LONDON — Britain’s Liberal Democrats are dreaming of a return to government. A new think tank wants to help. The Britain Project — a newly formed group offering liberal policy ideas — will officially launch at the party’s conference in Brighton on September 21.
It comes as divisions on the right of British politics make the idea of a progressive pact involving the Liberal Democrats at the next election more likely, even as their poll ratings stagnate. The think tank is not formally affiliated to Ed Davey’s party, but at least 50 of his 71 MPs attended a presentation promoting its work during one of their regular parliamentary meetings in July — with many indicating they want to get involved. Tim Leunig, the group’s policy director, who recently became a Liberal Democrat peer in Britain’s unelected House of Lords, said: “We are here to help them.” “But we’re also here to ask them tough questions because: who knows?
They might be a minister one day, and then the civil service will ask them tough questions.” While in public the Lib Dems refuse to countenance any future deal with Burnham’s Labour, in private their MPs are frank that the opinion polls — which anyone can read — point to the two parties’ combined seat totals being an obvious route to a post-election majority. Luke Tryl, executive director of More in Common, a think tank which tracks public opinion, said the “ever more acrimonious” battle for the right now makes a pact between the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK “less likely.” “The Burnham bounce and consolidation of the progressive left vote makes a Lib-Lab pact a more likely prospect,” he said. Talk of a coalition usually sends a shiver down a Lib Dem spine.
The party was left with just eight MPs in 2015 after five years in government with the Conservatives. The slow recovery from its 2015 nadir means that the vast majority of the party’s MPs were elected for the first time two years ago, so the party does not have a depth of parliamentary experience. The Britain Project aims to provide “decent ideas that can be given to the civil service to implement” and ensure parliamentarians “understand what tough choices look like in government,” he added.
The Starmer administration — which collapsed after two years in government — was “caught like rabbits in a headlight” soon after entering Downing Street, he said. The Britain Project will also publish regular policy papers with a specific focus on economic growth and public services. The think tank wants to show “you need a vibrant economy in order to be able to support social justice,” that person said, adding “liberalism endorses a national confidence” alongside being proudly internationalist.
Though the group would not disclose names, it will not have a physical office to save money. The Britain Project will be set up as a charity with an advisory board and a corporate board. While the advisory board won’t only have Lib Dem members, there will be a clear crossover with the party.
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