This may turn into a bit of blah post but i suppose i'm trying to work out my thinking on it and if anyone has any insights that would be useful.

Basically i'm not sure how to explain where i stand with social politics/human rights etc. To explain: i'm a very socially progressive person, but i'm confused on how to frame my beliefs, also for context to its relevance to this sub i am a Lib Dem member & voter and i'd like a Lib Dem perspective.

People often criticise identity politics and blame it on liberals, and i remember thinking even as a teenager that identity politics was kind of like a double-edged sword: it's needed because certain minorities were oppressed and so they had no representation, i think we have gained major ground for human rights through representative means but i think it also has the propensity to create division. As a queer person i've seen it from both sides, those on the prejudiced-outside want to exclude us as an entirety, but we also exclude each other; the term 'queer' is used as an alternative umbrella term but is now also increasingly being used to mean only the 'politically queer' or the 'gay but not queer' crowds. Also, while i understand the intentions behind the progress pride flag, i also think it is representative of my issues with identity politics. It has taken what was a universal symbol of unity and diversity and pride, and instead become an ever-increasing smorgasbord of specific identity groups, its hyper-specification precludes its universality, and they've also made it a virtue signal to the point where if you don't wave the progress pride flag then you risk being called racist or transphobic- but i don't believe the rainbow flag ever excluded these groups of people in the first place.

Having said that, i'm also suspicious of popular terms like 'solidarity', i think class reductionism is a dangerous path to go down. When Corbyn was Labour leader, and "for the many, not the few" became his catchphrase, i always felt uneasy with it. Because sure as a message of power or economics i was not directly threatened, but if used as a social message then suddenly i am no longer one of the many. We'd be remiss to not understand that many working class communities are also deeply conservative, and so where does the protection of minorities and progressive social values happen amongst a class movement which may choose to reject those values in favour of the larger 'class struggle'?

Essentially i think identity politics is too hyper-specific and does not focus enough on universality, but i worry that solidarity-aligned movements are too conformist and ultimately their goal is actually not individual rights. So i don't really know where to place myself or how to move forward, if anyone has any thoughts on this then please comment and help me☺️😅

Not very liberal, is it?

If we had to copy-paste another country's entire politics to the UK, which country gets closest to your values?

I've been a member for a few months now after getting involved with my local MS and MP I've done canvassing and leaflet delivery. How can I get more involved, I don't really understand how the Young Liberal branch works?

I'd love to run and campaign for myself to get further involved in the Young Liberals but I'm not sure how it all works.

I just want to be as involved as I can be at the moment, politics is my passion and I want to go as far as I can at the moment (not too much though, I have a levels to revise for)

I'm a Labour supporter, but I found the lib-dem manifesto, last year, to have a lot of great policies and I digged deeper and found out the much of Labour's and your policies are quite similar. Now I know that Labour is, well, let just put a tab bit unlikeable rn. And the idea of working with us is probably just horrendous to you lot. But we have quite a lot similar policies and shared history between us. Not only that a progressive pact will surely stop Farage and his cooks from winning in 2029 and creating a 4th Reich.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DOEUZmlDD4N/

I know the party was against Keir Starmer's plans to cut out-of-work benefits, but does the party acknowledge this issue or have a plan?

We're told to be patient and that you're working on it, but I've been told that for at least 4 years now. How long are we expected to just wait while your party passively tolerates, and occasionally actively encourages, transphobia? You blame it on the legal system; you blame it on a few bad apples; you gaslight the people who bring these issues to your attention and claim they're just being too sensitive; but when will you stop shutting us out? When will you actually DO something about the bad apples? Why aren't your MPs trying to change the legal system? Would you expect members of any other minority group to tolerate this kind of abuse from your party?

Did Munira Wilson apologise yet? Did Tim Farron? Did Sarah Ludford? Did Nick Clegg?

Image credit to the NakedPastor. This comic is an excellent commentary on the problem of centrists tolerating (and being complicit in) the far-right's abuse of minorities. Commentary is my own.

Where is the Lib Dem online presence by the way?

