Liberal Forum

Citizen Stuart

Not directly relevant to your party, I admit, but still of interest, I hope...

PRESS RELEASE

COUNCILLOR GAVIN WEBB OF STOKE ON TRENT CITY COUNCIL RESIGNS FROM THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS AND JOINS THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY (LPUK)

Gavin Webb, who was selected as the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Burton in 2008 and elected as a Lib Dem councillor on Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2007, has today announced that he has resigned from the Liberal Democrats.

He says: "I have made a good many friends in my fourteen years of activism in the Liberal Democrats and I hope that those friendships will continue, but regretfully I have decided to resign from the Liberal Democrats.

"The party, like the Conservative and Labour parties, has become a party of the establishment. It has unfortunately firmly wedded itself to the belief that there are primarily government solutions to the problems facing our country, and in the process, they are adopting policies that undermine our rights and freedoms as individuals.

"As far as I can see, most political parties in the UK appear to trust individuals when it comes to voting for councillors, MPs and MEPs, but once comfortably in power they are reluctant to trust individuals when it comes to them making choices about their own lives.

"There is however one political party - the Libertarian Party - that believes in giving responsibility back to individuals over their own lives and their own finances; and it is this party that I have now decided to join.

"We are on the road of authoritarianism, where government is our ruler rather than us being the ruler of our government. It is time for each and every single one of us to make a stand against government and those who feed off it, and demand the reduction of its size and scope.

"From what I've seen from many Lib Dem parliamentarians and councillors I don't believe the Liberal Democrat Party has the inclination to argue for smaller government in defence of our individual rights.

"Though there are some good classical liberal and libertarian types in the party, with whom I hope to continue to have a good relationship, their voices are crowded out by people who believe it perfectly okay to dictate to people how they should live their lives. I don't wish any longer to be a part of that.

"As an active member of the Libertarian Party, I will campaign to inform people that there are more voluntary, rather than coercive ways in which to influence positive outcomes for themselves, their families and the wider community. I hope to impress upon people that though there may be a need for government of some sort, it doesn't have to be government of the size and expense we see today.

Libertarian Party Leader Ian Parker- Joseph said

It has been a pleasure over the past months to speak with Gavin on numerous occasions, and following a meeting with him last month can attest to his personal commitment to the libertarian values on which he was elected, a man of honour, integrity and a passion for doing the right thing for his constituents.

I am therefore very pleased on behalf of The Libertarian Party to welcome Gavin Webb into the only party that wholly and uniquely stands for libertarian ideals in the UK.

I know that there is a great sadness from Gavin that the Liberal Democrat leadership were unable to rise to the challenge of veering away from the belief that the State has the answers to all our ills. It is a sadness shared by many.

In that light I hope that there are many more who now see the time as right to make the same changes that Gavin Webb has undertaken, not just from the Lib Dems but also those in the Conservative Libertarian wing who are unsuccessfully looking for reforms that will never come, and instead to look to a party that believes in libertarianism as a way of life, rather than one which merely gives lip service to it.

The Libertarian Party is here to stay, and new members such as Gavin Webb can only enhance the message that his constituents so clearly wanted to hear, and that Gavin Webb is living on their behalf.

Libertarian Party Chairman Andrew Withers said-

"Whilst we have a number of Parish and Town Councillors, Gavin is the first City Councillor that has crossed the floor to a truly Radical Party, one that wants to change the relationship between State and the Individual to the point where the State is subordinate to the will of the people, not the people subordinate to the will of the State.

Furthermore, the Libertarian Party argues that State should be small and accountable.

"We welcome Gavin, and hope that his decision will galvanise other Libertarians in other parties to join with us on the long march back to individual Liberty."

ENDS

Gavin Webb Can Be Contacted On 07949 026660

Libertarian Party (LPUK) 0845 299 7650

Email Contact@lpuk.org

ENDS

I have long maintained that the doors of LPUK would remain firmly open to anyone who wanted to stop, take a step back and realise that trying to reform the existing Big Parties in the ways of Libertarianism was like banging ones head on a brick wall.

This is a door that Gavin has chosen to walk through, and I sincerely hope that with his brave first move, it will galvanise others who have been sitting on the fence watching, waiting to see who would be the first.

We have well formed policies, we put the people before vested interests, we put people before the wishes of the establishment and the EU, and the consistency of our policies means that we will not be issuing new policy documents every week as we see from the Conservatives and LibDems.

We are not fooled by the PR work of Cameron, the flip flopping of Clegg nor the increasingly desperate pronouncements from Downing St. We are clear and concise in what needs to be done for the UK, for its peoples to be free from government interference, to be free of daily suspicions, to be free from surveillance, to be free from privateers acting under legislative protection to levy and fine for every infringement of draconian rules, but to be able to live their lives as each sees fit to do so.

Gavin Webb has taken the first steps, we will be looking to you, your friends, family and neighbours to follow him in taking the next steps and making the Libertarian party a real political force in the UK.

Posted by IanPJ

Leftwing and Liberal · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 54 Location: Torbay

Your welcome to him ! The man is the kind of loony headbanger that most Lib Dems, rather than the over-represented classical / libertarian element online, are happy to be rid of.

