Liberal Democrats From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the British political party. For similarly named parties in other countries, see Liberal Democratic Party. For the system of government, see Liberal democracy. Liberal Democrats Leader Nick Clegg MP Deputy Leader Simon Hughes MP President Tim Farron[1] MP Founded 2 March 1988 Merger of Liberal Party and SDP Preceded by SDP-Liberal Alliance 8-10 Great George Street, Headquarters London, SW1P 3AE [2] Youth wing Liberal Youth Membership (2010) 65,038[3] Liberalism Social liberalism Cultural liberalism Economic liberalism[4] Internal ideological trends: Ideology • Green politics • Green Liberalism • Civil libertarianism • Internationalism[5] • Social democracy • Community politics[6] Radical centre to Centre- Political position left[7][8][9] International Liberal International affiliation European Liberal Democrat European affiliation and Reform Party European Alliance of Liberals and Parliament Group Democrats for Europe [10] Official colours Yellow 57 / 650 House of Commons [11] 79 / 738 House of Lords [12][13] European 12 / 72 [14] Parliament London Assembly 3 / 25 Scottish Parliament 5 / 129 5 / 60 Welsh Assembly [15][16] 3,078 / 21,871 Local government [17] Website libdems.org.uk Politics of the United Kingdom Political parties Elections The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform,[18] progressive taxation,[19] wealth taxation,[20] human rights laws,[21] cultural liberalism,[22] banking reform[23] and civil liberties (the party president's book of office is John Stuart Mill's 1859 On Liberty). The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party. The two parties had formed the electoral SDP–Liberal Alliance for seven years before then, since the SDP's formation. The Liberals had been in existence for 129 years and in power under leaders such as Gladstone, Asquith and Lloyd George. Nick Clegg was elected leader in 2007. At the 2010 general election, Liberal Democrats won 23%[24] of the votes resulting in 8.77% of the parliamentary seats, that being 57 of the 650, making them the third-largest party in the House of Commons, behind the Conservatives with 307 seats and Labour with 258. No party had an overall majority; the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government, with Clegg becoming Deputy Prime Minister and other Liberal Democrats taking up government positions.[25] Contents [hide] 1 Ideology o 1.1 Policies 2 History o 2.1 Founding o 2.2 Post-1988 history . 2.2.1 Ashdown (1988–99) . 2.2.2 Kennedy (1999–2006) . 2.2.3 Campbell (2006–2007) . 2.2.4 Clegg (2007–present) o 2.3 In coalition government (2010–present) . 2.3.1 Liberal Democrat Government Ministers . 2.3.1.1 Members of the Cabinet . 2.3.1.2 Other Ministers 3 Backbench committees 4 Electoral results o 4.1 European elections o 4.2 Scottish Parliament elections o 4.3 Welsh Assembly elections 5 Structure o 5.1 Membership figures 6 Leaders o 6.1 Deputy Leaders o 6.2 Party Presidents o 6.3 Leaders in the European Parliament 7 See also 8 References 9 External links o 9.1 State parties o 9.2 Regional parties o 9.3 Party sub-organisations o 9.4 Historical information o 9.5 Miscellaneous [edit] Ideology The opening line to the preamble of the Liberal Democrats constitution is "The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity."[26] Most commentators describe the party as either centrist or centre-left[27][28]. In 2011 party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said "But we are not on the left and we are not on the right. We have our own label: Liberal."[29] There are two main strands of distinct ideology within the party, social liberals and the economic liberals, more commonly known as Orange Bookers. The social liberals are seen as being the more traditionally centre-left end of the party with Orange Bookers being more towards the centre. The principal difference between the two is that the Orange Bookers tend to support greater choice and competition and as such aiming to increase social mobility through increasing economic freedom and opportunity for those with more disadvantaged backgrounds. Whereas the social liberals are more commonly associated with directly aiming to increase equality of outcome through state means. Correspondingly, Orange Bookers tend to favour cutting taxes for the poorest in order to increase opportunity contrasting with social liberals who would rather see higher spending on the disadvantaged to reduce income inequality.[30] Being an Orange Booker and a social liberal within the party are not mutually exclusives. David Laws, one of the most economically liberal MPs in the party said in Parliament "I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his kind comments about Gladstonian Liberalism. I hope that this is not only Gladstonian Liberalism, but liberalism tinged with the social liberalism about which my party is so passionate."