Britain’s Liberal Democrats meet behind metal barrier [View All]

[Hannah Bell]

The Liberal Democrats are holding their spring conference in Sheffield, the home of the party’s leader and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. As the austerity measures the party has drawn up in coalition with the Conservatives begin to impact on broad layers of workers, the former are gathering behind a steel fence erected around City Hall to protect those in attendance from the public.

Before the General Election last May, the Liberal Democrats were able to posture as being to the left of the Labour Party. Instead, they enabled the Conservative Party to form a government by entering a coalition with it and have proceeded to renege on almost all their pre-election promises—from scrapping university tuition fees, to the introduction of proportional representation and their policies on immigration and taxation. Their conduct spawned a new phrase, “to be Clegged”—which means something akin to being totally betrayed.

While the party claimed that every citizen would be better off under a Liberal government, they have presided over the trebling of tuition fees, the abolition of the Education Maintenance Allowance and a programme of cuts in welfare, health, education, pension and housing that will see central government funding being slashed by almost a third.

Now, during their conference of March 11 to March 13, a security operation is underway that will cost up to £2 million. This includes the erection of the eight-foot security barrier around City Hall by Betafence, a Sheffield-based firm that also provided security fencing for a G8 summit in Italy. A huge police presence is in place, including armed police...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/libd-m11.shtml