As someone who basically does not agree with the basic philosophy of the party, as printed on party cards and supports virtually NO current policy positions he should never have been in the party in the first place.

I think his forthright views are those that might be supported by 0.1% of the population - the figure LPUK polled in the recent Norwich by-election !!
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For a contrarian, liberal left take on politics :
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Citizen Stuart · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:01 pm Post subject:

Gavin was so out of step with the "Lib" Dems that they made him a PPC!

The big problem with the "Liberal" Democrats - and, frankly, the "Liberal" Party too - is that they've long since stopped being liberals and signed up for the prevailing establishment tax/spend/borrow/ban/control philosophy which has brought the country to the state we're in today.

Real liberals belong in the Libertarian Party.

Citizen Stuart · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:06 pm Post subject:

Speaking of election results, condolences on the Castle Ward by-election:

Gareth Matthews-Henry (Lib) 31

Leftwing and Liberal · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 54 Location: Torbay

No, neither the Lib Dems or the Liberal party have stopped being liberal. Both are social liberal and not libertarian parties. My point stands. Gavin was in virtually no agreement with the Lib Dems philosophically or in policy terms, so he should never have been in the party.

Gavin's relationship with Stoke LD's was extremely fractious and he was out of party membership for a considerable time. You are **very** welcome to him.

I accept that some [LD] parliamentarians are less socially and politically liberal than I'd like, viz Huhne on banning Geert Wilders, Swinson on 'airbushing' of images and others on alcohol minimum tarriffs for example.

I do not however support laissez-faire, sod the vulnerable in society 'liberalism' of LPUK. The Lib Dem party card states :

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.

The Liberal party has something along similar lines.

Libertarians often come across [to me] as the Liberal equivalent of how the Trotskyists used to relate to Labour, in that many can only see their views as 'true' liberalism.
Greater equity and community seem missing from libertarian discourse, save for the libertarian 'left'.

This is not to say I want rid of libertarian influence from either the Lib Dems (or the Liberals). Many engage in a thought provoking way, such as Jock Coats and Tristan Mills. As ever it boils down to a purist or pragmatist route one wants to follow. One offers some influence, the other doesn't. However, one should sign up to at least the philosophical basis of a party and some of it's policies. Not to do so is akin to entryism.
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For a contrarian, liberal left take on politics :
www.leftleaningpolitics.blogspot.com

VkmSpouge · Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:34 am Post subject:

The man had been listed on the Stoke-on-Trent City Council website as Liberal Democrat (Libertarian) for quite sometime so I guess it was only natural for him to move into a more that better fits his views.
Though I honestly don't think he will be able to defend his seat especially with the ward boundaries in Stoke going to be shaken up.
It will be interesting to see how many candidates the Libertarian Party will have in the coming General Election.
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Blackadder: Marvelous thing, democracy. Look at Manchester; population, 60,000; electoral roll, 3.

Citizen Stuart · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:16 pm Post subject:

VkmSpouge · Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:07 pm Post subject:

Citizen Stuart · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:20 am Post subject:

Bear in mind that that's just my guesstimate of how many GE candidates we're likely to be able to support. It may be more, it may be less, we'll see when the election comes. But we will be fielding at least some candidates. I assume you guys will also be putting up candidates for Parliament, or are you concentrating solely on local politics at this point?

VkmSpouge · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 7:12 pm Post subject:

I would guess the Liberal Party will be fielding a number of General Election candidates. I believe last time they had 13 candidates, so I guess aiming for 20 would be good. That said I only know of one completely confirmed candidate in Westmorland & Lonsdale.
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Blackadder: Marvelous thing, democracy. Look at Manchester; population, 60,000; electoral roll, 3.

The Name 2 Remember · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:22 pm Post subject:

Citizen Stuart · Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 10:04 pm Post subject:

I just had a look at the Wikipedia entry for that constituency. Your guy did well last time, didn't he? Even with the Labour vote split, I don't think you'll win there, but you could well beat the Lib Dem candidate.

VkmSpouge · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:02 pm Post subject:

A lot would have to happen for Steve Radford to win Liverpool West Derby. The Labour vote would have to split relatively evenly between Steven Twigg and Bob Wareing, and the Liberal Party would have to absorb most of the Liberal Democrat vote. While possible it just isn't very likely, yet this is undoubtedly the best chance for the Liberal Party to win a seat in Parliament.
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Blackadder: Marvelous thing, democracy. Look at Manchester; population, 60,000; electoral roll, 3.

TomWilde · Site Admin Joined: 14 Oct 2007 Posts: 256

One minor new point in Steve's favour could be that (according to Wiki) the Liberal Democrats will have a different candidate this time. In 2001 and 2005 they were represented by Patrick Moloney, but in 2010 it will be Paul Twigger. I don't know a thing about either of those two, but the change of candidate means that any name recognition built up locally by Patrick Moloney is now lost.

In any case, Steve Radford will definitely be the best-known liberal standing in the constituency, and that must help the liberal vote to flow towards the Liberal Party rather than the LibDems.