[31] Indeed the Orange Book, to which the term refers, discusses the need for a more complete liberalism for the party, more fully supporting the liberalism as a whole including social liberalism. The social liberalism in the party stems from the start of the 20th Century when the Liberal party were bringing about many reforms, known as Liberal reforms which are often viewed as the creation of the modern public welfare system in the UK. A major part of creating the liberal welfare reforms was done by David Lloyd George, who later went on to become Prime Minister. They may also often look to William Beveridge who is credited with drafting further advancements of the welfare state and especially the National Health Service (NHS) and also social liberal economist John Maynard Keynes. In February 2009, many social liberals founded an internal party pressure group, the Social Liberal Forum to pursue social liberal policies within the party. In a poll of Liberal Democrat members on 30 April 2011 64% classed themselves as social liberal with 35% counting themselves as economic liberals. Others high on the list were progressive with 65%, social democrat 34%, 45% centre left, 60% internationalist, 44% radical, 41% green.[32] In December 2011, in a speech to the Demos think tank and the Open Society Foundation Clegg put forward his definition of the three main political traditions in Britain, saying: "Socialists support the idea of the good society, typically judged in terms of equality of income. In order to bring about this end they use the state quite aggressively in terms of labour market regulation, centralised public services and through tax and benefits. Conservatives support the idea of a big society, with responsibility shared throughout society - people are responsible both for themselves and each other. The emphasis is naturally on non-state institutions such as marriage, the family, churches and voluntary organisations. The liberal ideal is of the open society, where power is vested in people, not in the state or other institutions. This means that individuals need the capabilities and opportunities to chart their own course through life, and to hold institutions to account. So while the good society needs a strong state, and the big society needs strong social institutions, the open society needs strong citizens."[33] [edit] Policies The party was the first major party in the United Kingdom to formally endorse same-sex marriage.[34] List of policies followed by their status in the current Liberal Democrat - Conservative coalition government. Economy: Tax-free earning threshold to rise to £10,000, paid for by a "mansion tax" of 1% on properties worth over £2m applicable to value of property over that figure. — Tax- free earning threshold to rise to £10,000, to be achieved by 2015. Annual savings totalling £15bn, including scrapping ID cards and not renewing the Trident nuclear deterrent. — ID cards scrapped, Trident under review for cost effectiveness and decision on its replacement pushed back until after next general election. Minimum wage set at same level for all workers aged over 16 - except apprentices. Replace council tax with local income tax (England only). Schools: Pupil premium of £2.5bn given to head teachers, aimed at disadvantaged children, which could allow average primary school to cut class size to 20 pupils. — £488 per child on free school meals, is given to schools on top of their main funding. Total pupil premium funding for 2011-12 is £625m and is due to rise to £2.5bn a year by 2014-15.[35] Introduce shared parental leave from work, extended to 18 months over time, and right for fathers to attend ante-natal appointments. Right for grandparents to request flexible working. — From April 2011 fathers will be able to take any unused maternity leave themselves if their partners go back to work early. Plans also announced to consult on further reforms to the current system of parental leave.[36] Workplace scheme for 800,000 pupils to give them the opportunity to gain skills and experience. — £1bn of new funding will provide opportunities including job subsidies, apprenticeships and work experience placements for 500,000 unemployed people. The government will subsidise 160,000 work places by providing £2,275 to any private sector business willing to hire an unemployed person aged 18 to 24 years old.[37] Replace national curriculum with "minimum curriculum entitlement" in state-funded schools and scale back tests at age 11. More freedom for school management. Health: Cut size of the Department of Health by half, abolishing or cutting budgets of quangos, scrapping Strategic Health Authorities and seeking to limit pay of top NHS managers to below level of prime minister.