Publications

Lib-Lab

can Labour and the Liberal Democrats co-operate?

Authors	Julian Astle Alasdair Murray
Date of Publication:	September 2007

Gordon Brown’s attempt in the summer of 2007 to bring a number of Liberal Democrat peers into his government reopened the debate about co-operation between the two parties. In the event, Menzies Campbell blocked the move, ruling out the prospect of any Liberal Democrat parliamentarians accepting ministerial positions in this parliament. Campbell claimed that the ‘political chasm’ between the parties on issues such as nuclear energy, Trident, ID cards, public services, council tax and the war in Iraq made such a deal impossible to countenance.

But is he right? Is the fissure in progressive politics as wide as he suggests? In seeking to answer this question, this policy brief focuses not on the detailed policies of each party, which are subject to regular revision, but on the underlying values, instincts and attitudes that shape those policies. It sets out, in broad terms, each party’s approach to the key policy challenges of the day and seeks to identify whether some form of cross party collaboration is possible. Finally, it explores what all of this might mean should the next general election result in a hung parliament.

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Media Coverage:

Spectator: Sir Menzies Campbell will either be sacked or will end up in the Cabinet

Prospect: Politics without a majority  

Progress: Unbridgeable divide?