Duncan Borrowman comments: Liberal Democrats and Conservatives form coalition government (Bexley Borough Liberal Democrats)

Bexley Borough Liberal Democrats <info@bexleylibdems.org.uk>

Duncan Borrowman comments: Liberal Democrats and Conservatives form coalition government

May 12, 2010 3:03 AM

Writing after the meeting of the LIberal Democrat Parliamentary Party and Federal Executive (the main national executive committee of the Liberal Democrats) tonight, Duncan Borrowman, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Old Bexley & Sidcup wrote:

Tonight, as a member of the Liberal Democrat Federal Executive, I took part in the joint meeting of the Federal Executive and Parliamentary Party.

I attended with a heavy heart, I have fought the Conservatives for decades, I entered thinking there was a 90% chance that I would vote against the deal on the table. I was wrong. Of all the Liberal Democrat MPs, all the Liberal Democrat Peers (who don't technically have a vote) and all the Federal Executive, in three separate votes after nearly 3 hours of discussion, only the hand of one Federal Executive member went up against what we had before us. No member of the Parliamentary Party voted against. Out of over 100 people voting, only one voted against.

So why did I vote for the package?

Despite what I have now seen on the rolling news, the package, which I had in my hand to read in full, was packed with Liberal Democrat policies. I could not turn down what the package had to offer.

I read the package, and in the detail I could not put my hand on my heart and oppose it. Indeed, I am delighted that we will get a government that will introduce a wide range of Liberal Democrat policies on Civil Liberties, the Economy, the Environment and Political Reform.

But on the flip side, what were the alternatives? Labour bottled it, they did not want a coalition, that was clear. As much as I would have liked to explore it, a Labour or Rainbow coalition, the so called "progressive coalition" was kicked into the long grass by the Labour Party.

The other option was a Conservative minority government, lasting months, with us being rightly lambasted for not exhibiting the grown up politics we have preached. We would rightly have been laughed out of town. Instead we get stable government for a fixed term of 5 years.

I voted with my head, and while my heart does not make me a natural friend of the Tories, I also voted with my heart for a policy document that is strongly Liberal. All along the process that I have spent three evenings this week in meetings with colleagues has been about getting Liberal Democrat policies in action. It has been about not sitting on the fence and shouting from the outside, but about making a positive contribution from the inside.

I will sleep easy tonight that I have played my part in history and done the right thing.