Graham Watson MEP warns party it must 'raise its game'.

6.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 17th Sep 2006

The leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament, Graham Watson MEP, has warned Liberal Democrats meeting in Brighton that their party must change the way it campaigns and makes policy, otherwise it will miss an opportunity to win power.

Speaking at the launch of new book of essays he has edited ('Liberalism - something to shout about'), Graham Watson said:

"The Liberal Democrats have a rare opportunity to gain a handle on the levers of power at Westminster and in Whitehall; but we are unlikely to realise that opportunity - or to make good use of it if we did - unless we recognise the limits to incrementalism" [the tactic of gradual seat-by-seat advance], which he says "served the party well in the 1980s and 1990s but has now reached the limits of what it can deliver."

Watson's speech coincides with the conclusion of the Liberal Democrats' year-long policy review, 'Meeting the Challenge'. This review is intended to consolidate party policy into a coherent narrative. The result, a policy paper called 'Trust in People', will be debated and voted on by conference delegates on Wednesday.

Watson warned delegates, "This process will not end with the vote on Wednesday afternoon… You are being asked to take the process of 'Meeting the Challenge' to its logical conclusion. I wonder how many party members have considered the implications - or realised the courage this will take?

"If the Liberal Democrats really are going to 'meet the challenge' - and base their policies and campaigns on coherent values rather than short-term expediency - this will have profound implications for our policy-making and campaigning.

"It will no longer be credible for Liberal Democrats to appeal for votes - as so often we do - on the basis that we would be better managers. It will no longer be credible to campaign - as sometimes we do - on a disparate series of populist gimmicks.

"Our party has been guilty of such populism at all levels of government. Other parties can repair cracked paving stones or improve local eyesores as well as we can - and campaign on a platform of doing so just as effectively.

If our party is going to advance much further, we have to raise our game."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Graham Watson MEP is leader of the now 105-strong ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) group in the European Parliament. He is a member for the South West of England constituency.

2. The book 'Liberalism - something to shout about' will be launched at a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, at 8pm on Sunday 17th September. The venue is the Balmoral Room of the Metropole Hotel.

3. Journalists at the Brighton conference may obtain copies of the book either at the fringe meeting or from the Liberator stall in the exhibition area of the conference centre. For those not in Brighton, a hard copy or a pdf file of the book can be obtained from Laura Pike at Graham's constituency office who can be contacted on the above telephone number or via the constituency office email address euro_office@cix.co.uk

4. The book is on sale to the public from Liberator (www.liberator.org.uk).

5. The book is published by Bagehot Publishing, ISBN 0-9545745-3-2.

ENDS