Lib Dem schadenfreude is a distraction from the real job of fighting the Tories

Ed Miliband wants the Liberal Democrats "extinct". Since only 1-in-10 target seats are held by the Lib Dems, Labour must instead fight the Tories.

Today’s papers are full of stories about the Liberal Democrats after Nick Clegg’s first week “minding the shop“. Jackie Ashley wisely wraps Ed Miliband on the knuckles for his remarks calling for the “extinction” of the Lib Dems. She is absolutely right and Labour should remember who the real enemy is: the Conservatives.

At the weekend, Ed Miliband told the Kilmarnock Labour party:

“we have to make the Lib Dems an endangered species – and then extinct”.

No doubt the line got a big cheer. But it does not contain any strategic insight. To win an overall majority at the next election under the current electoral system and with 650 MPs, Labour will have to win 67 seats. As UK Polling Report shows, only nine of these target seats are held by the Liberal Democrats. The vast majority – 87 per cent – are Conservative-held seats. Indeed, a Lib Dem collapse would help the Conservatives. A uniform 5 per cent swing against the Liberal Democrats would result in twice as many Conservative gains. The picture barely changes under AV or a reduced House of Commons.

After the weekend excitement over Charles Kennedy’s refuted plans to join Labour, the Independent reveals that other Lib Dems are considering the switch:

“Labour has targeted Mike Hancock, the Portsmouth South MP, as a possible recruit. He admitted that he had received a serious approach from the veteran left-winger Dennis Skinner and refused to rule out defecting. He said: “It’s too early to consider anything.”

“The Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Tonge said she had had “all sorts of chats with the Labour party” and told The Sunday Times she was prepared to resign the party whip if benefits for the poor and unemployed were cut in the spending review. She said: “In the Lords, a lot of senior figures in the party are unhappy.”

All well and good if it happens. But the schadenfreude over the Liberal Democrats poll ratings or Nick Clegg’s poor press is a distraction from the real business of fighting the Conservative party and setting out an alternative story on the economy, society, and Britain’s place in the world.

29 Responses to “Lib Dem schadenfreude is a distraction from the real job of fighting the Tories”

  1. Chris

    @Will Straw

    In how many of the tory held targets is the combined Labour, LibDem vote bigger than the tories? As the LibDems have quietly infiltrated many former Labour wards, won the council seats and then told voters during the GE that only they could stop the tories in this constituency, isn’t that a joke now.

    So, locally taking on the LibDems is an important task because they have been building up in areas over many years and put great store by local issues, local democracy, etc campaigning. EdM is right in former Labour strong holds we do need to get the LibDems out. But nationally, as you say, we need to demonstrate the madness of the tory economic plans and how nasty their plans for public services really are.

    Although, the schadenfreude of watching the LibDems being wiped out would be almost as good as injecting heroin.

  2. D Mills

    Surely the point is, we will beat Tories if we can get people who used to vote Lib Dem to vote for us – so Ed M’s point is a good one.

    By the time of the last election, there were millions of people who were turned off Labour due to Iraq, id cards, surveillance state, illiberalism generally – not to mention the unthinking statism and gigantism which, tonally at least, set liberal-minded social democrats’ teeth on edge. These people proved impervious to appeals to vote for us to stop the Tories, and thought they could vote Lib Dem and also stop them. How wrong they were! But we shouldn’t just think they will drift back. They opted to vote for the Lib Dems because they presented a better offer.

    Our job now – remove any reason for a centrist Lib Dem or a liberally-inclined social democrat to do anything other than vote Labour. That could get us another, say, 5% in the polls – if one quarter of Lib Dem voters come to us, and maybe a sliver of our right-wing support defects in protest (tho it’s hard to think that more than a few die-hard Blunkettites voted for us on ID cards – and given that the two parties pledged to scrap them are now in government, we should consider whether an appeal to the old-right will bring us back to government)

    Of course we have to attack the Tories, but while the Tories are our mortal enemy, the Lib Dems were (at least til they went into govt with the Tories) trying to replace us as the main non-Tory party in Britain (there will ALWAYS be a Tory party).

    Now they’ve gone into govt with the Tories, that plan has had to be shelved (to say the least!)

    So, Lib Dem voters should be our prime target – for a start, anyone who goes to the polls and actually votes Lib Dem is pretty committed to voting. After a few years of Clegg tarring his party with the Tory brush, they will be open to an intelligent offer from us. But it must be based on acknowledging why they didn’t vote for us last time.

  3. Jeevan Rai

    RT @leftfootfwd: Lib Dem schadenfreude is a distraction from the real job of fighting the Tories http://bit.ly/9uanXg

  4. James Graham

    Is the sensible wing of the Labour Party finally starting to calm down? http://bit.ly/aHRrS9 http://bit.ly/b0fOh6 I hope so.

  5. Anon E Mouse

    D Mills – I agree with the majority of your post but what no one seems to want to consider, either on the left or right, that the coalition might just work.

    On the agreement the government has it is a fact that the public, as you rightly imply do not want ID Cards – I base that on the fact both the Tories and Lib Dems made clear their desire to get rid of them – the two parties command a majority together – and so they will.

    All Cleg has to do is weather the storm on his ratings for three years and get the credit when the pain is over and the goodies get handed out next election. And this time the false promises from Mandelson spending other peoples money – ours, will not be available to Labour.

    Remember as well that for the first time in decades the Liberals will be able to say not only have they been in government, taken the hard decisions blah blah and it will be true and if the economy and jobs situation has turned in the countries favour they can share the credit with the electorate.

    Oppositions don’t win elections – governments lose them and although I wouldn’t have believed there would be a hung Parliament when one remembers Clegg and Cameron on the covers of the newspapers with Joanna Lumley after the Lib Dem’s had masterminded the Gurkha’s vote the coalition now looks obvious.

    People in Britain have their hearts with the centre left but their heads to the right and when things get tough financially they tend to vote Tory. And things historically have always been tough after Labour governments wreck the economy and as usual blame anyone but themselves.

    The best thing Labour can do is attack both the Tories and Lib Dem’s and wait for them to screw up. Which they will. It’s just events.

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