One down, 10,000 to go!

LPUK, who formed in 2008, gained their first local councillor earlier this week as Gavin Webb jumped ship from the liberal democrat party. This will seem like small news to most people, but it raises an interesting point. Which party does a libertarian in the UK belong in?

The liberal democrats certainly have a libertarian wing, as evidence by the existence of liberal vision. However it seems they are marginalised within the party by the social democrats, the hostility shown towards both Gavin Webb and liberal vision as a whole can be seen in some of the comments on the liberal democrat voice blog. Then of course there is the issue of the suspension of Gavin Webb when he was in the liberal democrat party; for daring to suggest that hard drugs should be legalised. Not to mention that the liberal democrat is the most pro-EU party there is; which directly contradicts libertarian philosophy of bottom up government.

UKIP are the only mainstream party that markets itself as libertarian, a google search of them yields the introduction of: "libertarian, non-racist party seeking Britain's withdrawal from the European Union." On economic issues they are certainly the closest to libertarian in the mainstream, supporting a flat tax system, the abolition of inheritance tax and of course, EU withdrawal. However why do they wish to remain in Afghanistan? Why do they not want to legalise drugs, guns and prostitution? And worst of all, why do they make such an anti-libertarian immigration policy one of their leading areas of focus?

Finally we have the conservative party, which also contains a large libertarian wing with MP Alan Duncan and MEP Daniel Hannan both arguing for free-markets and social liberalism. However, the majority of the party have come under criticism from libertarians for being "blue labour" - and David Cameron himself once stated: "that is not conservative, that is libertarian, and that is NOT me." Too many conservative MP's have voted against equal rights for homosexuals, too many conservatives support tough immigration policy and the pursuit of this war on drugs - and yes even some conservatives now support the NHS and membership of the EU!

It is no wonder that LPUK formed. The ideal situation would be for the libertarians that are currently spread across three mainstream parties to unite under the banner of just one party, LPUK. However this is the real world, and councillors, MP's and MEP's have their jobs to consider. This is why I have so much respect for Gavin Webb, who has probably compromised his opportunity to be re-elected next time around in order to stand up for his principles. The more people that join him, the closer this country will come to uniting the philosophy of libertarianism - but there is a long way to go yet, it still remains a distant dream.