Beveridge Group

The Beveridge Group is a centre-left group within the Liberal Democrat party in the UK. It was set up in 2001 by MPs Alistair Carmichael, Paul Holmes, John Barrett and John Pugh to promote debate within the party regarding public service provision.

The group was set up largely in response to a perceived rightwards drift in Liberal Democrat thinking, typified by the economic liberalism of Lib Dem economic spokesman Vince Cable and former Home Affairs spokesman Mark Oaten.

In its first article, the group questioned the claim in the Liberal Democrat policy paper Setting Business Free that the party should "start with a bias in favour of market solutions”:

"Should the party of Beveridge and Keynes approach issues with a prejudice in favour of the free market system? Should we enter every policy debate with an underlying belief that private is always better than public? I certainly do not think so. That was the approach which led the Conservatives to undertake the disastrous privatisation of British Rail in the mid 1990s." (Alistair Carmichael, 2003)

The role of the Beveridge Group has been brought into focus with the rise of Nick Clegg, another leading market liberal and Orange Book contributor, to the leadership of the party in 2007, and more so after his decision to lead the Liberal Democrats into a Coalition government with the Conservatives following the hung parliament result in the May 2010 general election. It has been noted that along with Clegg (now serving as Deputy Prime Minister) MPs who contributed to the Orange Book or are otherwise associated with the market liberal faction have occupied many positions in the Coalition Cabinet, including Vince Cable (Business Secretary), David Laws (briefly Chief Secretary to the Treasury), Danny Alexander (Chief Secretary to the Treasury), with others such as Ed Davey and Steve Webb also in ministerial posts, while it has been speculated that the more socially liberal Beveridge Group members are underrepresented in the Cabinet, perhaps signalling a 'takeover' of the Liberal Democrats by the so-called "Orange Bookers" [1]. However, Group members Norman Baker and Alistair Carmichael each hold ministerial ranks in the government, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Transport and Chief Deputy Whip for the Liberal Democrats in the government respectively, with Mark Hunter assigned as an Assistant Whip. Furthermore, in 2010 Group members Simon Hughes and Tim Farron were elected Deputy Party Leader and Party President, respectively.

On 18/12/13 Simon Hughes was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice

Membership

There is currently a membership of 30 MPs:

Sitting MPs (21)

• Norman Baker MP
• Annette Brooke MP
• Alistair Carmichael MP and Secretary of State for Scotland
• Tim Farron MP and President of the Liberal Democrats
• Don Foster MP and Chief Whip
• Andrew George MP
• Mike Hancock MP
• John Hemming MP
• Martin Horwood MP
• Simon Hughes MP and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
• Mark Hunter MP and Assistant Government Whip
• John Leech MP
• John Pugh MP
• Dan Rogerson MP and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of state at DEFRA
• Bob Russell MP
• Adrian Sanders MP
• Mark Williams MP
• Roger Williams MP
• Stephen Williams MP and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of state at DCLG
• Jenny Willott MP and Assistant Government Whip

Former MPs (9)

• Sandra Gidley
• Paul Holmes
• David Howarth
• Chris Huhne Former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
• Paul Keetch
• Paul Rowen
• Phil Willis
• Richard Younger-Ross
• Evan Harris
• John Barrett

See also

• William Beveridge
• John Maynard Keynes
• Social liberalism
• Welfare state
• SDP