As the “For Sale” signs go up on City Link’s Black Country HQ in Midland Road, Darlaston, questions need to be asked as to why the company chose to close this particular hub as opposed to the one in Coventry says Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Shires.

“It’s all well and good Walsall Tories blaming the recession and the Labour Government” said Ian, “My fear is that with the Tories saying nationally that they would cut harder and sooner than both Labour and the Lib Dems the Black Country could be heading for a return to the Thatcher era when vast swathes of employment land were laid to waste.”

“I am surprised at the inertia and the sence of the inevitable being displayed by Walsall’s Tory Regeneration supremo on this issue, or is it because it’s the wrong side of the M6?” continued Ian.

“This is a high profile site which straddles the Black Country Route for this to remain idle once City Link goes would be send out all the wrong messages about this area. We need to know why City Link chose to close this site over the Coventry site, and then set about addressing those issues” concluded Ian.

“Labour promised mothers a choice over where to give birth at the last election but they simply haven’t delivered,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary.

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s announcement that expectant mothers will be given new rights about where they give birth, Norman Lamb said:
 
“Gordon Brown is living in a fantasy land. Labour promised mothers a choice over where to give birth at the last election but they simply haven’t delivered.
 
“Mothers aren’t being given a choice because there simply aren’t enough midwives to handle the growing birth rate. Nothing that Labour is proposing will address that problem.
 
“Rather than reeling off even more undeliverable pledges, Labour should concentrate on delivering on the promises they’ve already made. Recruiting extra midwives so that everyone can have a safe birth should clearly be the number one priority.”

Jim Murphy and Alex Salmond have today welcomed the leasing of sites for marine renewable energy generation off Scotland, despite the fact that their respective governments’ flagship schemes have paid out nothing to fund marine energy technologies.

Liberal Democrat research has found that:

• Not one project has yet received funding from the UK Government’s £42m Marine Renewables Deployment Fund
• Not one project has yet received funding from the Scottish Government’s Saltire Prize, although over £77,000 has been spent on advertising it 

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Scotland Secretary, Alistair Carmichael said:

“Governments in London and Edinburgh have delivered little more than rhetoric on renewables so far.

“Today’s announcements are welcome, but this is the start of a process rather than the end.

“Both Labour and the SNP’s flagship marine energy funds have paid out nothing to technologies crying out for support.

“The politicians falling over themselves to welcome these announcements must now make sure they deliver on their earlier commitments to ensure we see real progress.”

“Both parties need to agree to a cross-party Commission designed to reach agreement within a year,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary.

Commenting on today’s King’s Fund report on social care, Norman Lamb said:

“Today’s report supports the Liberal Democrat view that the fairest way to fund social care in the future is through a partnership between individuals and the state.

“While everyone agrees that the social care system is in urgent need of reform we have to be realistic about the state of the public finances. That’s why it’s so important that all the major parties sit down together and work this out.

“Older voters won’t be fooled by Labour and Tory attempts to win their votes with piecemeal policies. Both parties need to agree to a cross-party Commission designed to reach agreement within a year.”

 Something big is missing from the public debate about the deficit.
The public.
Politicians, economists and business leaders have been firing pot-shots at one another for well over 18 months on this issue.
But so far it has been a process largely confined to a political and economic bubble in Westminster, Whitehall and the City of London.
The debate has been cut off from the realities of people’s everyday lives.

We have had groups of economists trading letters in the newspapers about the best time to begin fiscal contraction.
We have had Alistair Darling and George Osborne, Gordon Brown and David Cameron using these disparate economic analyses to score points off one another in TV studios and the House of Commons.
We have had lists of demands from the CBI and the Institute of Directors.
We have had commentary from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Half of the debate has been political posturing, and the other half elevated economic theorising.

There is an enormous risk ahead.
In a democracy, dramatic change cannot be imposed from above or it will fail.
It has to be led by a process of political engagement.
You only have to look at the scale of industrial unrest in Greece to see that it is impossible to reduce a public deficit quickly if you do not find a way to persuade people to go along with the process.
And you only have to look at the success of the fiscal contraction in Canada, where a purposeful attempt was made to engage the public, to see that it is possible to rally support for deficit reduction, and it makes it easier to achieve the necessary cuts.

My point is simple:
If we do not find a way to take the people of Britain with us on this difficult journey of deficit reduction…
We will not be able to make the journey.
We will instead follow Greece down the road to economic, political and social disruption.

