Telling the Liberal story

Fighting on local issues has been a Lib Dem strength but it doesn’t build a brand, says Jo Swinson

On Saturday, millions of us were glued to our TV screens to see England take on the Springboks in the rugby World Cup final. Between appointments in my constituency, I was one such spectator. The reason is that for me, rugby (or football for that matter), is as politics is to a great many people across the country. I’ll pay attention once every four years, when events get particularly exciting, but as long as things are ‘business as usual’, it won’t really enter into my day-to-day consciousness.

Like a rugby club trying to win my support for its domestic matches week-in, week-out, the Lib Dems need to answer the question of how we, as a party, make a connection with more people, more of the time. We need to achieve this so that when election time comes round, people already have a feeling for where it is we are coming from and an appreciation of why we are a vital force in British politics.

For me, the answer is not in how we make our policies. We have long recognised and taken advantage of the freedom we enjoy as a party to form original, radical policies. Aviation tax, as appeared in the Comprehensive Spending Review, is just the latest Lib Dem policy to be grasped by the light fingers of Labour and the Conservatives.

The search goes on, however, for a policy that captures the zeitgeist as effectively as the penny on income tax for education or opposition to the Iraq war. Contributing decisively to this debate will be a necessity for our new leader.

The heart of the matter is how we establish in people an emotional connection with the party and our policies. It is hugely frustrating to see voters associating David Cameron with the environment when the Lib Dem stable of green policies puts his to shame.

On civil liberties, we have a great challenge to meet and a unique role to play in defending the hard fought freedoms that many people will not miss until they’re gone. There is clearly a need to look at how we can get our message across better, but not simply on a policy-by-policy basis.

Labour and the Conservatives are now so close they can trade tax policies. Outside this cosy consensus, there is a Lib Dem story that needs to be told, that will appeal to people who can’t find a distinctive or genuinely radical policy between the two main parties. Our story is about getting people to understand the relevance of liberalism to their everyday lives and projecting a distinctive, appealing alternative to the other parties.

In strategic electoral terms, our approach has too often been of fighting each seat in isolation, solely or largely on local issues. Localised messages are undoubtedly effective and have led to some spectacular individual victories, but this approach lacks a broader, more strategic view.

Without greater recognition of the need to build liberal democracy as a movement, without charting a longer-term course to where we want to arrive, without the investment in the party’s membership development needed to achieve this, we will retain the seat-by-seat approach that will take us so far and no further.

As the country settled down to watch England take on South Africa on Saturday, another contest, and these crucial issues, was uppermost in the minds of a few.