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So today I resigned my membership of the @LibDems. I’ve supported the party since I was 15, and joined when I was 19.
As you’ll all have seen, I have tried my best to support the party’s aims in that time, writing opinion pieces championing their cause, leafleting, and serving on the youth wing’s executive.
But, after the result in the December 2019 general election, and the events that have followed, I no longer feel able to pay my subs.
I had intended to make the decision after the leadership election this year, and would have left had Ed Davey won, but now the party has taken the ridiculous decision to postpone the ballot for over a year, it’s given me the push I needed.
I’ve always believed, and still do, that the Lib Dems have the best policies and the best programme for this country, but having the best ideas is only half of the battle in politics.
Last year, the party found itself top of the opinion polls, second in a national election and the home of several high-profile and exceptionally talented defectors, but still went on to lose seats in the general election.
The party’s inability to make any progress at all when it was arguably in its best ever position for breakthrough is close to unforgivable.
Like I said, ideas are only half the battle, and I can no longer financially contribute to a party with a dominant culture of strategic incompetence.
Due to lack of alternatives, the party is still the best vehicle for liberal change in this country, but frankly it is no longer a good one.
There are amazing individuals still in the party, and I’m sure for the foreseeable future I will still vote Liberal Democrat, but until the party becomes capable of actually achieving its goals, I won’t return.
