The End of New Labour? The Future for the Labour Party

The purpose of this chapter is to assess the impact of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition on the Labour Party. What future is there for the Labour Party? Any conclusions made in this chapter must be tentative for much depends on how long the Coalition lasts. In early December 2010, at the height of the university fees issue, it looked as if the strains of the Coalition were starting to tell, among Liberal Democrats at least. However, for a number of reasons it seems that the Coalition may last. What is perhaps surprising about the Coalition Government is how radical and ideologically unified it has been. Other chapters in the book have addressed this in more detail, but it seems that for the time being at least the so-called Orange Book Liberal Democrats have taken charge of the party and that they share much in common with contemporary Conservatism in terms of a sceptical attitude towards the central state and a strong preference for localism, markets and voluntary activity. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have developed a strong working relationship and neither of the Coalition partners would seek to end the Coalition early for fear of electoral defeat in an ensuing General Election. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.