Changes

Along with the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats currently make up the ruling coalition in the UK, with party leader [[Nick Clegg]] <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7148179.stm Clegg nicks it</ref> serving as deputy Prime Minister under [[David Cameron]].

Along with the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats currently make up the ruling coalition in the UK, with party leader [[Nick Clegg]] <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7148179.stm Clegg nicks it</ref> serving as deputy Prime Minister under [[David Cameron]].

 

 

The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger between the centrist [[British Liberal Party]] and the moderately left-wing [[Social Democratic Party]], which had split off from the Labour Party in the early 1980s when the latter became too strongly socialist. The Liberal Party was one of the oldest political parties in the world, tracing its roots back to the [[Whigs]] of the era of [[William of Orange]], but it had been in decline ever since the rise of the Labor movement in the early 20th Century, and had not had a prime minister since [[David Lloyd George]].

The Liberal Democrats were formed in 1988 by a merger between the centrist [[British Liberal Party]] and the moderately left-wing [[Social Democratic Party]], which had split off from the Labour Party in the early 1980s when the latter became too strongly socialist. The Liberal Party was one of the oldest political parties in the world, tracing its roots back to the [[Whigs]] of the era of [[William of Orange]], but it had been in decline ever since the rise of the Labor movement in the early 20th Century, and had not had a prime minister since [[David Lloyd George]].

Since its foundation, the party had steadily increased its presence in the [[House of Commons]] at each successive election, until 2010. The party won 62 seats in the 2005 general election<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/ Election 2005 results</ref> - the most that the party or its predecessors had won since the election of 1923. However, in the general election of 2010, the number of Liberal Democrat MPs elected fell to 57<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/ Election 2010 results</ref>.  

Since its foundation, the party has steadily increased its presence in the [[House of Commons]] at each successive election. The party won 62 seats in the 2005 general election<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/ Election 2005</ref> - the most that the party or its predecessors had won since the election of 1923.

== Policies ==

== Policies ==