The Lib Dems should make a new coalition of shared beliefs and reach out to the 4th largest party in Westminster

The Lib Dems have caused a headache for Labour and the Tories. So first Tony Blair moved Labour to Lib Dem territory. Then Cameron moved the Tories to Lib Dem territory. Now Cameron and Miliband are closing in and the Lib Dems are being squeezed. Why should anyone vote for the Lib Dems if Labour say they stand up for social justice, fairness and have become more liberal while the Tories are now compassionate, liberal and care for the environment? The Lib Dems need to reach out to others to build support so perhaps they need to look at who believes in what we believe and begin working with them in a smarter way.

The current Lib Dem strategy is not working. People are skeptical of the Coalition being good for the country and the Lib Dem vote has significantly decreased. So lefts get back to basics. What works in politics in building a voter base? Parties are not built from the inside out they are built from the outside in. Labour was not a Labour Party until it had recuited many factions and interest groups who eventually became a united party. The Lib Dems were not the Lib Dems until the Alliance formally united. Each of these moves increases your voter base and electoral chances. What we know works is when a party works with others on shared beliefs.

So I was interested to read Nick Clegg’s recent email/letter to members about the first year of being in the Coalition. He wrote that the Lib Dems were:

a party which knows we can do more together than we can alone.

This maybe a statement of the obvious to many in the party but it is also a founding statement of the fourth largest party in Westminster, The Co-operative Party. They bill themselves as the Party of social justice who

believe that people will achieve more by working together than they can by working alone.

So the Lib Dems and the Co-operative Party have a shared belief. They are therefore natural allies. Their objective is to support the efforts of those who seek success through co-operatives. And there are many good examples of co-operatives around the country – not least the bank which faired the financial crisis rather well.

So this offers the Lib Dems a perfect opportunity to work in the Coalition for the good for the country while reaching out to others, except that the Co-operative Party has an agreement with the Labour Party, which makes reaching out to them difficult. However, there is a perfect way to do this which could benefit not only both Parties but also the Coalition.

David Cameron sought to move away from the state as the preferred provider of public services and this has attracted a lot of criticism from the Labour Party. The Lib Dems sensing voter backlash at the fear this creates in the public have sought to apply brakes to Tory proposals. This in itself is destabilising for the Coalition. But what if the Lib Dems worked with the Tories and the Co-operative Party to form a more agreeable policy.

As John Redwood points out the Lib Dem website states

Both the Conservative (p27) and Lib Dem  (p 42)Manifestos promised that new social enterprises would be created to deliver NHS services.  The Conservative (p45) and Lib Democrat (p42) manifestos promised that all types of providers – NHS, voluntary or independent sector- would be free to deliver NHS services.

So the Tories want to move away from a state monopoly, the Lib Dems acknowledge this could improve services but Labour are deeply distrustful of any such plans. So the Lib Dems should promote the belief that ‘we can do more together than we can alone’ and seek others who believe this i.e. the co-op party, to work towards making co-operatives which can run public services.

The Co-operative Party should relish the idea that the Government is realising their dream, the Tories should relish the idea that there would be no state monopoly of public service provision, and the Lib Dems should relish the idea that this could improve standards. A win-win-win situation. Except the Labour Party would not see it this way which would cause tension between the Co-operative Party and the Labour Party. This should be seen as a good thing. Beliefs drive politics and shared beliefs attract each other. Those shared beliefs belong together – the third largest and fourth largest party in Westminster joining forces.

The Lib Dems should be reaching out to those who believe what we believe. Here is a great opportunity to do just that.