Expert: Phil Woodford - 11/26/2002

Question
Hi Phil,
     I would be very grateful if you could help me please. I've never really taken much interest in politics before but have grown increasingly interested in it. However, there is something I have been trying to find out but with little success and wondered if you could explain it to me please?
     If I've rembered this correctly, the conservative party are described as being left-wing and the labour party as being right-wing. What do these terms mean? What is the difference between right- and left-wing?
     If labour is right-wing and the conservatives left-wing, does this make the liberal democrats somewhere in the middle? That is, are they termed liberal democrats because they are happy to consider right- and left- wing proposals whereas the conservatives and Labour mainly stick with their left- or right- views respectively?

Kind Regards

Gary  

Answer
Hi Gary

Traditionally, it's the Conservatives who are thought to be right-wing and Labour left-wing, although it's possible that the distinction is less clear and less relevant today.  Left-wingers have more socialist views, believing in equality for all and the need for the government to intervene to assist the poor.  Right-wingers tend to take a more dog-eat-dog approach to life, believing that the free market can solve most problems and that the government should get involved in people's lives only when absolutely necessary.  Imagine left and right as a scale and you can slide to almost any point between one extreme and another.  That leaves room for people such as the Liberal Democrats, who perhaps are more left-wing on some issues and right-wing on others.  Many people believe that Labour has deserted its left-wing roots and become more right-wing over time.  This is hotly debated, however.

Hope the above is useful.

Phil