Liberal Democrats back fairer taxes

These plans would see the average person’s income tax bill cut by £700. Pensioners would be £100 better off and 3.6m people would no longer have to pay any income tax at all.

The party’s tax plans will be paid for by closing tax loopholes, making polluters pay and introducing a ‘mansion tax’ on homes worth over £2m.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“It’s high time that this country had a tax system that is fair for all.

“Gordon Brown created a tax system that has some of the lowest earners paying hundreds of pounds in taxes that they can ill afford while the very wealthiest treat tax as if it’s optional.

“For their part, the Tories flail around in confusion over their marriage tax plans and can only commit to a tax cut for millionaires.

“The Liberal Democrat plans are the most radical, far reaching tax reforms in a generation and embody everything that we stand for: fairness, protecting the environment, rewarding hard work.

“It is right to ask those with the broadest shoulders to bear a little more of the burden so that millions of people on normal earnings get the break they need.

“We all know that the country is in for some tough times ahead. But we believe that it is simply not possible to address the problem of an unsustainable budget deficit without parallel action to rebalance the tax system and eliminate the unfairness at its core.”

Sarah Teather speech to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference

The full text of the speech is below:

Conference, I blame the Labour party for disengagement with politics. 

Sure, expenses has been a total disaster, and has made people angry.

But actually, I don’t think that is where the rot set in.

It set in in 1997.
Just after the election.
It started the day Tony Blair got in his ministerial car and travelled to one of the poorest estates in the country and pledged to stand up for the forgotten people.

It started, in the euphoria and relief that we all felt when we finally saw the back of the Tories.

It started in the lonely journey of the loyal Labour voter, who stuck with them in the dark days of the Tories, and who heaved a sigh of relief when Labour came to power.

It started then, because every promise Blair made that day has since been broken, discarded, or left to whither away.

Labour forgot the forgotten people.
They forgot the people who elected them.
They forgot the people who needed them most.

And I am left wondering what the point is of a Labour Government.

They raise taxes on the poor.
They let the poorest children fail at school.
They stand idly by while families are destroyed by housing misery that they could easily fix.

Labour’s betrayal is where the rot set in.

The record speaks for itself.

1.8 million families languishing on housing waiting lists.
Three quarters of a million families in severe overcrowding.
One in ten children in my constituency in temporary accommodation.

I have spoken to families in my constituency with TB.
One family member picks it up on their travels, and when you live in an overcrowded damp Victorian hovel it isn’t long before the whole family gets it.

I have parents sharing beds with 8 and 9 year old children, because there is nowhere for the other child to sleep.

6 people in two bedroom flats,
Children with autism having to sleep in the living room with their brother,
Marriages devastated.
Education ruined.

How do they get away with this? For 13 years.

This is the Labour party.
This is what they have become.
This is their legacy.

The truth is, that housing is a deeply personal issue.
For too long, it has been swept under the carpet.
Until the Government feel they are losing votes over it, they think they can afford to keep on ignoring it.

A few weeks ago, the London Evening Standard began a campaign highlighting the hidden misery of thousands of Londoners stuck in poverty and poor housing.
It felt like a chink of light.
Thank God, finally a newspaper campaigning on housing.

We need housing on every front page.
It should be a political issue.
It should decide how people vote.
Labour must not be allowed to get away with this.
We will not allow Labour to get away with this.

Under Nick Clegg, we will be the only party going into this election promising a billion pound investment in this country’s housing stock. Because we understand that housing affects everything.

You can’t fix antisocial behaviour, or under performance at school, if children have nowhere to work or play.

It is no good having a great health service if the real cause of depression, chest disease, high blood pressure and goodness knows what else is actually the hideous stressful condition in which people are living.

This is fundamentally about fairness. Fairness for the poorest, fairness for our children, fairness for families.

Liberal Democrats, if we don’t make this case, nobody will.

We certainly won’t hear it from the Tories.

The Tories don’t know what they are talking about.
They have no idea how the other 90% live.
Scratch the surface and the old Tory party is alive and well.

A couple of weeks ago they issued a press release claiming that fifty percent of teenage girls in deprived areas are pregnant.
The figure was wrong. It was actually 5%.
But no-one in Conservative central office questioned it because it fitted with their stereotypes about poor people.

Just as it did when Chris Grayling claimed our inner cities are all like the US show the Wire.

They will do anything, say anything, to peddle their ‘Broken Britain’ slogan.
The Conservative party love to demonise the poor.

No, the Tories think the only way to solve the housing crisis is to change the law so that it is easier for big developers to stuff vulnerable families in to houses the size of shoe boxes.

That, and persistent rumours about their secret plans to whack up rents for social tenants to private market levels.
That would be a disaster.

Last year, a young woman came to visit me.
She had been on the housing waiting list for years.
In that time, she had taken a degree and was absolutely desperate to work full time.
But she couldn’t afford to work, because if she did, she would lose the benefit that paid her exorbitant private rent.

