The last few weeks have been a very long time in politics. However, it has convinced me of the need for our liberal vision now more than ever. Two events have really re-enforced this for me: the European elections and the renewed debate around devolution.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats had a bittersweet night as we watched the European results come in. I was at the national count in Pembrokeshire. We had fought the strongest campaign we have ever fought – and the most pro-European. Across Wales, we had told people that only by working with our friends in Europe could we tackle the big issues.
In the end, I was disappointed not to see the first Welsh Lib Dem MEP elected. We missed out by less than 1%. But we also used this campaign to build for the future and we had some exceptional results in seats that are looking more and more promising for us. We were within touching distance of ending decades of Labour dominance in Swansea West and Newport East. We scored a huge victory in Cardiff Central. Our vote when up in other areas with a strong liberal presence. The commentators told us we were going to be wiped out in our mid Wales heartlands and we held our own.
For the third year in a row the Welsh Lib Dems have out-performed the rest of the party in elections. We were the only part of the UK that saw our share of the vote rise.
Unfortunately, UKIP capitalised on an anti-politics feeling that gripped Wales as a result of the expenses scandal. They fought a campaign based around what they didn’t want – Europe, immigrants, politicians. We fought a campaign around what we did want. A campaign based around how we could use the European Union to fulfil our liberal vision for Wales and to demonstrate that we could tackle the recession, climate change and international crime.
Likewise, I was interested to read the Calman Commission when it was released last week. Fundamentally, this is a report that talks about what politics can do for people, in this case the people of Scotland. It talks about new powers so that the Scottish Parliament can work for the people of Scotland.
I want a debate to happen like this in Wales. I want to talk about the route Wales needs to take and to talk about a confident nation that lives up to the aspirations of its citizens. I want to talk about setting people free and restoring aspiration to Welsh communities and talk about the grand vision that the National Assembly has. I want to talk about what we can do for the young people who live in my constituency and around Wales.
But I can’t. The Labour-Plaid Government is leading this debate and is intent on talking about process. The All-Wales Convention is looking at the issue of when we should hold a referendum on a more strategic approach to legislative powers – hardly the most inspiring of subjects. They were not asked to show what we could do with these powers. We have tried to lead that debate but the Labour-Plaid Government refuse to engage and the Conservatives won’t because they fear for their party’s precarious position on whether the Assembly should exist at all.
So it is left to the anti-Assembly voices to fill the space. And that is bad for Wales because their easy headlines and opposition to everything degrades politics. We need to confront them with ideas to raise the well-being of Wales.
The last few weeks have shaken politics to its very core. And for the first time in my career there is a real, deep seated antipathy, not just to individual politicians but to politics in general. It is now far too easy for cheap shots to resonate with the public and for the voices of isolation and of fear to win out – and for apathy to become the dominant ideology.
We need to counter this with a radical, distinctive, positive vision for the future. It has never been truer that we cannot cross a chasm in two small steps. Politicians of all parties need to leap.
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