Entering the Coalition: Our Duty or Our Demise? (Julie Smith)

Entering the Coalition: Our Duty or Our Demise?

October 30, 2010 6:05 PM

With Neville Farmer and Martin Turner at the PCA fringe

With Martin Turner and Neville Farmer at the PCA Fringe

Speaking to a packed Parliamentary Candidates' Associate fringe meeting, PCA Deputy Chair, Julie Smith argued that entering the Coalition was indeed the right thing to do given the hand the electorate had played. Initially anxious about working with the Tories, Julie, like the vast majority of Lib Dems, realised that the Lib-Con coalition was the right course of action in the circumstances. It offers huge opportunities to promote Liberal Democrat policies but clearly entails risks. Thus Julie stressed the importance of maintaining a distinctive Liberal Democrat voice; failure to do so could indeed lead to our demise.