She had done a calculation of all the money she had received in housing benefit while she had been waiting.
Look – she said – they could have built me a house!

If you abolish subsidised rents for Council and housing association homes, all that is going to happen is that many more people will end up on housing benefit, and many fewer people will be able to work.

Put poor people into worse housing, and make them pay more for it.
That’s it. That’s the Tory big idea.
 
The Tories have been colluding in keeping housing off the political agenda because they have nothing to say.

What frustrates me so much is that the Government can do something about the appalling cases I see in my advice surgeries every week.
This isn’t an insoluble problem.
It isn’t free, and it can’t be fixed overnight.
But it can be done.

There are things we would do. Things we would do now.

While millions of families wait for housing, 650,000 properties sit empty in England alone.
Empty, ignored and slowly falling to pieces.
Everyone in the country can tell you about a house near them that no one lives in.
It is a scandal that the Government just lets these precious homes rot.

Empty properties are a scar on our communities.
They invite squatting, antisocial behaviour, and bring down the whole street.
Just think how a family living with overcrowding feels when they see a property all boarded up.

It’s time we made use of the homes we have.

The Liberal Democrats will invest £1.4billion in bringing a quarter of a million of these homes back into use.

Think what that money could achieve.
50,000 builders, joiners, plumbers, electricians, carpenters back in work.
A shot in the arm for the construction industry.
Streets across the country smartened up.
Squatters replaced by families desperate for a home.

That would be the difference under the Liberal Democrats.

The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.

When demand outstrips supply, prices go up.
That’s basic economics – even George Osborne could grasp that.

If we can’t keep up with housing demand as we come out of recession, prices go up, people borrow more than they can afford, and bang, we are right back where we started.

If we lose all our construction workers in the recession because there is no work for them, we’ll never keep pace with demand.

It’s as if the government haven’t learned a thing from the past two years.
Investing in more housing will protect the economy and save a generation.

By making this billion pound promise the Liberal Democrats throw down the gauntlet to Labour and the Tories to do the same.

Liberal Democrats, we are the only party heading into this election promising to invest new money in housing.

We need to win so that we can deliver the housing people so desperately need.

The 1.8 million families languishing on the housing waiting list haven’t won under Labour.

The young couple still forced to live with their parents haven’t won under Labour.

The family living six to a room in conditions akin to Victorian England have not won under Labour.

Perhaps it was inevitable that the Labour party would forget the forgotten people.
The collectivist roots of the Labour party lends easily to sweeping individual rights under the carpet in the name of the supposed greater good.
The trouble is that the only greater good the Labour party still believe in is winning their fourth term.
They have forgotten that winning isn’t just about winning.

We won’t forget the people who elected us because that is the nature of our politics. People, individuals, their stories, their concerns is at the heart of what Liberal Democracy is about.

We will win for the people who need us most.
And we will win where no one expects us to.
We will win because we can give people hope again.

Hope that things can change.
Hope for a fairer country.
Hope for real justice for those stuck at the bottom.

We can re-ignite hope in the millions of people who have given up on the power of politics to change their lives.

We have the policies, the principles and the passion to turn a disillusioned voter into a positive vote for change.

And that’s why, when we are out day after day, knocking, stuffing, delivering, phoning.
When we are using energy even we didn’t know we could muster, that’s what keeps us going.

Conference, Labour have failed and the Tories haven’t really changed.
This is our time.

We must deliver.

Our job is to go out there and persuade people that voting changes things.

So let’s go out and do it.

Nick Clegg's Conference Leader's Q & A

 

We need a new UN body to break the climate deadlock says Hughes

The authority would sit in permanent session and bring coherence to efforts to reach a binding and enforceable agreement on emissions cuts.

The motion passed by Conference also:

• Called for a floor price for carbon to stabilise the carbon market and promote higher levels of investment in the low carbon economy
  
• Reaffirmed the Liberal Democrat commitment to a 40% emissions cut by 2020 and the goals of the 10:10 campaign

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Simon Hughes said:

“There’s no question that Copenhagen was a failure of international leadership. But it also exposed the weakness and fragmentation of a bewildering institutional framework.

“Getting a good deal on climate change will be all but impossible without a strong world environment body with the clout to bang heads together.

“The current mishmash of institutions, agreements and treaties is diluting efforts to make the politics fit the science.

“If the WTO can adjudicate on trade disputes, then surely the time has come for a UN body that can break the climate deadlock.”

Vince Cable speech to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference

In his speech, Vince Cable said that the Liberal Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility and fairer taxes.

The full text of the speech is below:

I have a very simple message.

We, the Liberal Democrats, were right about the financial crisis.

We warned of the dangers and we led the debate when the crisis came.

And now we have a clear vision for the future of the British economy.

The Queen is said to have asked why no one warned about the crisis in the banking system. Actually, we did.

Ten years ago a group of us, Lib Dem activists, fought the demutualisation of building societies: a consequence of Conservative legislation which led to the disasters of Northern Rock, Bradford and Bingley and HBOS.

