I thought this topic deserved it's own thread, but it does follow on from this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=191x3289--------------------
Fact check: Are Lib Dems left of Labour?
Left-wing Labour MP Brian Sedgemore has defected to the Liberal Democrats, saying he was "disgusted" by the party he joined in 1968 and its "careless destruction of liberties". So are the Liberal Democrats now to the left of Labour?
(snip)
The Oxford concise dictionary defines "left" as "people supporting a more extreme form of socialism than others in their group." The traditional aim of socialism has been the public ownership of the key factors of production, the redistribution of income from rich to poor, and the provision of key services like health and education publicly rather than privately.
Under Tony Blair, the Labour Party has explicitly abandoned public ownership by repealing Clause 4 and no longer speaks explicitly of redistribition - and although it still believes in state-funded public services, it is prepared to rely partly on competition and the private sector to supply those services. Charles Kennedy, who agrees with all these policies, says it is not the Liberal Democrats, but Labour who have changed.
(snip)
The Liberal Democrat version of redistribution broadly focuses on moving money from the very rich to the middle class, while Labour's approach has been to redistribute tax revenue from the top 20% to the bottom 20%. The actual answer depends on whether you believe left wing should be measured mainly in economic terms. Is supporting or opposing the Iraq war left or right? And is campaigning against identity cards and other measures on civil liberty grounds left or right? The question of whether the Lib Dems are now to the left of Labour is in the eye of the beholder.
More here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/issues/4485029.stm