Not being funny but you might want to consider if people actually know what you guys stand for.

Thats what a friend said to be when we had a conversation about the election in Scotland. My response was thus:

Its not being funny. It is a fair point. I joined the Labour Party because of what I thought it believed and that resonated with me. I left that party and joined the Lib Dems because of the policies of the Labour Party and the Lib Dems.

The debates with the party leaders showed this problem. Nicol Stephen was the worst in explaining what his beliefs were. As a Lib Dem I do subscribe to the agenda of the state creating a framework for people to live and work in peace, free from state dictation or assault. Nanny statism and loss of civil liberties annoy/concern me. Yet all of these are a reserve matters and nuanced explanations of economic liberalism are difficult to convey in short discussions with the voters.

The best way to say is that I believe in a open and free society, in which the state should seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance and conformity.

But how can that be put in a sound bite?

Policies or Beliefs?

Despite winning the Dunfermline West seat from Labour, the Lib Dems in Scotland did not fair well. Frankly, we did not do has well as we should have. I have spent the weekend recovering from my own defeat in the Council election.

Admittedly I was standing in a ward that has been very left Labour for generations but I am surprised that the SNP did as well as they did taking a large proportion of the vote. There was not nationalist feeling on the doorsteps, just an anti-Labour feeling.

The question I want to think about is why the SNP became the party of protest for Labour voters. Why not the Lib Dems? After some thought I am going to examine the following issues:

1. The Polcies of the Parties
2. The Beliefs of the Voters (to give you and indication of where I will go with that issue think about this, I joined the Labour Party becuase of its beliefs and I left it because of its policies.)
3. Leadership
4. Party Strength
5. Campaiging Skills

Keep an eye out for these thoughts.