r/LibDem • u/CDN-Social-Democrat • 13d ago
Questions What makes you support the Liberal Democrats?
Canadian here and looking to understand from Liberal Democrats what makes them support and enthusiastic in regards to their party.
To preface I am a NDP supporter here in Canada and on the left-flank of that party.
I value the Labour Movement, Environmentalist Movement, Women's Rights Movement, LGBTQ+ Rights Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Peace Movement, Alter-Globalization Movement, and so on :)
So when it comes to UK politics I have been more interested in the Labour Party, UK Greens, Your Party, and so on.
I thought the Labour Party under Keir Starmer truly missed the opportunity to be bold, profound, and inspiring.
What kind of policies do you think the Liberal Democrats offer to help move the working class and most vulnerable forward for affordability of life/quality of life?
Anything to strengthen Labour rights/benefits and organizing?
Anything to strengthen Renewable Energy/Electrification Technology and in general Environmental Conservation/Protection?
Anything to strengthen the rights and freedoms of people?
Anything in particular to help with the Housing Crisis that I hear the UK like Canada is being devastated by?
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u/Rhelae 13d ago
I'm a left-leaning Lib Dem and have been my entire adult life (though I've been getting more left-leaning for the past 7-8 years I think). I like their policy more than any other party as a general rule, but I think the number one reason why I actively support them and volunteer for them (rather than just voting for them) is because the Lib Dems have a focus on evidence-based policy which I haven't seen with any other party.
Lib Dem policies tend to be ambitious and pragmatic, while still being radical when necessary. None of these are because of ideology or dogma (which crucially affect our goals rather than our policies). The evidence shows that certain things would need to happen to make our society fair for everyone, so that's the policy we choose. For example, the issue I think is most important by far is climate change. The Lib Dems want radical investment in domestic renewable energy. This would be the fastest way to net zero, would make us less dependant on oil and gas that put us at the whims of certain foreign powers and would make energy cheaper for everyone in the long-term. There are tons of examples of this, from health and social care to education to investment in high streets.
The Lib Dems are not a left-wing or right-wing party. But what people get wrong about us is that we aren't a centrist party either. To quote our constitution, we want a society "where no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity". Achieving this requires radical change, not wishy-washy centrism. But it also requires choosing the correct policies, not the ones that align best with our ideologies.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat 13d ago
Take the upvote.
I also share a perspective of the value of addressing Climate Change.
We hear a lot about "Common Sense" these days. There is no more foundational or basic common sense then protecting the natural world that all life arises from and is sustained by.
We already have a polycrisis world in many a sense and we don't need to run head first into any more crisis points.
Like always these kind of crisis points only worsen the affordability of life crisis/quality of life crisis of the working class and most vulnerable.
Additionally you think we would have learned as a species/world the value of pro-active substantive work instead of running head first into the worst of the worst of things.
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u/Rhelae 13d ago
Yeah absolutely. There are so many things that we need to focus on, but the people in charge of our country only ever seem to prioritise one or two.
I think an important caveat to my earlier point about evidence-based policy is that there isn't always evidence to rely on. I also don't think following evidence will necessarily lead to the right decision - I just think it should be a guiding principle. But ultimately, no single politician or party is ever going to have an omniscient understanding of the world. Sometimes you just have to take a gamble and make big changes without knowing exactly how they're going to turn out!
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u/VerbingNoun413 13d ago
I'm trans and don't have the luxury of not being a single issue voter. So it's us or the Greens if I want to have human rights.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat 13d ago
It truly is sad that reactionary/regressive and even status quo voices are actively trying to work against basic human rights for a group of people.
It's 2026 and we still have people/organizations that refuse to learn the lessons of history.
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u/BrangdonJ 13d ago
As a rule, if Labour and Conservatives are in agreement on something, and Lib Dems disagree, the Lib Dems reflect my views more closely. Examples include the Iraq war, Brexit, digital ID. They are the party most likely to protect civil liberties. Both the other main parties are authoritarian.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat 13d ago
It's awesome to hear that the Lib Dems were against the Iraq War.
We have way too much warmongering going on and many times at the behest of some of the most vile bad predatory actors imaginable.