In my view, regardless of the outcome of the next election…
It is unrealistic to presume that this level of change can be driven through by the standard procedures of Westminster politics.
Our current government was elected with the support of just 22% of eligible voters.
How can a government elected without majority support ever command majority support for something as painful as deficit reduction on the scale required?

If a government tries to ram through major change to public spending solely through the usual Westminster combination of machismo and threats from the Whips, it will not only fail…
It could find itself torn to pieces.

The debate on public spending has been too narrowly focused on timing.
It has forgotten the biggest and most essential ingredient of all: how to win public support.

Economists and politicians alike need to remember what public spending is.
Yes: your approach to public spending says a lot about your political identity.
But no: that doesn’t mean the sole purpose of public spending is for ideological positioning.
Yes: the big numbers and the economic trends are important.
But no: that doesn’t mean public spending is just numbers on a balance sheet that can be increased or decreased at will to fit with an economic theory.

Public spending is not just numbers.
Public spending is nurses’ and doctors’ salaries.
It is text books and computers in the classroom.
It is police on the streets and judges in the court room.
It is the difference between decent tanks and soldiers dying from roadside bombs.
Public spending is the difference for millions of families between making ends meet and having to go without.
Reducing it is going to be extremely difficult.
And it will be painful.

The scale of the deficit we are dealing with at the moment is enormous.
£175bn this year.
12 and a half percent of GDP.
A deficit of which the Government thinks up to £80bn is structural, meaning it will not be eliminated by anticipated economic growth.
One of the worst myths being peddled by some within both Labour and Conservative parties at the moment is that the deficit can be eliminated simply through better management, efficiency drives and waste reduction.
As if we can reduce public spending by as £80bn or more a year without anyone noticing.
That is not true, and it is wrong to pretend otherwise.
Even efficiencies usually mean redundancies, and that means more people out of work.
The truth is that to eliminate the deficit, we are going to have to look in detail at everything the government does…
And some of them will simply have to stop.

This is an unprecedented challenge in the modern era.
We need to bring about the biggest fiscal contraction in post-war political history.
This will mean enormously tight spending rounds for many years to come.
Liberal Democrats will be setting out in advance of the election a full plan for £15bn a year of savings that can be delivered by 2012…
Assuming the economy is in a strong enough position by then to bear this level of fiscal restraint.
But we are the first to admit that our plan does not yet go far enough.
Even by end of the next Parliament, there will be another £10-15bn of savings to find over what we have announced and the Government has already found.
With another £40bn of savings in today’s prices that need to be identified by 2018.
And those figures, enormous though they are, are all built on the presumption of decent growth and that the government’s proposed 8-year timetable for deficit reduction remains appropriate.
Liberal Democrats believe we may need to revisit both the timetable and the level of savings required…
If borrowing conditions worsen dramatically, if growth does not match up to Treasury expectations or if the structural element of the deficit turns out to be larger than estimated.

Let’s be absolutely straightforward about this.
There is no serious doubt that at some point in the next eight years…
The government is going to have to stop spending as much as 10% of what it spends today.
This is not just a huge challenge for the mandarins and the politicians who will have to pore over the books of every department in search of cuts to make…
It is a huge challenge for every citizen of the United Kingdom…
All the millions of people who have to adjust to a new kind of environment for public spending.

We have to ease the pain.
We have to make sure people are bought into, not alienated by, the process of deficit reduction.
And ensure that cuts do not undermine fairness, but strengthen it.
I have identified three principles on which the process of deficit reduction should be based.
They are timing, consultation and fairness.
By sticking to these three principles, I believe we can buy people into the process of governmental change ahead.

First: timing.
This has, at least, been the subject of extensive debate, but good economics has been crowded out by political dogma.
My approach is simple:
We must get the timing right because if we cut public spending too quickly, we risk undermining a nascent recovery…
And undermining the growth in tax receipts that is so desperately needed.
It’s like cutting back a tree – do it at the wrong time of year, and you will kill the tree.
Do it at the right time, and you help it to grow strong.

That is why Vince Cable and I have set out five objective economic conditions that we will assess when judging when public spending should begin to be cut.
These are: the rate of growth; the level of unemployment; credit conditions; the extent of spare capacity in the economy and the cost of Government borrowing.
Our working assumption is that the conditions will be right for cuts from 2011-12, but not before.
So in our first year of office, we will recycle the money from any cuts we can identify…
Like taking the top 20% of claimants out of the tax credit system…
Into an economic stimulus and job creation package…
To help kick-start the economy on a greener footing.

