The Liberal Democrats are fast becoming irrelevant. Why doesn't Clegg realise?

This week sees the 2013 Liberal Democrat conference. To their credit, the Lib Dems still use their conferences as a way of creating and ratifying party policy, unlike the Tories and the Labour party, whose conferences are stage-managed to tedium. The conference has so far seen Clegg promising no tax on earnings up to the minimum wage and David Laws calling on schools to ease pressure on parents by ending the practice of using a single uniform supplier. These are both welcome ideas, but they do not detract from the fact that, under the current Orange Book leadership of economic liberals, the Lib Dems are fast-becoming irrelevant.

It was very refreshing to see Vince Cable backing Labour's idea of raising the minimum wage, once again showing himself as the 'moral centre of this coalition', to use Peter Oborne's phrase. However, what was more of note was that this motion has not been brought up by Clegg or any of the other leading Lib Dems. What happened to the Lib Dems being a left-wing alternative to New Labour?  Gone is the commitment to social justice and progressivism, replaced instead by 'pragmatism'. Sure, Nick Clegg devotes some time to spouting empty soundbites about the Lib Dems being the only party to keep society 'fair' as well as have a strong economy, but the truth is the Liberal Democrats in their current incarnation cannot be relied on for either of these promises. Clegg, Laws et al are all firmly on the Right of the party, putting their faith in the market and deregulation.

If an outsider were to look at the policies and actions of the coalition without knowing who was in power, they would never assume it was a liberal-conservative coalition. We have seen the raising of tuition fees by £6000 a year, a freeze of public sector pay and out-of-work benefits, a reduction in the top rate of tax, large-scale spending cuts, privatisations and an erosion of worker's rights. This is not the liberal party of Keynes and Beveridge. This is not the liberal party that secured the place of trade unions in society and formulated the beginnings of the welfare state. This is not the liberal party that viewed social justice as being harmonious with the liberty of the individual. This is an economically liberal, centre-right party that is fast becoming a clone of Cameron's liberal tribe of Conservatives. If the party's Left are not able to score a victory at the conference, the Liberal Democrats will be viewed as such, and the voters will see no point in voting for them at all. The legacy of the Liberal party is a great one which all Britons should be proud of. Clegg and co. must not let it be lost in the annals of time.