The Liberal Party

The experience of coalition government

In the period of New Labour government, especially under the leadership of Charles Kennedy, they were essentially a centre-left party rather than aiming to be equidistant between the two larger parties. They were opposed to the Iraq War, identity cards and student tuition fees, and in favour of a 50 per cent income tax rate on those earning more than £100,000. Kennedy exemplified the priorities of the Social Liberals: those who were influenced by the tradition of generous welfare provision, which could be traced back to the wartime Beveridge Report.

Nick Clegg, one of the authors of the Orange Book, which supported free market solutions to problems, and emphasised the party's traditional commitment to the freedom of the individual, became party leader in 2007. His approach was to position the party so that it could conceivably work with either one of the two larger parties in coalition. In May 2010 after the general election the Lib Dems formed a coalition with the Conservatives the first time since 1945.

Clegg argued that the Liberal Democrats could be a moderating force on the policies of their coalition partner. Clegg was persuaded that because of the gravity of the financial crisis the party needed to demonstrate its credentials as a responsible party of government. But this meant going along with the programme of cuts and the policies of austerity.

The speed with which they dropped their signature pledge to scrap tuition fees to support the tripling of fees in 2012 made them look opportunistic and devoid of principle. They failed to use the substantial power they wielded by dint of the fact Cameron relied on their votes in parliament in order to extract significant concessions on toxic policies such as the bedroom tax and the hostile environment. Instead, as part of the unlikely “quad” alliance alongside Cameron and George Osborne, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander exuded an air of chummy coexistence with the architects of austerity, rather than leaders of a party fundamentally at odds with the regressive Conservative agenda, pushing for change at every opportunity.

The ensuing disillusionment of party activists contributed to the Liberal Democrats' heavy losses in the 2015 general election, which saw them reduced to a rump of eight seats.

What do the Liberal Democrats stand for?

Clegg hoped that the party would be forgiven if they could point to significan achievements. He secured a referendum on electoral reform in May 2011, but this back fired because the rejection of the Alternative Vote option, for which the Liberal Democrats campaigned buried the cause for a generation. The party has supported the Single Transferable Vote, but the leadership felt that the Alternative Vote was the maximum they could hope to achieve in the circumstances — a sign of their limited bargaining power within the coalition partnership

What do the Liberal Democrats stand for?

It is not easy to decide where exactly to place them on the political spectrum. A policy statement on their website says that they aim to keep Britain 'open, tolerant and united' — but this does not distinguish them much from other mainstream UK parties.

Constitutional Reform The Liberal Democrats support institutional reform in the United Kingdom, including the decentralisation of state power, reform of Parliament, and electoral reform.

• Economic policy Liberal Democrat policy has generally been favourable to social welfare spending. During the 2000s, the party made pledges for major investment into health, education, and public services. In 1995, the party announced a plan to put £2 billion into education, including nursery places for under fives, while its 2005 manifesto included a commitment to use £1.5 billion to decrease class sizes in schools But this was seen as at odds with thier support for austerity and in 2015 general election the Liberal Democrats continued their commitment to eliminating the budget deficit, the most important policy underpinning their coalition with the Conservatives. However, it must be done in a way that was fair to the poor. 'austerity lite'

In government they introduced a policy, to which the Conservatives signed up, of progressively raising the basic income-tax threshold so that more low-income people were relieved of paying tax. They promised to 'borrow less than Labour, cut less than the Tories'. They stressed their environmental credentials more than their rivals, with a commitment to renewable energy and the expansion of the Green Investment Bank they had helped to establish, to attract funding for projects such as offshore wind farms.

· Welfare policy In coalition the Liberal Democrats shared the Conservative objective of controlling spending on benefits, while uprating pensions and extending free childcare to enable parents to return to work. They differentiated themselves by pledging to curb benefits paid to better-off pensioners, in order to afford more support for the low-paid. On the NHS, just like the Conservatives and Labour, they pledged increased funding from 2015.

· Law and order The Liberal Democrats aim to see that civil liberties are not eroded as a consequence of giving the authorities more powers to fight crime. In coalition they opposed the Conservatives' plans for the so-called 'Snoopers' Charter', the Communications Data Bill, the purpose of which was to allow the monitoring of Internet use. In their emphasis on the rehabilitation of prisoners, and the use of community service as an alternative to short-term prison sentences, they are close to the position taken by moderate Conservatives and Labour. In March 2016, the Liberal Democrats became the first major political party in the UK to support the legalisation of cannabis. The party supports cannabis sale and possession to be legal for all UK adults aged 18-years-old and over, the set up of specialist licensed stores to sell cannabis, the legalisation of home cultivation of cannabis for personal use, small scale cannabis clubs to be licensed, and a new regulator to oversee the market.

· Foreign policy The Liberal Democrats supported the war in Afghanistan in 2001. The party was the only of Britain's three major parties to oppose the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The party's leadership stressed that this was not because the party was intrinsically anti-war, but because the invasion did not have support from the United Nations In the wake of the invasion, the party's 2005 manifesto included a pledge that the UK would never again support a military occupation deemed illegal under international law.

The Liberal Democrats have consistently been the most enthusiastic of all the UK parties for British membership of the EU. Perhaps the party's most distinctive policy position in opposition was its reluctance to accept the result of the Brexit referendum. This contrasted with the views of both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn who.