Derek Simpson, joint leader of the UNITE Union has today urged Lib Dem members to rear up their membership cards and join the Labour party rather than be associated with public spending cuts.

Now I realise Labour have long since cast off any pretensions of socialism, and barely adhere to any particular philosphy these days  – in fact its more determined by their leader at the time ie Blairism, Brownism. What next Milibandism?

Besides the void of political philosophy at the heart of Labour at the moment I do have great respect for a number of council colleagues representing Labour who do have sound principles and will fight the historic cause. So the least I expect in return is a similar recognition that members of the Liberal Democrats have principles too – mostly!

I am a member of the Liberal Democrats because I am a liberal – pure and simple. I have liberal values , liberal views, lead a fairly liberal lifestyle and believe hook line and sinker in the political philosophy of liberalism. I would never join any other party. If my party ceased to be liberal then I would leave,  but I would still be a liberal.

I don’t pretend to be comfortable with public spending cuts, but as previously mentioned on this blog the current Government has inherited an appalling financial situation not of our making. If we fail to address the budget deficit we will be unable to protect key front line services, we may be liberal but we are also pragmatic and realistic in supporting those that rely on public services most.

The fact is most of the cuts being announced recently were Labour pre-election spending bribes and “Give-aways” intended to create a feelgood towards a failing administration prior to the election.

My message to Derek Simpson would be , “Derek you don’t belong in the Labour Party any more - labour has failed you, the Union movement and the country. You have  socialist beliefs unlike the Labour party. Thanks for the invite but i’m staying put”.