Assembly Member seeks to define what the Welsh Liberal Democrats are for

7.28.40am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 28th Aug 2007

"Welsh Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians and Assembly Members should be taking a lead, getting out onto the streets with other activists to talk and listen to people about their concerns and ideas," according to the Party's Social Justice Spokesperson, Peter Black.

Mr. Black has set out his views on the future direction of the party in an on-line pamphlet published on website Lib Dem Voice today. His objective is to provoke debate within the party on the way forward following the Welsh Liberal Democrat's failure to make any substantive progress in last May's Assembly elections.

In the pamphlet Mr. Black has mapped out his party's key policies and philosophy. He argues that taken as whole this amounts to a unique Welsh Liberal Democrat vision that will enable the party to build support. He says that although the Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Group is still only six strong their relative size means that they will have far more opportunities to scrutinise the Government and to set the agenda both in the Assembly and in the press.

"This is our chance to refine a distinctive, dynamic and radical message that will have wide appeal in future Welsh elections," said Mr. Black. "At the heart of that message are the Liberal Democrat principles of fairness, honesty and justice. We are committed to tackling poverty and inequality, to taking the hard decisions that will improve our environment and our quality of life, that will remove barriers and offer people the educational and employment opportunities to better their lives and which will open up government and make it more transparent and accountable.

"Despite not being in government the Welsh Liberal Democrats have a major role in prosecuting this agenda. It should form the basis of our campaigning and of our work in ensuring that the new coalition government is giving the best deal for the people of Wales. We may be able to agree with other parties on some common elements but taken as a whole this is a unique Welsh Liberal Democrat vision, which values the individual and the inter-locking communities we live and work in. It is about empowering people, not dictating to them, about using the levers of government to remove barriers and create opportunity, not to run things from the centre. It is about working with local people to take on vested interests where that is necessary.

It is our strength as campaigners, enablers, environmentalists, civil libertarians, federalists, and social reformers that define what the Welsh Liberal Democrats are. Our time will come to implement these reforms as part of a left of centre Assembly Government but in the meantime we should use our position in local government to promote this agenda, whilst using our ideas and principles to redefine the role of the second opposition party in the Assembly as the one that can best reflect the aspirations and needs of people in their communities."

Note: The pamphlet entitled, 'This is what the Welsh Liberal Democrats are for' is attached. It can also be read on-line at http://www.libdemvoice.org/opinion-this-is-what-the-welsh-liberal-democrats-are-for-1237.html or on Mr. Black's website at http://www.southwaleslibdems.org.uk/articles/000008.html