We told Gordon Brown to curb the excess profits of banks which were dependent on a taxpayer guarantee.

We warned him for years that he was in denial about the build up of household debt and the bubble in property prices. He took no notice; nor did the Conservatives.

But we were right.

And when financial disaster struck we insisted that there must be no nationalisation of losses and privatisation of profit: a point belatedly grasped by the government and even more belatedly, and reluctantly, by George Osborne and the Tories.

The government’s economic record speaks for itself: remember the phrases ‘no more boom and bust’, ‘prudence’, ‘Golden Rules’ – all abandoned.

And standing amid the wreckage of the economy Gordon Brown sounds more and more like Mr Ashley Cole saying – give me another chance.

What the public wants to know is who can guide the country out of the present morass: the broken, discredited, banking system; the deepest and longest post war recession, whose effects are far from over; and levels of government borrowing which are not sustainable.

We can.

We have deep, long term problems: an overdependence on banking; an obsession with property over productive investment; a yearning for high, Scandinavian levels, of public spending financed by low US levels of tax; and a financial aristocracy which regards tax paying as something for little people not themselves.

Let me make no bones about it – the challenges are enormous.

I start with the banks since they have been at the root of our recent problems.

Not all bankers were greedy or stupid, but plenty were and they have caused immense economic damage.

The damage continues because the banks have swung from the reckless over-lending which fuelled the boom to conservative under-lending deepening the slump.

Thousands of sound and solvent small and medium sized companies are being slowly throttled because they can’t get credit or it costs too much.

Banks do have a funding problem: all the more reason not to squander what they have on bonuses.

Banks, bailed out by us – the taxpayer – are also building up their balance sheets in readiness for an early re-privatisation instead of supporting British business.

RBS has fallen short of its legally binding lending target to British business.  Lloyd’s won’t even tell us.  That’s simply arrogant.

 I challenge them to give us the figures and Alistair Darling to force them to if they refuse.  Many thousands of British jobs depend on it. 

The need for radical reform doesn’t end there. Banks with global ambitions that are guaranteed by the British taxpayer cannot be allowed to run excessive risks again.

The Governor of the Bank of England has to be supported in his constant warning that banks that are too big to fail are simply too big. They have to be broken up, to increase competition and protect the taxpayer.

The banking collapse and recession have dug a deep hole in the government’s finances.

The next government will have to deal every single day with the consequences. The growing worry about sovereign debt means that there is no hiding place. Nor should there be.

It grates to have the economy held to ransom by currency speculators and the clowns in the rating agencies who missed the Icelandic crash and so badly misjudged the safety of banks. But any Government, of any hue, will have to depend on the markets to finance its deficit.

We must and will be fiscally responsible. 

Unlike the Tories and their cronies who want to create a financial panic and run on sterling to frighten people into voting for them on May 6th.  Playing fast and loose with the financial stability of this country for political gain – destabilising the markets – is dangerous, irresponsible and wrong. 

It is also irresponsible to engage in a phoney war over cuts weeks before an election that will affect the lives of millions of people.

The Government is trying to present itself as the party of spending and public investment but growing numbers of government scientists, FE college and university staff are currently being sacked.

The Tories were trying to project their economic team as ‘Slasher’ Osborne and the Hard Men - until David Cameron executed a giant slalom down the Swiss ski slopes and announced that cuts are off the agenda this year. For now.

Or at least that’s what I think they said.   I’d love to attempt a critique of the Tories budget plans but I have no idea what they are. I think the present line on the budget is: trust us and we’ll tell you after the election. Well I’m sorry but that simply isn’t good enough.

We have to be frank with people about the difficulties ahead.

Spending cuts must not be forced through too soon, making the recession worse. That is not just my view - Sir Alan Budd, the Conservatives’ designated head of fiscal policy thinks the same.

The timing and speed of cuts must reflect the state of the economy, not political dogma. But cuts there will be. We have spelled out some of them.

Serious public sector pay restraint for the next two years: no one with a pay rise over £8 a week and no bonuses at all.

Ending government contributions to the Child Trust Fund and cutting tax credits for high earners.

Axing unaffordable defence contracts such as Eurofighter, and the Trident replacement.   And others, subject to a rapid defence review.

Scaling back programs like HomeBuy, cutting back RDAs. Taking out tiers of burdensome regulation of local authorities, and scrapping undemocratic regional government.

Slashing a bloated central bureaucracy - kicking the consulting habit - and ending illiberal and costly government data bases: like ID cards and Contact Point. And we continue to look across all government departments for further savings. There can be no ring fencing if we are serious about getting the public finances back on track.

And there will be a levy on the profits of banks.

So far we have identified over £15bn per year of savings, most of which are to reduce the structural deficit and which we will be setting out in full at the time of our manifesto.  

But again, we need to do more.

A Liberal Democrat Government would conduct an urgent public spending review. Not Tory butchering behind closed doors.  

