Let me get the rant out of the way first. Why are we still having the debate about snuggling up to the Lib Dems? For the last two years they have been battering us in parliament and on doorsteps across the country. I’m thoroughly sick of people who gossip about completing the project and hooking up with our Liberal Democrat ‘allies’ on the centre-left. The fact is, the Liberal Democrats despise our party and have opposed nearly every major piece of legislation in this parliament.
Shameless opportunism, hypocrisy, promises that can never be delivered, and a completely different message depending on which door they knock on are just some of the characteristics of their campaigning on the ground.
The Lib Dems come clean on their approach in their campaign guide, which advises grassroots activists to: ‘Be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly, and embarrass the administration… if it’s a Labour council you can secure support from voters who normally vote Tory by being effectively anti-Labour and similarly in a Tory area secure Labour votes by being anti-Tory.’
If the Liberals want to be a serious party of opposition then we must treat them as a serious opposition at both a local and national level. Too often we have let them get away unchallenged. The relaunch by my colleague Dan Norris MP of Liberal Demolition marks the beginning of a tough new approach to expose their lies and hypocrisy. Let’s go back to our constituencies and prepare to annihilate the Liberals.
We need to hammer home the message that Liberal Democrats are completely out of touch with hard-working people. Their Focus leaflets talk tough on crime, yet they voted against the anti-social behaviour bill and Simon Hughes has announced plans to release 10,000 offenders from jail. In Brent East they delivered leaflets urging pensioners to claim the pension credit, but failed to mention that they had opposed its creation. And their health spokesperson, Patsy Calton, opposed foundation hospitals in the Commons, but is now campaigning to get her local hospital foundation status.
But as well as exposing the Lib Dems for what they really are, we must also campaign harder for Labour by communicating our achievements to the electorate on the doorstep, through the letterbox and in the press. At a basic level, regular leaflets from Labour should tell voters the truth about what their council is doing in their local community, shedding light on the lies peddled by Focus.
Together with voter ID, direct mail, questionnaires and consultations with local residents, a concerted campaign can keep the Lib Dems at bay. Fighting the Liberals on their own ground works. In Newton ward, in my own constituency, we took on a seat that had been held by the Liberals for the last 25 years. Left unchallenged for so long, in only eighteen months we were able to reduce the Lib Dem’s majority of 725 to within just 50 votes of ousting them.
In a by-election in Stockwell this summer, Labour took a seat back off the Lib Dems to become the largest party in Lambeth (see below). And in Milton Keynes and Norwich the Labour groups have a firm strategy in place to oust the Liberals from power at the next elections.
As Sheffield and Liverpool have shown, failing to stay in touch with Labour voters and the wider electorate over a period of time can let the Liberals sneak in. But a determined local effort turned this around and the two cities became rightful Labour territory again.
Brent East was a wake up call to those in our party that have never taken the Lib Dems seriously or simply wanted to cosy up to them. But for those of us who campaign against the Liberal Democrats every week it was a reminder that we should not underestimate their campaigning ability. They are ruthless.