The Influence Of Liberalism

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Liberalism is a political philosophy initiated on ideas of liberty and equality. Liberals adopt a wide range of views, depending on their own personal understanding of these values, but all generally support ideas to do with freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free markets, civil rights, democratic societies, secular governments, gender equality and international cooperation (Wolin, 2004). Support for these ideas has always been varied throughout British history, from the revival of liberalism in politics by the New Liberals, through the time of neoliberalism during Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister and to the present day where the main support for these principles comes from the Liberal Democrat political…show more content…
These ideas include economic liberalisation policies, like privatisation, the sale of a state-owned enterprise to private investors, austerity, spending cuts and tax increases, deregulation, reducing state regulations, free trade and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society (Springer et. al, 2016). In the UK, this became prominent during the 1980s throughout Margaret Thatcher’s time in office, also more commonly referred to as ‘Thatcherism’. Mrs Thatcher led the Conservative party in Britain from 1975-1990 and was elected as Prime Minister in 1979, where she stayed until John Major took over in 1990 after she was persuaded to resign as party leader by her fellow party members. Thatcherism represented a methodical, decisive rejection and reversal of the post-war consensus, where the major political parties largely agreed on the central themes of the welfare state, nationalised industry and close regulation of the British economy so is therefore often compared to classical liberalism of the nineteenth century. Economic policy at this time was influenced by monetarist thinking and so together with her Chancellor of the Exchequer, Geoffrey Howe, Thatcher lowered…show more content…
These days, liberalism in the UK is mainly associated with the Liberal Democrat political party who were formed in 1988 as a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, a splinter group from the Labour party. Former Liberal Democrat leader (1999-2006) Charles Kennedy’s opposition to the Iraq war in 2003 and current Lib Dem leader Vince Cable’s backing of wealth taxes can be seen as a clear continuation of the Liberal party’s radical core. However, it hasn’t been easy for the Liberal Democrats to gain support throughout the 21st century. They are a relatively small party, compared to the Conservatives and Labour, and are often seen as being the ‘middle men’ between the right and the left. Under the leadership of Charles Kennedy, his party were beginning to gain popularity again and increased their percentage share of the votes to 18.3% in the 2001 general election and up to 22% in the 2005 general election. Nick Clegg gained the party a 23% share of the vote in the 2010 general election which led to them forming a coalition government with the David Cameron’s Conservatives. However, the coalition government did not prove to be a success for
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