A year on, we've learned something about ourselves and what separates us from the other parties. Yes we're proud of the fairness we've introduced to pensions, the fairer taxes, pupil premium and banking levy. But it was listening to yesterday in parliament the other day that made me realise something else.
A debate on Lords reform made me think about the tuition fees issue. When it became obvious we were going to allow an increase of fees the party reeled in pain at every level. Not so much the policy, many have digested the details and can see no up-front fees, not even for part time students. Most will pay back less in the early years of their careers, some less altogether.
The outcome was far better and fairer than either Labour or the Conservatives would have managed. The Browne report would have no doubt been accepted untouched had it not been for the Lib Dem hand of fairness. If we had bought down the government in protest at tuition fees, a Labour or Conservative government would have raised tuition fees anyway. We would have just given away all those other commitments we had delivered in exchange for nothing.
The real issue was we'd made a commitment and not delivered it. Every MP looked pained, every activist was hurting. Even the recognition that this let down had allowed us to deliver so much in coalition was not enough to stop the hurt.
Reforming the house of Lords has been a Lib Dem ambition for many years. It has never been top of the political agenda, but successive governments have recognised that an unelected second chamber was not right in the modern age.
The Last Labour government gave a lot of thought to reform, but the will to push through reform was not there. In the 2010 election every party made a manifesto commitment to move towards an elected house of Lords.
Nick Clegg drew up proposals to finally deliver this much promised reform. However, shortly after he presented them, several MPs from Labour and mostly Conservatives stood up to argue against it. They wanted the issue to go away or be delayed. You can see many MPs and Lords making a determined effort to keep the 100 year wait for reform on hold for as long as possible. One even argued that the plans were too radical and reform to fast - 100 years of doing nothing is too fast!
MPs had been elected on a manifesto commitment they were now trying to break.
The thing is, as these anti reform MPs spoke, there was no pain or hurt, no returning to the constituencies to consult or apologise. No letters sent out to residents to explain. They simply stood up and argued against their own election commitment. It demonstrates a gulf that exists between Liberal Democrats and the other parties.
For us a promise we break hurts like hell even when there was no alternative. For the other parties promises appear to be something they'll go out of their way to break.
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