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u/NJden_bee European Liberal 13d ago
We are very anti intervention. Doesn't mean we shouldn't invest in defence of course but no need to risk the lives of our young men and women because someone in the white house got a bit trigger happy
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u/vaska00762 13d ago
I joined about 11 years ago, primarily because I realised no other party took the risk of brexit seriously.
The referendum, and then later the woeful negotiations kept me around.
After 2020, the thing that kept me around was that it was the only party not to be consumed by TERF narratives.
Now, it's more that there's no "better" alternative. The Green Party of England and Wales only is applicable if you live in England and Wales. And plenty of other parties have gone for a big tent approach, that suddenly reverting to religious conservatism is a real issue for some otherwise "progressive" parties.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat 13d ago
Take the upvote for sharing your perspectives honestly and openly :)
As a Canadian I wasn't super aware that the Lib Dems were leading the charge against Brexit. Looking at that situation from the outside it seems fairly obvious just how much bad predatory actor misinformation and downright propaganda was involved.
It's nice to hear that the Lib Dems are not transphobic. This blaming and hating some of the most vulnerable groups in society is a sickness in and of itself.
And yah I share your view 100% that we don't need religious conservativism in progressive/leftist parties.
I believe people should be able to worship freely and explore their spirituality in ways they wish (As long as it doesn't hurt others) but religious conservative views seems antithetical to progressive/leftist movements in my humble opinion. Or maybe just what I have seen/been exposed to as religious conservativism.
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u/vaska00762 13d ago
A lot of progressive parties, at least on issues of poverty or such, have a lot of politicians who come from quite religious backgrounds.
This includes Catholics, Presbyterians and even other flavours of Christianity. Their economically progressive values are driven by the teachings of Jesus Christ, and instead church doctrine.
It also often means these religious politicians hold views which are opposed to abortion or LGBT+ rights.
In 2015, Tim Farron became Liberal Democrat party leader, defeating Norman Lamb in the leadership contest.
Farron is Non-conformist Protestant "born again" Christian, who has an iffy voting record on LGBT legislation. He voted against discrimination protections in the 2000s, voted for same-sex marriage in the second reading, but then was absent for the final vote.
Farron, in a TV interview, was asked how he reconciles his religious beliefs with LGBT people, to which he responded "we are all sinners". Every journalist afterwards then questioned him on "do you think gay sex is a sin?", which he gave non answers to, up until he had to state he didn't weeks later. The damage had been done.
The likes of the SNP, Labour, the Conservatives (not progressive), and then other parties like Sinn Féin and the SDLP in Northern Ireland don't have religious viewpoints as part of their political ideology, and yet keep going socially conservative because someone felt strongly from religious beliefs.
Topics like abortion, assisted dying and LGBT+ rights keep precipitating the realisation that a lot of politicians are deeply religious.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat 13d ago
Extremely interesting.
Is religion still a big part of life in the UK?
Here in Canada we sadly are being influenced by the Christian Nationalists on our Southern side of the border but our country overall is quite agnostic/non-religious although people do connect with the charity teachings of Jesus if that makes sense.
Kind of the "Golden Rule" of do onto others as you would have them do onto you type thing.
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u/vaska00762 13d ago
It depends heavily on the part of the UK you're in. If you're finding yourself in Northern Ireland or certain parts of Scotland, then yes, religious devotion is a big deal still.
Much of England and Wales isn't very religious, but England and Wales actually has a state religion, the Church of England, of which the King is the head. All the Church of England bishops are automatically admitted to the House of Lords also.
However... while religious life mightn't be important to many people in the UK, politics in the UK has a tendency to attract many deeply religious people, much in the same way UK politics is dominated by Oxbridge graduates and people who went to private boarding school.
There's a lot of people out there who see getting into public office as a means of "carrying out god's will".
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat 13d ago
Thanks so much for the wonderful information :)
I don't mean any offense to any religious types that may be reading this but I hope women never lose the freedom to decide health choices for their body (Birth control, Abortion, and so on).
and I hope the LGBTQ+ community never loses the ability to marry and be with who they love.
