Liberal Democrat Party
- proper noun
- In the House of Lords, Liberal Democrat Baroness Doocey asked Conservative transport spokesman Earl Attlee what anti-trafficking measures were in place.
- Liberal Democrat leader
- Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg
- support for the Liberal Democrat Party
Examples
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Simon Henry Ward Hughes, MP, is a British politician and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Blog text (23) -
The Liberal Democrats pride themselves on being the party whose policy is made by its members.
Blog text (11) -
Tonight, the Liberal Democrats are sharing their next Party Political Broadcast with the media.
Blog text (11) -
"Liberal Democrats will continue to make the case for alternatives" - but not the government.
Blog text (16) -
Just about the only positive thing the Liberal Democrats are doing on race equality is pushing name-blind job applications.
Blog text (23) -
The Liberal Democrat Party advocates for social liberalism and reforms to improve the conditions of working people.
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In the last election, the Liberal Democrat Party gained significant support from young voters.
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The coalition between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats was formed to ensure a stable government.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing 'liberal' and 'party' lets a B1 learner infer this is a political party with liberal/democratic leanings, so the general idea (a liberal political party) is compositional. However, as a proper name for a specific UK party and because 'Democrat' can evoke the US Democratic Party sense, the exact referent and ideological nuance are not fully predictable from the parts alone. This partial predictability makes the item semi-transparent.
Etymology
Liberal Democrat Party comes from the 1988 joining of the old Liberal party and the Social Democratic Party, so the name mixes Liberal (freedom and fair chances) and Democrat (power for the people). That's why the party sees itself as in the 'middle' of politics and wants changes to help working people.