This jobs plan will be fiscally neutral…
But it will get up to 100,000 people back into work.
Demonstrating a clear commitment from government to put jobs and growth first.
Ensuring there is a clear benefit to individuals from the initial cuts we make…
And helping win public support for change.

The second principle on which deficit reduction plans should be based is consultation.
It would be completely wrong for officials and ministers of whatever government is elected on May 6 to lock themselves in a room for a few months and announce a plan.
The outcome would be instant anger and alienation.
Imagine it:
Knowing nothing for week after week about whether your job was secure…
Your benefits were protected…
Or your school was safe…
Waiting for the announcements, unclear about the future and unable to influence the outcome.
And when the announcements came…
It would be like twenty Budget days come all at once.
Everyone desperately trying to work out from the small print how they will be affected.

You simply cannot cancel one in ten pounds of government spending without asking people – the people who run public services and the people who use them – how best to do it.
I believe Britain must learn from the approach taken by the Liberal government in Canada in the 1990s.
At that time, Canada had an annual budget deficit a tenth the size of its economy…
Almost as large as the UK’s is today.
Rather than making cuts behind closed doors, the Liberal Government realised that if people were to understand what needed to be done they had to talk to them.
They held a massive consultation.
About every last line of public spending.
Asking the people who really knew: what to cut and what to protect.
And they managed to eliminate that vast deficit in four years…
Taking the people with them.

Liberal Democrats will follow Canada’s lead.
After the election, we will hold an emergency budget and interim spending review which will put in place cuts which could be realised within the financial year, such as scrapping the Child Trust Fund or restricting tax credits, to release money for our job and infrastructure package.
Subject to our five economic tests being met, that interim spending review will also put into place the cuts for 2011-12 identified in our manifesto.
Then, throughout the summer and early autumn…
We will hold a comprehensive spending review of all departments…
Consulting for three or four months with people in every part of Britain…
In every industry…
Of every age.
Not just to win support…
But to seek ideas.

The people who use public services and the people who run them know far better than ministers and mandarins what is needed and what is not.
Last autumn I set up a website called Ask the People in the Know, where I sought ideas from public servants about how and where to cut.
We were flooded with hundreds of suggestions.
From wasteful procurement practices to unnecessary projects.
People out there in the country are full of ideas.
We just need to harness those ideas, using the innovative capacity of everyone in Britain to tackle this unprecedented national challenge.

The third essential principle is fairness.
It’s a fundamental British value.
It’s something everyone instinctively understands.
It must be right at the centre of our minds when we look for savings that can be made.
Not just because it is right in principle…
But also because it is the only way to maintain solidarity…
And ensure continued public support for deficit reduction.
No-one will support cuts to public spending that seem to have an unfair impact on the people most in need of help.

So we need to choose cuts that have a fair impact.
We need to keep the door open to limited new spending, where it is essential for fairness.
And we need to put fairness into our tax system, too.
So people do not feel they are being forced to pay through the nose for disappearing services.

Identifying cuts that have a fair impact is challenging.
But possible.
Our proposal for restraint in public sector pay, for example.
Instead of proposing a blanket freeze, like the Conservatives, or a 1% pay rise like Labour…
We propose a cash limit on pay rises of £400.
That will ensure the lower your salary, the higher percentage pay rise you are eligible for.
For an NHS manager on £90,000, £400 is a tiny increase.
But for a janitor on £12,000, it would be a substantial 3% pay rise.
This proposal is not only right in principle, because it means those with the broadest shoulders take the greatest strain…
It is also right for practical purposes because it is fair, and will therefore secure broader support for pay restraint that may have to last for several years.

In other areas, it is only possible to make cuts fair if you redirect some of the money into alternate spending.
Liberal Democrats will not, for these reasons, put every penny we can save into deficit reduction…
We will use one third of that money for alternate spending…
To really enshrine fairness in our society.
We propose a pupil premium, worth £2.5bn a year for our schools, targeted at helping children from the most deprived backgrounds, but making it possible for schools to cut class sizes and increase one-to-one tuition to the benefit of everyone.
We propose 3,000 more police on the beat
We propose a pay rise for our troops, especially those at the more junior ranks.

If all people hear is austerity and cuts…
They will lose hope.
If people see that there are choices being made…
That some cuts are being used to improve their lives or the lives of those in tremendous need…
They will be readier to support the process.
And rightly so.

