To what extent have the parties involved in the Conservative- Liberal Democrat coalition remained faithful, since 2010, to principles and ideas?

In their manifesto, the Liberal Democrats pledged constitutional reform, most notably the use of STV for all UK elections and giving 16-year-olds the right to vote and stand for election. Whilst the coalition did hold a referendum on changing the electoral system, it was for the use of AV, not STV, which has fundamentally led to the LD not remaining faithful to their ideas on constitutional reform. The LD have also failed to implement their policy to scrap tuition fees over six years. Tuition fees actually increased to £9000 per year, which lead to anger from many students towards the LD for neglecting their pledge. As well as this, the LD did not remain faithful to their pledge replace council tax with a local income tax, which would have made the amounts paid by individuals within a community more proportional to incomes. The neglect of this policy seems to suggest the current LD have tried to move away from so called 'Orange Book' liberalism in tougher economic times.

After their 2010 election, the Conservatives have been successful in reducing the role of the state within communities, instead promoting the private and voluntary sector to take up a greater role within the community, and assisting in welfare provision. The introduction of this policy shows a clear move to the left for conservatives, with this particular policy being a prime example of a move towards 'Orange Book' liberalism, pioneered by the more right LDs, the most notable of whom is current leader, Nick Clegg. This policy comes under the 'Big Society', which has been seen by some as a way promoting more community assistance and spirit, but has been described by others a spending cuts in disguise. The Conservatives have also been successful in their introduction of reduced taxation. The Conservative Party has traditionally been the low tax party, so the introduction of this policy is a move back to traditional 'New Right' conservatism. The Conservative party have remained faithful to their commitment to favour enterprise and support the small business sector. The introduction of this policy would suggest the current government are encouraging a free-market.

The Conservative Party have not remained faithful to their policy to increase prison capacity as promised, and have instead chosen reduce the numbers in jail by focussing on tackling the cause of crime. The party have shown leniency of knife crime in this way. This is a step away from the tradition Conservatives ‘tough on crime’ stance, and is a move towards a more ‘Blairite’ stance, to focus on the cause of crime and rehabilitation as opposed to relentless punishment. Furthermore, they have agreed to a LD policy to move to a tax free personal allowance. This shows how the Conservative is trying to distance itself from the ‘New Right’ of the 70’s, and are trying to move towards a left, ‘One Nation’ stance.  Finally, the Conservatives have not gone ahead with their declared aims to replace Trident.

In conclusion, whilst it’s clear that both parties have had compromise on policies, and both parties have been successful in pushing policies forward, it’s also clear that both parties have some sort of ideological fusion between leaders. The Conservatives appear to be trying to move towards a ‘One Nation’ stance, to the left, and the LDs are trying to maintain a fairly central stance. Cameron and Clegg’s degree of compatibility may have been influenced by the fact that both became parliamentarians during a period where Labour dominated politics, so it seems, at the elite level, the two coalition parties may be a lot closer than first thought, with the Conservatives trying to move away from their untrustworthy and unelectable image and the LDs trying to stay as close as possible to their blue counterparts.