Clegg appeals to coalition doubters

LIB DEM leader Nick Clegg yesterday urged doubters to “stick with” the party in its coalition with the Conservative party so that it could tackle the United Kingdom’s deficit and cut public spending and welfare.

Mr Clegg’s first speech to conference since the coalition was formed in May was written to allay supporters’ concerns at conference, rather than for a public audience.

“I am so, so proud of the quiet courage and determination which you have shown through this momentous period in British political history,” the deputy prime minister said. Lib Dems must hold their nerve and they will have changed British politics for good by the time voters go to the polls in 2015, he said.

However, the leadership received one significant reversal when delegates overwhelmingly opposed – despite a last-minute plea from a Liberal Democrat minister – the coalition’s intention to allow parents, businesses and others to set up schools and to give head teachers more control. Despite the vote, however, Conservative education secretary Michael Gove will press ahead with his drive to create academies and free schools.

The vote on the schools’ motion reflected the deep unease felt by many Lib Dems about their future, but so far it cannot be argued that Mr Clegg’s strategy of taking the party into power with the Conservatives is under any serious threat. However, tensions are expected to surface next month when Tory chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne produces the results of a review of all public spending. The cutting of some government departments’ budgets by up to 25 per cent will then begin.

Mr Clegg, borrowing on a tactic used by Irish Government Ministers in the recent past, argued that this would still leave British State spending at 2006 levels. “I’ve heard some people say that the cuts we are making are somehow taking Britain back to the 1980s, or the 1930s. Dismantling the state; it isn’t true.”

In particular, he sought to reject the Labour Party’s contention that the cuts are driven by a Tory party desire for a smaller influence for the state: “I want to make something crystal clear about the coming spending review. It is not an ideological attack on the size of the state. There is one reason and one reason only for these cuts: As Liam Byrne said in that infamous letter, ‘there isn’t any money left’. ”

Insisting that the Lib Dems did not have a choice in the post-election negotiations, he told his audience: “Imagine if we had turned away. How could we ever again have asked the voters to take us seriously? Labour left the country’s coffers empty, so the years ahead will not be easy. But you do not get to choose the moment when the opportunity to shape your country comes your way. All you get to choose is what you do when it does. We chose a partnership government.”

Conservative leader David Cameron had surprised him, he said. “The truth is I never expected the Conservatives to embrace negotiation and compromise . . . David Cameron showed he could think beyond his party and help build a new kind of politics.”

The election result didn’t give a single party the mandate to govern, he said. It gave all parties the mandate to govern differently.

“We answered that call. And one of the most remarkable surprises of this coalition government is that our parties are not, despite so many cynical predictions, simply settling for the lowest common denominator between us. Instead, we have become more than the sum of our parts.

“For those of us who believe in plural politics, that’s not a surprise.

“In life, two heads are usually better than one,” said the Liberal Democrat leader.