Lib Dem platform facing serious delays

It has been 170 days since Nick Clegg was elected as leader of the Lib Dems.

170 days that he has had to create an impact on UK Politics, to resonate with the voters, to make an impression in a business where first impressions are crucial.

A blitz of new policies could reasonably have been expected after he came to office or perhaps a string of high profile appearances or tv slots to help us get to know who Nick Clegg actually is and why we should consider voting for his party. Maybe he would push a new 'shadow cabinet' into the limelight to show the strength in depth that the party possesses.

Well, the gaping hole in the British media where the Lib Dem stories should be can only suggest that Nick Clegg's first 170 days have been an abysmal failure. The only bright spot could be their 2nd placed showing in the English and Welsh local elections but this was more to do with Labour voters abandoning a sinking ship and some of them, seemingly, not being able to bring themselves to vote Tory.

Nick Clegg hasn't attracted new voters, any new voters have stumbled into him as they stagger away from New Labour. Any comeback for Gordon Brown, which I fully expect will happen, will leave the Lib Dem's in a woefully poor position indeed.

So if they have been so inconspicuous, so utterly forgettable in the past 6 months, why am I even conscious enough of them to write this piece?

Well, a very small article in today's Metro jogged my memory that the Lib Dems actually exist. The article was mentioning a new policy that the Lib Dems have come up with and that is to add 8p/km to 12p/km to use motorways or trunk roads. I have read more in The Guardian.

Glossing over the inexplicable reason for using kilometres instead of miles, this policy is political suicide. For me personally, as a non-driver, it wouldn't bother me at all to have this policy. Less cars on the road and more money in the UK coffers is fine by me. I, however, represent the non-driving minority. And as a non-driver, anti-car policies are way down my priority list anyway.

The voters are playing lip-service to the environment, they understand something has to be done but are willing to put it off to the last minute. Any changes to transport policy that hits drivers will have to be forced on them. Turkeys would not vote for Christmas.

Nick Clegg has said that he wants to "incentivise" people out of their cars. An extra tax on top of petrol costs, road tax and showroom tax is not an incentive, it's a punishment. An incentive would be cheap, fast railway systems, convenient bus services and road systems that catered for bicycles and buses more generously. That's the real incentive to ditch the car.

Getting a train from Glasgow to Edinburgh at peak time is becoming crushingly expensive. I struggle to understand how First can take the best part of £20 off commuters, cram trains full to bursting and still claim they need to put charges up year on year.

Further to this, I get the bus into work but I would happily cycle if I didn't have to dice with death on the road out to the Gyle. Most regular cyclists I know have spent time in hospital and they say Edinburgh is by far the craziest place to ride your bike.

For the sake of the environment and general congestion, we need to combine friendly bike policies and cheap public transport with a gradual battering of the regular driver. But one has to come before the other.

8p/km on car journeys will alienate voters, keep people in their cars, increase Mr Clegg's profile for the wrong reasons and, crucially, ensure the irrelevance for the Lib Dems continues.
Shame really, I miss them in a funny way...