Lynne's Parliament and Haringey diary

Well - there's been a little flurry just now of interesting and weighty blog postings on the issue of equality - and whether it shows up a clear ideological difference between the two Liberal Democrat leadership candidates.

Rob Knight over on Liberal Review (good to see Rob starting up blogging again!) has the latest piece in this exchange.

I don't agree with all his points but I do think he's right to highlight the question of how much we should worry about equlaity of outcome as opposed to equality of opportunity.

This was a major theme of my speech to the party's spring conference rally last year:

We first need a clear picture of what makes for a more liberal society. Only if we put such a picture in people’s minds, so that they know instinctively what we stand for – without having to be shown a list of nice, but apparently unconnected policy proposals – will we succeed in making a substantial leap forward in numbers of seats and political power ...

For me, the recipe is a fairer society. And what I really mean by that is a more equal society. Because more equality – not absolute equality, but more equality – is needed for society to be fairer - and better ...

So I want Liberal Democrats to be the party of fairness, which means the party of equality - including a more redistributive tax system, public services geared to the needs of the poor and inarticulate, industrial democracy, so that workers have a genuine say, and a government framework that supports, rather than undermines, community coherence.

And the reason I believe this? Read the speech to find out!

Labels: lib dem leadership contest, nick clegg