We will identify priorities and then debate them publicly.

It’s right and fair that the people who are going to be affected by these changes get to have their say.  That’s Democratic.  That’s open. That’s Liberal.  

Cynics say to me: how can you possibly talk about making economies when the voters want to be promised lots of freebies? 

But it is a massive mistake to underestimate the British people.

They don’t want to be insulted and patronised by politicians they don’t trust telling them that two plus two equals five, because five is a bigger number than four. Or that all of our problems will be solved by painless ‘cutting waste’.

Our programme is different not just because it is more transparent but because it offers two things our rivals can’t: hope and fairness.

The hope derives from a commitment to invest part of the savings more productively in sustainable forms of growth which creates jobs.

Without growth there is no new money to pay down government debt. But it must be sensible growth which doesn’t depend on consumer spending sprees, destroying the environment or the roller coaster of financial gambling.

We want a Green New Deal. Investing in jobs by improving our homes and building more social housing. And we will set up an infrastructure bank to invest in big projects like railways and renewable energy.

And fairness is crucial.

The public will accept austerity for a time if the burdens are fairly shared.

They will not accept it from a government that imposes hardship on the majority while rewarding rich cronies, grovelling to tax exiles and non-doms and ignoring the widening inequalities in income and wealth. 

So we will change our unfair tax system. 

3.6 million people who earn less than £10,000 will no longer pay any income tax at all.

Pensioners will be £100 better off and the average person’s income tax bill cut by £700.

We will pay for the tax cut by blocking tax loopholes that favour the wealthy and taxing their wealth in their mansions worth over £2 million: in other words the people who profited from the boom.

People are desperate to see the back of this Labour government. But they don’t want the same old Tories. And make no mistake they are exactly the same.

There is an alternative.

In just over 50 days there will be a general election.

We know that people want to vote for a party that will radically change our economy, for the better in a financially responsible way.

Our job is to show them we are that party. 

Our job is to make sure that on May 6th they vote Liberal Democrat.

I know we can.  With Nick’s leadership, with your help and work – and your passion and your belief – we will.

Liberal Democrats call for fair start for children

The proposals include:

• An extra £2.5bn investment in schools to reduce class sizes, improve discipline and provide more one-to-one tuition to help struggling pupils, paid as a pupil premium to schools for each of the poorest 1m children they teach
  
• The scrapping of tuition fees for first undergraduate degrees, whether studied full or part-time, over six years

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws said:

“It is a disgrace that where children are born and how much their parents earn can still dictate how well they do at school.

“Schools should be a level playing field, opening up opportunities and making sure that all children have a fair chance to achieve their potential.

“Our plans to invest an extra £2.5bn in schools will enable headteachers to cut class sizes and provide children who are struggling with the support they need.  We will set schools free from constant Government interference so they can focus on getting the best from all children.

“I am proud that the Liberal Democrats have made such a clear and bold commitment to give every child a fair start in life.”

Liberal Democrats call for end to child detention

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“It is a moral stain on this country’s proud reputation in accepting refugees that we are routinely locking up children for months at a time even though they have committed no crime.

“Locking children up in this way can do them serious physical and psychological harm. This is the behaviour of the Victorian workhouses, not 21st century Britain.

“The Government must find its long lost moral compass and put an end to child detention immediately.”

Danny Alexander gives speech to Spring Conference

The full text of the speech is below:
 
Conference – I have been working on this manifesto for nearly a year now. Since then, my wife has become pregnant with our second child.
 
I wouldn’t draw this comparison with her, but I can tell you that working on a manifesto has some similarities: my hopes, my ambitions for how things will change once it comes out. The sleepless nights.
 
But with the due date for our baby at the end of May, I hope to get the manifesto out before then!
 
This election is a huge opportunity for the Liberal Democrats.

Your hard work, your dedication to our Party and your ceaseless activity to get the Lib Dem word out, means we are poised to make gains across the land. I hope our hard work on the manifesto will help you to close the deal.

Two ideas will dominate this election campaign: change and fairness. Only one party is arguing at this election for both fairness and change: the Liberal Democrats.

Change: because business as usual is not the answer to the economic, political, and environmental crises that we face.
 
Fairness: because too many people in our society are still held back because of the circumstances of their birth, their sex or their parent’s bank balance.
 
The dreadful crises we have faced give us the chance to reshape our country.
 
We believe that change must be built around that one simple, powerful, and very British value: fairness.
 
Unlike Gordon Brown – and despite my red hair – I am not known for my bad language. But fairness is not the only ‘F word’ I am going to use today.

It sometimes helps to be able to sum up the other parties in a single word, so let me do it for you.

What is the “F” word for Labour: I say it is F for failed.
 
And what is the “F” word for the Conservatives: I say it is F for fake.

Failed ……. Fake ……. Nothing could contrast more with what we want for the future

The core of the Liberal Democrat manifesto will be short, direct and to the point.

We have stripped away everything that is not essential because the country cannot afford it.