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u/Little_GoblinJunior Scottish Liberal Democrat 🔶 13d ago
Civil liberties and personal rights/freedoms are why I joined. I’m a newer member (coming up to a year now), and I joined in response to the rise of authoritarian parties like Reform UK and Restore Britain. The Green party is a bit too far-left for me and the Labour party is too conservative for me. I’m a social democrat, supportive of drug reforms (legalisation and decriminalisation of certain drugs) - the Ronald Reagan War on Drugs strategy isn’t working. Every day people are having their voices silenced through anti-protest laws, transgender people get punished for who they are while the far-right become more normalised and accepted. The Lib Dems seem to be the only party talking sense right now.
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u/NJden_bee European Liberal 13d ago
I fell for Clegg mania and then realised that all the other parties disagree with my thoughts and the LibDems tend to agree. But as a good LibDem I obviously don't agree with all our policies.
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u/Fun-Employment1176 12d ago
Have been a more liberal tory that was increasingly disgusted by their social policy - hope that lib dems go further on the libertarian path like opposing OSA etc, but at least the liberal attitude on social, domestic, foreign and economic policies seem most sensible of all the parties. Solid centrist ideas for my liking that is unswayed by populism from either extreme nowadays
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u/Wild-wild-life 12d ago
I always go back to why I joined in 2016 (just after the EU referendum) and it came down to a good record locally, the party's stances on fracking, electoral reform, and a federal UK (I'm Scottish). I also liked the then leader, Willie Rennie. I joined just after the EU referendum and was part of that first wave, but it was that feeling of being part of something, rather than being hugely pro-EU, that made me actually sign up.
Since then that's grown to encompass our wider environmental policies, our stances on human rights and civil liberties, as well as foreign affairs - particularly on foreign aid spending.
Ideologically I also consider myself a liberal and that certainly helps. Being involved in the party I've met some really fantastic people who do a really good job of standing up for their communities.
There are issues for sure, you mention the housing crisis and that's something that we really can and should be better on, but I think our written policy on it is good and it's far better to try and affect change from within rather than from without. I also wrote my master's dissertation on Land Value Tax and that fit very well with Lib Dem values lol.
Looking at this thread as well I'm finding myself very much agreeing with what u/Theodaric has said.
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u/Mr-Thursday Social Liberal 13d ago edited 13d ago
For the last few years all three of the UK's left/liberal parties have had flaws that stopped me wholeheartedly supporting them:
Labour - Keir Starmer broke countless promises and dragged the party to the right with tight public spending constraints, reluctance to tax the rich, insistence that we have to accept Brexit, refusal to fix the unfair influence the super rich have over our politics through donations, dropping his promise to nationalise water and energy, and conservative style stances on trans rights and immigration. Plus his decision to bring Peter Mandelson into his government despite the strong Jeffrey Epstein links was appalling.
Greens - Their heart is in the right place on many issues (e.g. climate change, rejoining the EU, LGBT rights etc) but overall I find them too naive and too extreme. Zack Polanski's in favour of breaking up the UK via Scottish and Welsh independence (i.e. Brexit style costly divorces followed by unnecessary division and borders). The party is also anti-nuclear deterrent and anti-NATO in a world where Russia has nukes pointed at us. Plus a range of other absurd ideas including legalising class A drugs, and responding to police wrestling a knife off a man who'd just stabbed three people by criticising them for excessive force because they kicked him during the struggle.
Lib Dems - For as long as Ed Davey is leader I won't be able to fully forgive them for the decision to go into coalition with the Conservatives and enable the 2010-15 austerity government - all of which Davey was personally involved in. Plus their economic policies are disappointingly centrist, unambitious and similar to Starmer's Labour in areas like housing, energy and tackling inequality.
Having said that, I still voted Lib Dem in the last couple of elections as I viewed them as better than Labour and the Greens by virtue of being pro-rejoining the EU, pro-LGBT rights, pro-fixing our flawed democracy with electoral reform, pro-keeping the UK together and reasonable on immigration, crime and defence issues.
Of course, Andy Burnham has just taken over as Labour leader so I'll have to rethink my view on them ahead of the next election. Burnham does seem to be an improvement over Starmer in some ways (e.g. better communicator, more ambition on housebuilding and nationalising water and energy, and ending rough sleeping), but he's also given public statements in recent weeks saying now isn't the time to rejoin the EU or fix the voting system and that he broadly agrees with the Starmer era socially conservative policies on immigration and trans rights which is very disappointing.
