Lib Dems to help shape Labour policy

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Several Lib Dems – including the party’s former director of policy – are set to work alongside Labour figures reshaping party policy.

Professor Richard Grayson, who served as Lib Dem policy director from 1999 to 2004, will manage the groups alongside Liam Byrne. Grayson is one of thirteen Lib Dems – including three academics and seven former parliamentary candidates – who will contribute to the review. According to the Guardian, Grayson will praise Ed Miliband in the next issue of Lib Dem magazine Liberator, saying:

“I believe that Ed Miliband is different. He is clearly on the centre-left, firmly rooted in the territory inhabited by social democrats and social liberals. He is also different because he has opened the door to co-operation with people in other parties over policy development.”

It remains to be seen how this will be viewed by Labour members. On one hand disaffected Lib Dem supporters will form a significant part of Labour’s vote at the next general election, and so including such people in policy consideration would seem sensible. However there are already rumblings amongst Labour members that they are yet to have any real say over Labour’s future policy direction. When combined with Miliband stating yesterday evening that he is “completely comfortable” with Compass allowing non-Labour members to join the organisation, it’s hard not to see this as an attempt to change the way in which the party interacts with the Lib Dems – seeking to hold them ever closer.