And we have set out in detail – more directly than any other party – how we will tackle the crisis in our nation’s finances.

We won’t make a single promise to the British people without saying exactly how we will pay for it.

We have taken some difficult decisions. I know it is not easy to put on hold some long-standing party commitments that we won’t be able to deliver in the next Parliament.

But it is the right thing to do – because we will not make promises we can’t keep.

But what we can promise is four big steps to a fairer Britain.

Only four.

But four big changes – more significant than anything Labour or the Tories will offer - to reshape the country we live in.

Fair taxes.
 
A new, fair start for all children at school.
 
A rebalanced, green economy.
 
And clean, open politics.

These four pledges are the main subjects of our debates this weekend so let me say something about each.

Fair taxes first. Thanks to Labour and the Tories, the poorest people lose more of their income in tax than the richest. That’s not fairness.

A banker pays only a fifth of his capital gains in tax, while the person who cleans his office gives a third of their meagre wage to the taxman. That’s not fairness.

Our plan is simple: we will make the first £10,000 you earn tax free.

I believe this is the single most radical, distinctive, and fair policy on offer from any party at this election.

That will put £700 into the pockets of almost every working person. £1400 for the average family with two earners.
 
Real money back in the pockets of people who are struggling to make ends meet.

Over 3 million more of the lowest paid people will pay no income tax at all. That’s fairness.

Every week in the Highlands, I meet families who are facing real financial difficulties. Income falling, bills to pay, children to feed and clothe.

They see all the money going to the banks, hear all the talk of cuts, and ask ‘who is standing up for me?’

The answer is the Liberal Democrats.

We’ll pay for it by closing loopholes exploited by the wealthy.

Yes, Lord Ashcroft, that does mean you as well. It’s time to stop thinking you can pass laws, buy seats, but not pay our taxes.

I’m not saying that Lord Ashcroft uses his money to buy influence – but he has had Christmas Number 1 in Belize for the last 15 years in a row.

We will tax capital gains the same as income. End higher rate relief on pension contributions. A new mansion tax paid on the value of homes over £2 million, and fair taxes on polluting air travel.

It is only the Liberal Democrats who are brave enough to tell some of the wealthiest people in the land that – at a time when millions of families are struggling to get by - they will have to pay more.

The first £10,000 you earn, tax free. That’s fairness.

Second, a fair chance for all children.

Under Labour and the Tories in the UK, a child’s chances in life are more closely linked to their parent’s income than anywhere else in Europe. That’s not fairness.

Our plan will give every child the individual attention they need to reach their full potential.

We will cut class sizes to help every child do better.

We are the only party that will spend more on schools - targeted at the children who need the most help.

Head-teachers will be freed to spend that money on what they think will make the most difference. Whether it is smaller classes, more one-to-one tuition, or after school classes.

Even in the depths of the recession, we will find new money for education – by scaling back tax credits to better off families – because it is so important to the future of our country.

Third, a new, rebalanced economy.

Labour and the Tories have been so in thrall to the City, they ignored the rest of the economy and caused the longest recession on record. That’s not fairness.

The Liberal Democrats, with Vince Cable as chancellor, will break up the banks so that they can never again wreck the economy. And until the break up is complete, our new banking levy is the only credible proposal in British politics to make them pay for the guarantee we give them.

We will build a balanced, sustainable economy – growth that lasts. In our first year in government, we will invest to create new jobs and boost the recovery.

And crucially, that investment will be green.

Labour and Conservatives ignored the environment and pushed nuclear energy, dirty coal, airport expansion. That’s not fairness for future generations.

By investing in new, low carbon industries we can keep people in work while we protect our planet too.

And, of course, we will repair the nation’s finances. This year, government is spending £178 billion more than it raises in tax. Even when the recovery gets fully underway, that gap is predicted to be £78 billion.

If we don’t close that gap over the next few years, our economy will be ruined. We will set out – in detail – our plans to guarantee that won’t happen.

Our measures include: the banking levy, scrapping the child trust fund, no like-for-like replacement of Trident, capping public sector pay rises, scrapping ID cards and biometric passports.

I could go on – but I am sure Vince has much more to say on this later.

But I will add that it says something when the Financial Times thinks you’re the most credible party on reducing the deficit.

The Liberal Democrats have the best plan for fixing the economy. We are the best guarantee this country has of future financial stability.

Fourth, clean and decent politics.

Under Labour and the Tories, the broken political system has given government’s total power with a small minority of votes. That’s not fairness.

They have conspired to create a corrupt system of expenses, and then allow those who break the rules to hang on in office. That’s not fairness.

They have hovered up power from communities and councils to the centre. That’s not fairness.

Our plan will put power back where it belongs: with the people.
 
A fair voting system to end safe seats and ensure representative government;
 
Giving people the power to sack their MPs if they break the rules;
 
Power taken from Westminster and given to communities;
 
An end to big money in politics. 

Reforming politics is essential to make the country fairer.