Everywhere I seem to turn on YouTube or various social media’s I see nothing but Reform (the algorithm hates me)

Where is the modern ways of communicating with the the public. Where are the liberal commentators on social media criticising the governments online safety bill and Digital ID cards (pains me to see liberals actual in favour of these).

There is a missed opportunity here and traditional methods needs to be reviewed and get more interaction in the online spaces.

Unless I’m missing something, there is a gaping liberal black whole online, and when Reform and the Tories are the ones talking about free speech, I’m hearing nothing from a liberal perspective and any current subject.

The Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has issued a statement supporting Angela Rayner in the controversy about her underpaying stamp duty. Like Rayner, Davey has a disabled child, and he says he is prepared to accept that in this case Rayner was acting in the best interests of her son.

(Rayner did not pay the full stamp duty owed when she bought a flat in Hove because, having put her stake in her previous family home in a trust on behalf of her son, she thought that it no longer counted as her property for stamp duty purposes.)

Davey said:

I understand it is normally the role of opposition leaders to jump up and down and call for resignations – as we’ve seen plenty of from the Conservatives already.

Obviously if the ethics advisor says Angela Rayner has broken the rules, her position may well become untenable.

But as a parent of a disabled child, I know the thing my wife and I worry most about is our son’s care after we have gone, so I can completely understand and trust that the deputy prime minister was thinking about the same thing here.

Perhaps now is a good time to talk about how we look after disabled people and how we can build a more caring country.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/sep/03/farage-starmer-badenoch-pmqs-news-updates-uk-politics-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-68b84cb58f087bf4418b4bed#block-68b84cb58f087bf4418b4bed

The Liberal Democrats have urged Kemi Badenoch to expel Liz Truss from the Conservative party after the former PM called for a Trump-style “revolution” in the UK.

In an interview with Sky’s Wilfred Frost for his Master Investor podcast, Truss said:

There’s no doubt we’ve lost our way. But I think what is happening now in Britain – the people are now realizing how bad the situation is, and I think there is going to be massive pressure for institutional change in this country, and what we need [is similar] to Trump delivering the revolution in the US. That is what we need, and I think that will happen.

In response, Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:

We already know what a Liz Truss revolution looks like, and people are still paying for it every month in their mortgages.

We should be taking no lectures on what our country needs from a former PM who crashed the economy in 44 days, leaving families paying the price in the middle of a cost of living crisis.

Kemi Badenoch should show some leadership and revoke Truss’s membership from the Conservative party for wanting to turn Britain into a Trump tribute 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/sep/03/farage-starmer-badenoch-pmqs-news-updates-uk-politics-live?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-68b80da98f08020a75f1278c#block-68b80da98f08020a75f1278c

Hi all, I just wondered if anyone had some recommended reading about the history of the Liberals/Lib Dems or significant people etc.

I'm exploring my political leanings so I'm eager to get to know more about liberal thinking and the key figures in the movement. Time period doesn't particularly matter, I'm open to anything.

Thanks in advance!

Personally, I think something like MMM is better than MMP or standard PR. I just don't think that a full proportional system would be good. For all we know, the British far right might elect racist/islamophobic parties like they have done in the Netherlands. What are your thoughts?

If I had to choose an economic model, I’ve experienced since becoming an adult that I thought vaguely worked (absolutely not perfect and a blunt tool) it would be New Labour Third Way/ the One Nation Tories with the Lib Con coalition. Obviously wasn’t super keen on austerity but 2010-2015 seemed economically decent and politically vaguely stable, considering we’d just had a financial crash.

I believe in a compassionate and progressive economic structure, paired with personal responsibility and independence.

I can’t face voting Tory - Badenoch,Jenrick and Mordaunt are 100pc not fit to be PM. Sunak was ok but was handed a bad card.

Starmer and Reeves are doing their best with a terrible hand but I am not blown away with Labour full stop: No interest in strivers, no clear vision, scared of telling truth about Brexit. No sense of asking people to take personal responsibility either.

Would I fit into Lib Dems or is the party further to the left than Labour these days? What are its economic policies? It seems hung up on quite niche issues from what I can see here, bar Brexit? Is there any overarching plan for fixing this financial mess?

Ed D seems vaguely competent and decent which is at least a plus - albeit a low bar!