Party must adopt 'overall vision'

Monday, 19 September 2005 12:00 AM

The Liberal Democrats must no longer be defined by their disparate policies but instead by the vision they have for government, MPs warned today.

Chair of the parliamentary party Matthew Taylor welcomed the Lib Dems' electoral success earlier this year but admitted it was not the result he had hoped for.

But what he described as a "fundamental failure" was not down to individual policies or the quality of campaign, but because of the public's inability to see the wider picture.

"We failed to pull together policies to a vision of what we would be, what kind of people we are in government," Mr Taylor told a fringe meeting at the party's annual conference in Blackpool.

The public must now be convinced that the Lib Dems have the will, strength and leadership to govern, he said - "we need to articulate the vision that binds us and our policies".

He said that governing was about much more than following through an election manifesto - explaining that a party of government must be able to react to any challenges that came up.

The fringe meeting, organised by The Guardian, intended to look at whether the Liberal Democrats should adopt a more leftist or rightist political approach.

But Chris Huhne MP refused to accept any pigeonholing was necessary, arguing that any attempt to do so would see the party "severely penalised by an electorate that wants solution-based politics".

Susan Kramer, another new Lib Dem MP, said the positioning of the party on the political spectrum did not matter so much as how that position was defined by the Lib Dems themselves.

"Let's pick a position - the centre left - and then redefined what that means. Let us claim for ourselves our fundamental principles," she said, citing fairness, civil liberties, devolution and the environment as the party's main values.

This idea was echoed by deputy leader Sir Menzies Campbell, who warned: "Never let your opponent define you. We must define ourselves."

And this definition came through establishing the principles that the Lib Dems stood for, not just the policies. "Policies change as facts change, but values should not be subject to change," he said.

Sir Menzies insisted that a review of the party's values - currently being pressed for by leader Charles Kennedy - was "absolutely fundamental".

And it should focus on devolved decision-making, the importance of the individual, having an outward-looking foreign policy and above all a defence of historic freedoms.

"There was never a better and more determined time for classical liberalism. than in what we are about to face in the House of Commons," he said.

For a list of Opinion Former fringe events click here.

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