Fairness must not just be constrained to what government spends money on, however.
We need to put fairness into our tax system, too, to win support.
That is where our fair tax package comes in.
Liberal Democrats propose the most radical reform of our tax system in a generation.
We will ensure no-one pays tax on the first £10,000 they earn, paid for by closing loopholes that unfairly benefit those at the top and increasing taxes on polluting aircraft.
That means complete freedom from income tax for 3.6m low earners and pensioners.
And £700 in the pockets of tens of millions more.

This is the right thing to do for the sake of fairness, correcting the imbalance that has long meant the poorest pay a higher proportion of their income in tax than the richest.
It is the right thing to do for economic recovery, too, as it will put money back in the pockets of millions of people who are currently struggling…
And the evidence suggests a high proportion of that money will be spent, circulating in the economy and driving consumer demand.
But our tax changes are also part of a grand bargain between a future government of whatever composition…
And the British people who want to see they are being looked after and supported even as the deficit is reduced and public spending falls.

Most people recognise that paying taxes is a social obligation, by which we contribute to shared services that we depend on as a community.
But how can anyone feel positive about paying taxes when they see the wealthiest people getting out of paying their dues?
And how much anger will it create if people feel they are paying too much tax at the same time as losing public services on which they depend?

Our tax package offers a way forward: the means by which public support for his long and difficult process can be won and maintained.
Tax cuts for millions will sweeten the very bitter pill of the largest fiscal contraction in modern history.
If we do not implement these changes…
It will be impossible to rally people behind public sector spending cuts…
And any serious attempt to cut the deficit will fail.

By making the tax system fair…
We can ensure people see the benefit of change…
We can ensure that cuts to public spending do not hurt individual families who cannot take the strain.
And we can ensure that the process of reducing the deficit carries public opinion instead of alienating already disenfranchised voters from the political process.

Reducing the deficit will be one of the biggest challenges for the next government, whatever its complexion.
With several public sector unions already campaigning against government proposals for spending restraint…
While business organisations campaign for tax cuts…
It is clear that the political challenge will be as large, if not larger, than the practical challenge.

Deficit reduction will take the best part of a decade.
It will take great courage and effort to maintain public support for restraint and austerity for such a long period of time.
One-off bribes such as those Labour is predicted to include in the budget will not sustain support over the long term.
But I believe if fairness is put first in identifying cuts…
If tax reform is brought forward to put money back the pockets of the millions of people who depend on public services…
If government makes the effort to ask the people who run public services and the people who use them for their ideas on how and what to cut…
And if growth is nurtured by maintaining public spending for one more year, while recovery is still fragile…
It will be possible.
We will be able to reduce the deficit…
Protect the nation’s financial position…
And build a stronger, fairer and more united Britain.

“We must not cut Government spending too soon and risk plunging a fragile recovery back into recession,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor.

Commenting on the EU Commission report that recommends that more should be done to cut Britain’s fiscal deficit, Vince Cable said:

“The Government’s position on the size of the structural deficit and the speed at which it must be cut is the minimum.

“We must not cut Government spending too soon and risk plunging a fragile recovery back into recession.

“Cuts without economic growth will not deal with the deficit.

“To be credible all parties must not only show when they will tackle the deficit, but also what they will cut.”

The Electoral Commission consulted four lawyers – two Queen’s Counsel and two junior counsel – at a total cost of £81,000 before it cleared Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Conservative Party through Bearwood Corporate Services, according to a Parliamentary answer to the Liberal Democrats.

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

“It is appalling that the Electoral Commission has had to go to four different lawyers, on top of its own legal team, at a total cost of £81,000 before they got the answer that they wanted, which was to give the all clear to Lord Ashcroft’s dodgy donations.
 
“The Electoral Commission should now publish all the legal advice so that others can make a judgement about whether to challenge this decision in the courts.
 
“This smacks of the sort of legal tourism we saw in the Government over the illegal war in Iraq and at Lehman’s before it collapsed, where some lawyers wouldn’t give the opinion they wanted so they moved on until they found one who would.”

“On average, a £10,000 debt repaid at the minimum rate will still take more than 35 years to pay off,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Secretary.

Commenting on new rules on the cost of credit card borrowing announced by the Government today, John Thurso said:

“Credit card interest rates have been hiked to their highest levels since June 2006 despite the fact that interest rates have bottomed out at 0.5%. We need a maximum interest rate put in place to end this profiteering.

“It’s right that the most expensive debt should be paid off first but the Government’s lack of action on minimum repayments means that credit card debt will still take decades to repay.

“On average, a £10,000 debt repaid at the minimum rate will still take more than 35 years to pay off.

