIGObuster’s list field candidates in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland but not in England, and focus on issues of local (as opposed to UK-wide) interest. Either that, or they are the Scottish or Welsh branches of the Labour, Liberal and Conservative parties.
Labour used to be a nominally socialist party. However, in the last decade, “New Labour” - Blair’s tagline to make Labour re-electable - has brought the party a long way to the right (even further than the Liberals), and certain of Labour’s policies are coincidental with what a Tory government would be doing.
But compared to the US, I’d say that all the mainstream parties are “liberal” - even the Tories pay lip-service to the maintenance of the National Health Service, for example.
Depends how you define liberal really…
I’d say that the liberal democrats are the most liberal party overall. Labour used to be quite liberal and left wing, but are moving to the right and becoming more authoritarian. And the Conservative party are right wing, liberal when it comes to economic freedoms, but more authoritarian when it comes to other freedoms.
If you defined yourself as a liberal in the uk you’d probably be reading the guardian or the independent, and voting lib dems or maybe labour.
By becoming “New Labour”, the party consciously distanced itself from the traditional socialist policies of the established “Labour Party” and took a decision to occupy the middle-ground in UK politics.
This is the principle behind the idea of the “Third Way” - it abandons the idea that one must stick rigidly to so-called ‘left’ or ‘right’ principles and doctrines, and instead picks and chooses as it sees fit.
The rejection of “Clause 4” is perhaps the best example of New Labours move away from ‘old style’ socialist policies (and their current treatment of the firefighters’ strike makes them look more and more like the Conservatives of the 80s).
The Liberal Democrats are perhaps the best example of a ‘liberal’ party, but unfortunately they seem to adhere to the sterotype of liberals as well-meaning but essentially out of touch and ineffective.
I read the Guardian and (sometimes) vote Lib Dem (but that’s out of conscience rather than a genuine belief that the current crop of Lib Dem politicians could actually run the country effectively).
If you wanted to vote for a truly liberal party in the UK, you would actually be completely screwed, because you can’t. The Conservatives don’t really have any coherent policy or recognisable clear opinions. They span the whole spectrum from very liberal to borderline Fascist. The Liberal Democrats are essentially well-meaning buffoons (that would be my choise given what’s currently on offer).
And the Labour party are a bunch of right-wing authoritarian bastards. What’s more, they are also useless at implementing any of their damned policies. They’re very good however at churning out illiberal legislation and screwing over unpopular minorities, or groups whose fate is indifferent to the Masses, to gain some support from the majority. Examples of the former include proposals to scrap double-jeopardy, the right to trial by jury, or banning foxhunting. As for minorities being victimised, there’s almost everyone living in rural areas, and anyone who works in public services.
I think it might be an idea for the Queen to use one of her last vestigial powers and dissolve Parliament until they sort themselves out. In the meantime, Government could just stop and we could see if it makes any bloody difference whatsoever.
Tony, if you’re reading this, I admit to seditious talk.
The Liberal Democrats are beginning to appear more effective. Certainly, Charles Kennedy (Lib Dem leader) does a much better job of opposing Tony Blair at Prime Minister’s Question time than does Iain Duncan-Smith (Conservative leader). The Liberal Democrats have the best grasp of the needs of rural areas, IMO.
Tansu, your local well-meaning buffoon.
Death by UKOGBANI!
I think Charles Kennedy would do as good a job as Tony Blair … if they can dry him out.
More seriously: the Lib Dems, at the moment, seem to have their best shot in recent memory at becoming the main party of opposition (and, after that, party of government). It was easy enough to dismiss them as well-meaning but ineffectual back in the early Seventies, when you could get the whole of the Parliamentary Liberal Party into one taxi (well, actually, you couldn’t, because one of them was Cyril Smith, but let’s not worry about that), but if the Tories continue to self-destruct, and Labour continues to abandon its socialist roots in favour of spin-doctoring, the Lib Dems are going to start looking pretty good to a lot of people.
Actually, I already live in a Lib Dem constituency, and I have to admit, Evan Harris is the most effective MP I’ve had. (Granted, the competition in this area includes Michael Ancram, Joyce Quin, and Sir Ian “Cemetary Face” Gilmour, so, not the stiffest in the world, but still … )
This is actually one of the problems the Lib Dems face… I keep trying to imagine Charles Kennedy negotiating with other heads-of-state and I just can’t imagine him being at all ruthless (which, unfortunately, it is sometimes necessary to be in international politics).
Plus he’s Scottish, and I’m not sure if the UK as a whole is quite ready for a PM from north of the border… Arguably that’s why Kinnock lost - a wavering middle-English voter will be put off by a broad regional accent, especially Welsh or Scottish. It will be interesting to see how Gordon Brown fares if/when he takes over from Blair.
There is something rather off-putting about the fact that the Liberal Democrats can act as the official opposition to the Labour Party, as they are (traditionally) meant to be broadly ideologically similar and the fact that it’s a serious proposition just goes to show how much New Labour have encroached upon Conservative ideological territory.
Rather, the United States has one center-right party (the Democrats), one extreme-right party (the Republicans), and no left at all (except the Greens, who haven’t gotten anywhere yet). We did use to have one liberal—Paul Wellstone R.I.P 
coughcoughcoughRamsey MacdonaldcoughcoughcoughDavid Lloyd Georgecough
(Lloyd George was actually born in Manchester, but he was brought up in Wales by Welsh speakers from the age of one…)
In Northern Ireland, left-right doesn’t particularly matter; people vote according to their views on (1) whether the six counties should be a part of the UK or the Irish republic, and (2) what methods should be used to maintain or achieve that status. Sinn Féin and the Progressive Unionist Party would definitely be considered left-wing, but none of the other significant parties really has a strong ideological base separate from its stance on the constitutional issue.
Getting back to Britain, is there no Green Party there? Or is it just irrelevant?
And how long until the BNP gets its name on Gigo’s list
There is indeed a Green Party, and it is indeed irrelevant … but it’s got more support than the BNP, though.
Am I the only one who thinks they should change the name of the country to Ukogbanistan?
Here’s a summary of the results of the June 2001 election on one page. The relative numbers of parliamentary seats are an eloquent representation of the “relevance” of some of the minor parties, but don’t accurately describe the local significance of the regional parties (because they’re compared with the overall poll, not the poll in the regions where they took part).
The descriptions of the parties – “social-democratic”, “conservative”, “social-liberal” etc. – are the responsibility of the website organisers. Other posters here may agree or disagree with their accuracy.
I was thinking more of modern voters (ie. post-Thatcher), but I think I’d better go find a topic I know something about to comment on.
I think that after Thatcher’s ghastly elocution-school fruitiness, Gordon Brown would come as something of a relief! (Who was it said of Thatcher, “I cannot bring myself to vote for a woman who has been voice-trained to talk to me as though my dog had just died” ?)