On top of these steps, our manifesto will also set out how a Liberal Democrat government will:

Protect the NHS frontline, using the health savings we find to safeguard services.
Immediately restore the link between pensions and earnings, so pensioners don’t fall further behind when growth returns.
Use the amount of money we would save by scrapping ID cards to put 3000 more police on the beat.
Cut desk jobs at the MOD so we can pay our brave service men and women a decent living wage.
 
Conference, I have known Nick Clegg for 15 years and have worked with him closely since he became our leader – as his chief of staff and on this manifesto.

I can tell you that of the three party leaders, he is the best qualified of them all to be Prime Minister. He is plain-speaking, tells it as he sees it, and most importantly his politics is motivated by his deeply held belief that this country needs to be fairer. His leadership is what our country needs.

He has been clear from the start that these difficult times mean we must be clear about our priorities:

Fair taxes.
 
A fair start for all children.
 
A rebalanced, green economy.
 
And clean, open politics.
 
I want to be clear about one thing: those four steps are a unified package. They must be implemented together if we are to get the fairness we want in Britain. All for one, and one for all.

The more Liberal Democrat votes, the more Liberal Democrat MPs, the more power we will have to deliver our package for a fairer Britain.

The next election isn't between Brown and Cameron, much though they would both like to pretend that it is.
 
It's between the old way of doing politics and the real change represented by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

I know we are ready to lead this country. In fact, I believe we are the only party with a clear plan that can lead the country out of the mess we are in.
 
If you want change, vote for the only Party that will bring about change. Change that works for you – vote for the Liberal Democrats.
 

Vince Cable speech to Liberal Democrat Spring Conference

In his speech, Vince Cable will say that the Liberal Democrats are the party of fiscal responsibility and fairer taxes.
 
Extracts from the speech are below:
 
I have a very simple message.
We, the Liberal Democrats, were right about the financial crisis.
We warned of the dangers and we led the debate when the crisis came.
And now we have a clear vision for the future of the British economy.
 
What the public wants to know is who can guide the country out of the present morass: the broken, discredited, banking system; the deepest and longest post war recession, whose effects are far from over; and levels of government borrowing which are not sustainable. We can.
 
The banking collapse and recession have dug a deep hole in the Government’s finances. The next government will have to deal every single day with the consequences. The growing worry about sovereign debt means that there is no hiding place. Nor should there be. It grates to have the economy held to ransom by currency speculators and the clowns in the rating agencies who missed the Icelandic crash and so badly misjudged the safety of banks. But any Government, of any hue, will have to depend on the markets to finance its deficit.
 
We must and will be fiscally responsible. 
 
Unlike the Tories and their cronies who want to create a financial panic and run on sterling to frighten people into voting for them on May 6th.  Playing fast and loose with the financial stability of this country for political gain – destabilising the markets – is dangerous, irresponsible and wrong. 
 
Fairness is crucial.
The public will accept austerity for a time if the burdens are fairly shared. They will not accept it from a Government that imposes hardship on the majority while rewarding rich cronies, grovelling to tax exiles and non-doms and ignoring the widening inequalities in income and wealth.  So we will change our unfair tax system. 
 
3.6 million people who earn less than £10,000 will no longer pay any income tax at all. Pensioners will be £100 better off and the average person’s income tax bill cut by £700. We will pay for the tax cut by blocking tax loopholes that favour the wealthy and taxing their wealth in their mansions worth over £2 million: in other words the people who profited from the boom on our Fantasy Island will pay their fair share.
 
People are desperate to see the back of this Labour government. But they don’t want the same old Tories.
 
There is an alternative.
 
In just over 50 days there will be a general election. We know that people want to vote for a party that will radically change our economy in a financially responsible way. And that will change our society and our politics for the better.  Our job is to show them we are that party.  Our job is to make sure that on May 6th they vote Liberal Democrat. I know we can.  With your help and work – and your passion and belief – we will.
 

This will be the biggest fight of our political lives says Clegg

Extracts from the speech are below:
 
This election is still wide open.
The people out there still haven’t made up their minds.
All bets are off.
 
This Government knows it’s come to the end of the road.
The Tories know people have started to see through them.
And voters know the Liberal Democrats offer something different.
They’ve seen us calling it right, taking a stand, putting principles back into politics…
And they believe us when we say:
Don’t waste this election.
Even if you feel hopeless after everything the other parties have put you through.
Don’t give up on change.
And don’t accept anything less than change that works for you.
 
But don’t think it’s going to be easy.
It’s going to be tough.
Tougher than anything we’ve ever done, because the closer we get the harder our opponents will fight to keep us down.
 
They’ll get nasty; they’ll get personal…
But when it’s really tough, thank your lucky stars you’re not a Labour activist… Desperately trying to keep a brave face on even though defeat is just round the corner.
 
Thank your lucky stars you’re not a Tory activist…
Certain for so long that victory would fall into your lap, only to discover now that the country’s not convinced.
 