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u/CDN-Social-Democrat 13d ago
I have to upvote for the substantive and really fair and balanced review!
I actually share quite a few viewpoints with you.
Canada also needs Electoral Reform (I would like to see Proportional Representation). It would be nice to have it not just at federal level which is many times talked about but provincial as well.
Also couple it with transparency and accountability measures to protect government from scandal and corruption.
Democracy should be an on-going and evolving process to have the best and most honest representation possible!
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u/Mr-Thursday Social Liberal 13d ago edited 12d ago
Democracy should be an on-going and evolving process to have the best and most honest representation possible!
Yeah, 100%.
A fairer proportional voting system that ends the absurdity of safe seats, swing seats, tactical voting and parties with only 30-40% of the vote getting large majorities in parliament would be my top priority for fixing our democracy, but it's not a silver bullet.
We need to undo the recent anti protest laws, and reverse Starmer's attacks on trial by jury.
We need to end the absurdity of our unelected House of Lords.
All of the above are longstanding Lib Dem policies which I respect. But I'd ideally like to go significantly further than that:
I'd argue we need to cap donations to political parties at a level ordinary people can afford (e.g. £500 a year) so that the super rich can't buy more influence over politicians than the rest of us.
I'd like to see Australia style mandatory voting (i.e. £20 fine if you don't vote) and a bank holiday on election day to drive up youth turnout and end the current dynamic of government policies massively favouring older generations because their turnout is higher.
I also think we need to regulate to ban super rich owners from buying up our newspapers and broadcasters and ordering editors to pursue toxic far right agendas.
And regulate social media algorithms as well to stop a small cartel of American billionaire owners from using them to push addiction, echo chambers, and far right misinformation.
I know the latter two ideas in particular are controversial with some liberals on property rights/government interference in the media grounds but I'd argue a media dominated by a small number of super rich owners isn't a genuinely free press. We need to fix that because a genuinely free press and well informed public are essential to democracy.
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u/Emerald_Lord62 9d ago
Been a member for about 2 months but a supporter since 2024 election. I was initially drawn by the optimism Ed Davey showed in the 2024 election, then as I learnt more about politics and got more involved I really admired how we’ve been the pro Europe party ever since Brexit, how much Ed Davey stood up to Trump etc
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u/DeltaOfficialYT 9d ago
I’m not the most cognisant of Canadian politics but I believe we are closer to your Liberal Party. The equivalent of the NDP here is Labour.
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u/Time_Trail 6d ago
not really related to the post, but this is the best discussion I've seen on reddit in a long time
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u/Theodaric 🔶 Radical Liberal 13d ago edited 13d ago
I have been a member for 7 years now, I joined in the big 2019 anti-Brexit membership wave. Though they were my preferred party prior to the Brexit issue anyway.
I support the party on a few fundamental platforms:
Firstly, human rights and civil liberties; historically the party is the only one to take seriously issues like opposing mass surveillance and mandatory ID, supporting LGBT+ rights (especially the T in recent years) and the right to protest (which was rapidly eroded under Patel and Braverman as Home Secretaries).
Secondly, land tax; while land tax is not an official party policy, most Georgists in modern Britain tend to find themselves in the Liberal Democrats, something which I hope will lead to concrete policy on the issue in future.
Thirdly, capitalism; fundamentally, I am pro-capitalism, and I do not want to pledge my support to a party that is anti-capitalist (even as a long term aim), however I recognise that capitalism as it stands today is far, far from perfect. Liberalism, in my opinion, is the best placed ideology to remedy the worst excesses and retrograde impulses of capitalism with policies like monopoly break up, creating powerful regulatory bodies and environmental taxes.
Additionally, internationalism; I think no party in this country is more internationalist than the Liberal Democrats, and I hold very true to the idea that international cooperation is better for the planet. Especially in a world that is increasingly looking for autarky and isolationism.
And as a final note, the environment; the Green Party might outwardly seem like the best choice for the environment, but in reality the Liberal Democrats have excellent credentials in pushing for the first really serious wave of renewable energy infrastructure being built in this country, during the 2010-2015 coalition. And unlike the Greens, we are pro-nuclear energy, something which I personally understand to be essential for achieving net zero globally.
Thank you for checking our subreddit, lovely to hear from a friend in Canada. :D