Lib Dems needed now more than ever | Letters

Tony Greaves says that only the Liberal Democrats can provide the radical and progressive politics that the UK badly needs; while Catherine Hand says they should never be forgiven for propping up the Tories' savage austerity programme

Re What's the point of the Lib Dems? (Journal, 7 November), I am tempted to reply: "Because we have never been in greater need of a Liberal party in the tradition of the New Liberals of a century ago - John Maynard Keynes, William Beveridge and Jo Grimond - to provide the core of the left-of-the-right liberal movement that can provide the radical and progressive alternative to backwards-looking Corbynism and the conservative (and worse) forces to the right."

But this kind of answer will bore those people who are looking for "something better, something new", where clever but empty slogans and celebrity leadership offer new excitement and hope, however superficial and ephemeral. Yes, our present leadership (widely defined) seems incapable of providing the campaigning vim and inspiration we so desperately need, first to stop the dangerous nonsense of Brexit and then to build such a movement. And the present central party organisation, largely unaccountable to its members, sucks in resources yet seems to provide little in return of use for campaigning.

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