But on Monday morning I want you to get out there and go for broke in what will be the biggest fight of our political lives.

Longest serving Tory in Europe joins the Liberal Democrats

Edward McMillan-Scott, the Conservative’s most senior MEP, has joined the Liberal Democrats.

The former leader of the Conservative MEPs who stood against Tory-backed Michal Kaminski has announced his defection to the Liberal Democrats at the Party’s Spring Conference in Birmingham.

Edward McMillan-Scott, the Vice-President of the European Parliament with responsibility for human rights and democracy, was welcomed to the Liberal Democrats by Leader Nick Clegg.

Edward McMillan-Scott, MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire said: “I have been around the higher circles of the Conservative Party for long enough to fear that on Europe Cameron says one thing in opposition and will do another in Government.

“I have long fought against totalitarianism and the extremism and religious persecution it brings. It was wrong of Cameron to associate with MEPs who have extremist pasts in his new European alliance.

“My reasons for joining the Liberal Democrats are that in Nick Clegg they have a leader whom I like, admire and respect. They are internationalists, not nationalists. They are committed to politics based the values of fairness and change.

“From being a liberal Conservative I become a conservative Liberal. Most of my family are liberals: I am pleased to join the Liberal family.”
 
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:

“I am delighted to welcome Edward McMillan-Scott to the Liberal Democrats.
 
“For many years he has fought for human rights and democracy world wide and he is rightly a respected politician across Europe.
 
“As someone of principle he has refused to cosy up to right wing extremists, despite pressure from the Tory machine.
 
“This flies in the face of David Cameron’s claims of change. It shows that people of principle, who believe in fairness and want real change for Britain are at home in the Liberal Democrats.”

Liberal Democrats reveal election slogan

The slogan is being used at the party’s Spring Conference in Birmingham this weekend.

Commenting, Nick Clegg’s Chief of Staff, Danny Alexander said:

“This election will be about fairness and change and the Liberal Democrats are the only party that will deliver both.
 
“The Labour Party has let people down, they failed to make Britain fair, failed on the economy, failed to protect our environment and they failed to clean up politics.

 
“Everybody knows that the Conservatives will only make things better for those at the top.
 
“The Liberal Democrats are different because we are the only party that will deliver a fairer Britain and bring change that works for you.”

LD2010 Issue Four: Spring Conference comes to Birmingham

Spring Conference 2010: Birmingham

For the first time, Birmingham will be playing host to the Liberal Democrats' spring conference. Whether you are attending or not, we want you to be able to be part of it. All the latest speeches and motions, videos and photos will be available online. Read more >

On Saturday Nick will be holding an online Q & A for all those not attending conference.
Find out more >

Nick Clegg calls for a rebalance of British foreign policy

“The real truth is that the future of British foreign policy is as much in the balance as the future of our economy, or the future of our political system,” said Nick in a speech to Chatham House on Wednesday.
Read more >

Lynne Featherstone launches policy for young people

This week Lynne launched the party's ‘Free to be Young’ policy paper outlining Liberal Democrat commitments to youth in Britain. The paper will be discussed this Saturday in Birmingham.
Read more >

Liberal Democrats celebrate International Women's Day

Monday saw the launch of the Campaign for Body Confidence to coincide with International Women’s Day. Women across the party pledged their support and commitment to equality.
Read more >



Graphics competition: ACT Creative 

A couple of weeks ago we launched a competition for creative people everywhere to design and submit a poster based on the theme of ‘Fairness.’

There is still time from you to submit your entries via our social network ACT.

The best entries will be put to a vote by ACT users and the winner will support our online election campaign messages.

We need a public inquiry into new nuclear says Hughes

Commenting, Simon Hughes said:

“It would be completely unacceptable for the Government to rush through new nuclear in its last days in office without a public inquiry.
 
“New reactors still haven’t been approved and no-one knows how we’re going to deal with the deadly waste.
 
“Ed Miliband has made himself judge and jury having already expressed a clear view on new nuclear.
 
“The Liberal Democrats are strongly opposed to a new generation of nuclear power. We must have an immediate full and transparent public inquiry before any decision is made.”

Social care commitment needed from Labour and Tories says Lamb

Commenting following today’s cross party Age UK, at which the health spokespeople of the three main parties met to discuss the reform of social care, Norman Lamb said:
 
“It’s clear from today’s social care summit that voters want politicians to come together and solve one of the biggest social challenges facing our country.
 
“We need long-term solutions to this problem so that older people are treated with the respect they deserve. We cannot continue with the current system where people have to sell their homes to pay for care and the quality of care on offer is not up to scratch.
 
“There was broad agreement that solving the crisis in social care is going to require a partnership between the state and individuals and if the other parties are willing then there is no reason why the current differences in opinion should be insurmountable.
 
“Liberal Democrats want to put an end to the political bickering. We are willing to work with the other parties to solve this problem once and for all. There should be no preconditions and we are open to all ideas that seek a solution that will be fair, affordable and sustainable.
 
