So here I am 3 and a half months since I took up Lib-Dem Membership. Apart from joining my local constituency party and a number of Lib-Dem online forums, I have not been as active a Liberal as I would like to be. There have been changes at home, at work and the madness which accompanies the run-up to Christmas have conspired to limit my activities to a few choice postings on Facebook & Twitter, allied to voting on the POWER 2010 website.
Do I regret parting company with Labour? Not a bit. Recent events, like the Copenhagen debacle, The Chilcot hearings and the government's spinless reaction to the Kraft takeover of Cadburys have left me convinced that I was right to get out when I did. If anything I should have left at an earlier date. At the same time the Tories flip-flopping over Marriage tax allowances, Chris Grayling's confusion over crime figures and the continuous silence over the tax status of Donor in Chief Lord Ashcroft have left me in no doubt that Tory claims to be the party of change are totally false.
In the main I have been mightily impressed by the performance of Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and the rest of the Lib Dem team over the same period. They are the only party to offer practical solutions to the problems facing this country. While this performance has not been reflected in the polls, I believe it is only a matter of time before the electorate wise up to the electoral bribes being offered by Brown & Cameron. What is required is for like minded people to work on the ground and in cyberspace to nudge the voters to backing the only progressive party left in Westminster.
The polls might point to Cameron evicting Brown from No. 10 but I believe the only way we can restore trust in our politicians is for the voters to deny a clear majority to both Labour and the Tories. Neither party is prepared to deliver the reforms this county needs, if they have a large majority,with which to swat their opponents aside. A minority administration would have to adopt a genuine cross-party approach to reform and be prepared to give power back to the people who elected them in the first place.
