Former Labour party leader Pat Rabbitte has poured cold water on the idea of a broad left alliance and said there is little chance of a merger between Labour and the Social Democrats.He said, however, that “co-operation” between both parties “is the sensible and wise thing”.In an interview about his life in politics with the Inside Politics podcast, Rabbitte – who led the Labour Party between 2002 and 2007 – was asked if he thought there was a future for the broad left alliance that came together to support Catherine Connolly in the presidential election last year.“No, you’re not going to get a broad left alliance,” he said. “The ultra left is nihilist, not interested in governance. There certainly ought to be co-operation between the social democratic parties . . . or people who take the social democratic view, and see where that goes.“A merger between the Social Democrats and Labour is not on in the short term. But certainly co-operation on a platform is the sensible and wise thing.”Asked if Sinn Féin could be part of that co-operation, he said: “I don’t think Sinn Féin have yet earned that. I mean, there’s confusion. Sinn Féin is primarily a nationalist party with some socialists in it. And when the party thought it was about to be in government, it came in from the outer edges on economic policy. In fact, it’s not all that unlike Fianna Fáil of the 30s. So yes, there are elements in Sinn Féin that could subscribe to such a social democratic platform.”Rabbitte expressed fears growing economic inequality in society would threaten “the future of liberal democracy”. He believes governments must act to arrest the trend.“I think we’re in very serious circumstances,” he said. “I mean, there was a time if the chief executive was earning 10 times what the guy on the floor was earning, that was a big story. Now he’s earning ’500 times’ or more what the worker in the office is earning.“When you have two people on decent, modest salaries who can’t afford to put a roof over their heads, liberal democracy and confidence in politics is at risk. And you can see across the water in the neighbouring island where there are doubts arising about the governability of the country.”He said “the Trump disease has infected the western polities”.Rabbitte also said the current Irish Government had been “afflicted by paralysis”, adding: “We don’t seem to be able to implement things. Implementation is our biggest obstacle.”[ Next government must prepare for Irish unity, Jim O’Callaghan tells Belfast conferenceOpens in new window ]In the course of a lengthy interview with Inside Politics, Rabbitte (77) reflected on his long and varied political career. He described how his “political consciousness” was formed not just by the poverty and emigration in the west of Ireland where he grew up, but by the sense of reform and possibility that he encountered during summers in the United States in the late 1960s. He attended the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago where protesters against the Vietnam War were beaten off the streets by police.He confessed that he had “given the impression over the years that I was outside protesting”, when in reality, he had managed to witness the Convention in person.Starting with the Labour Party as a student leader in the early 1970s, he went on to join the Workers’ Party, leaving to form the breakaway Democratic Left in 1992. A merger with the Labour Party followed in 1999.Regarded as one of the most able and articulate politicians of his generation, Rabbitte went on to lead Labour between 2002-07 and was minister for communications in the Fine Gael-Labour coalition after 2011. He served as chairman of Tusla, the child and family agency, for two terms, retiring at the end of last year. The full interview is available on irishtimes.com and on podcast platforms.