“Rather than shouting at each other let’s have a commitment from all three parties to start finding a solution now.”

We must rebalance our foreign policy that is over-reliant on the US

Nick Clegg said:
 
“Gordon Brown and David Cameron want to pretend that foreign policy is not an issue at the General Election. Gordon Brown doesn’t want to remind voters of the disastrous decision to go to war in Iraq. David Cameron doesn’t want to remind voters that he is friendless in Europe.
 
“The real truth is that the future of British foreign policy is as much in the balance as the future of our economy, or the future of our political system.
 
“This election is an opportunity to turn the page on the Labour-Conservative consensus on foreign policy which has been in place since the Suez crisis: one of following what the White House wants rather than leadership in Europe and the world.
 
“Of course our relationship with the US is of immense importance, but that should not mean that Britain unquestionably does what America wants when it is not in our interests to do so. On Iraq, on Russia, on the Middle East, on the interrogation of torture suspects and many other issues our strategic interests have differed.
 
“Baroness Manningham-Buller’s admission that the US kept our security forces in the dark about unacceptable interrogation techniques only confirms the impression of an unbalanced and unequal relationship.
 
“That is why, in the same way we must rebalance an economy that is over-reliant on bankers, we must rebalance foreign policy that is over-reliant on the White House. It is time to repatriate British foreign policy by standing tall in our European backyard and pursuing a policy of partnership – not followership – with our friends in the US.
 
“At this General Election only the Liberal Democrats realise what is at stake and are prepared to spell out what a different foreign policy would look like.”

Liberal Democrats launch policy for young people

Launching the paper at The Salmon Youth Centre in Bermondsey, the policy outlined how the Liberal Democrats will ensure that all young people have better access to after-school facilities, comprehensive support and training for those entering the workplace and legislation in place to stamp out homophobic bullying.

The paper includes proposals to:

• Introduce a new ‘Paid Internship’ scheme allowing 800,000 young people to receive a ‘Training Allowance’ of £55 a week for up to 3 months
  
  
• Support schools, colleges and apprenticeship schemes to promote opportunities for disabled children and young people
  
  
• Immediately remove young people under 16 from the National DNA Database unless they have committed a sexual or violent offence
  
  
• Ensure that all schools include ways to tackle homophobic bullying and at least one teacher in every school has sufficient training to do so
  
  
• Cut back on bureaucracy and red tape so youth organisations are free to be creative and flexible

Commenting, Lynne Featherstone said:

“It is clear that Labour will continue to fail our young people and the Conservatives will ignore them completely.

“While youth organisations are left to do their vital work on a shoestring, greedy bankers are bailed out by the taxpayer and flaunt their bonuses while we watch every penny.

“Our young people will inherit an economy where it is tougher then ever to enter the work place.

“It is high time that realistic measures are put in place to support the future workforce from mass unemployment and crippling debt.

“Only the Liberal Democrats will give young people and those who work with them the chance for a real future.”

Brown is leading with a weak hand says Cable

Responding to the Prime Minister’s economic speech this morning and the announcement of the Budget date, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable said:

“Gordon Brown’s speech shows he is leading with a weak hand.

“It’s very difficult to see how the man who claimed to have abolished boom and bust can campaign on his stewardship of the economy after the greatest bust for decades.

“The only reason he is, of course, is because the Conservatives are even worse. The only consistent thing about their economic policy is that they have been consistently wrong.

“The Budget must clearly spell out where Labour intend to make spending cuts in order to tackle the budget deficit.  All we have seen from the Prime Minister today is more waffle.

“Gordon Brown admits that there are bumps in the road ahead.  The public know that and expect all parties to follow the Liberal Democrat lead and tell them where the bumps are and how we will be navigating our way over and around them.”

Half of schools not good enough says Laws

Commenting on today’s Ofsted figures, which show that half the schools they inspected last term were considered to be no better than ‘satisfactory’, David Laws said:

“Labour has had 13 years to get a grip on education, but thousands of children still attend schools which are not considered to be providing good standards.
 
“In spite of the controversy about whether these figures can be compared with earlier years, the bottom line is that half of schools inspected were not good enough.
 
“We need more well-led and properly funded schools if we are to address the disadvantages faced by so many young people in Britain.”

Cameron in complete disarray over NI deal says Carmichael

Commenting after a vote at the Northern Ireland Assembly, Alistair Carmichael said:

“It’s time for David Cameron to come clean about the position of his new alliance on policing and justice.

“With the UUP saying one thing, and the Tories saying the complete opposite, voters will struggle to understand what exactly joint Tory/UUP candidates stand for.

“What we’re seeing is the Tories in complete disarray. When it takes George Bush to step in as the voice of reason, it’s clear that David Cameron has dug himself a very big hole.

“This raises serious questions about David Cameron’s judgement. If he can’t manage to steer a straight course in opposition, how on earth would he cope as Prime Minister?”