“Credit cards will remain a very expensive way to borrow. The Government must do more to provide financial advice to all consumers to allow them to make informed lending decisions.”

“Labour has failed when it comes to our children’s health,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary.

Commenting on the Chief Medical Officer’s report released today which calls for fitness tests for children in secondary schools, Norman Lamb said:
 
“Sir Liam Donaldson is right to raise concerns about the state of our children’s health but routine ‘bleep tests’ won’t by themselves solve the obesity crisis facing the country.
 
“Labour has failed when it comes to our children’s health. Gordon Brown claimed three years ago that every child would get the chance to do five hours of sport each week but less than a third are doing it.
 
“It’s hardly surprising that physical activity has declined and obesity soared when ministers spend all their time obsessing about targets, process and surveys.

“Physical activity should be a central part of our children’s lives, not an optional extra. This means protecting playing fields, ensuring lottery money is spent on facilities and improving links between schools and community clubs so kids have somewhere to keep playing sport once they leave school.”

“This is a pretty desperate attempt from Ed Balls to re-package existing deprivation funding for schools,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Schools Secretary.

Commenting on the Government’s launch of a consultation on the future of schools funding, David Laws said:
 
“This is a pretty desperate attempt from Ed Balls to re-package existing deprivation funding for schools.
 
“What is missing is any suggestion of additional money.

“Since it would be politically impossible to cut the budgets of some schools to shift money to others, what Ed Balls is talking about is political posturing not serious policy.”

“If any Government tries to cut back too soon, it will aggravate unemployment, making the deficit worse and compounding the country’s problems,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor.

Responding to the Bank of England’s latest quarterly bulletin and its warnings of job market uncertainty, Vince Cable said:

“This is strong confirmation from the Bank of England that the British economy is still weak.

“Although unemployment is not as bad as it could have been given the extent of the economic collapse, there is still worrying uncertainty.

“The clear implication of the Bank’s analysis is that if any Government tries to cut back too soon, it will aggravate unemployment, making the deficit worse and compounding the country’s problems.

“Each party must set out a clear process of what and how it will cut to tackle the deficit, but when this starts must be guided by economics, not political dogma.”

  Shortly after Nick Clegg’s Conference Speech to the Liberal Democrat Spring Confernce, I received the following email from the Liberal Democrat Leader.  

The speech was well received by Liberal Democrats within the conference hall and throughout the country; I am sure that many people are now thinking of voting for the Lib Dems for the very first at the forthcoming elections – you can now be assured that your vote will not be a wasted vote.

Please take time to read the email from Nick Clegg:  

 Dear Ian,

I’m not the kingmaker.

45 million voters are the kingmakers.

Today I’ve used my keynote speech to our Spring Conference in Birmingham to make that one very simple, very important point. Some days the papers say our party is doing a deal with Labour. Some days the Conservatives. But they can’t predict the future. I can’t predict the future.

Voters should give politicians their marching orders - not the other way around.

We’ve made it clear how our Party will change Britain.

Under the Liberal Democrats, no-one will pay tax on the first £10,000 they earn. That’s the most fundamental change to the tax system for decades.

We will give every child the fair start they deserve, by reducing class sizes and increasing one to one tuition in our schools.

We’ll rebalance the economy so that Britain is no longer just betting on things, but Britain starts building things again.

And we will build a clean, open, fair politics.

Things don’t have to be the way they are. The coming election is a chance to get fairness and to get change.

Almost 1 in 4 voters chose the Liberal Democrats at the last election. If that increased to 1 in 3, we could lead the next government.

That is what we can achieve together. Thank you for all you are doing to bring it about.

With all best wishes,

Nick Clegg MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats

PS. As the election draws closer there is a role for everyone to play in our movement. Thank you for everything you are doing. But if you can make a donation or volunteer to help your local party, it will make a huge difference.

Speaking shortly after the Liberal Democrat Leader’s speech to his party conference, the Former Liberal Democrat Leader, Lord Ashdown rejected assertions that Nick Clegg is in a weak position ahead of the general election and criticised media speculation about a hung parliament.

“It’s a wonderful position, I have never known the party to be in a better position before an election, I have never known the party to be so united behind its leader,” Lord Ashdown said.

“That was a cracking speech, certainly the best he has given,” he said referring to Nick Clegg’s conference speech.

Lord Ashdown said media speculation about a hung parliament was “boring” the voters and going against the “national mood”.

“If you really want to play Mystic Meg and look at the polls and the crystal ball, we can do that, but I don’t think it’s what the voters want,” Lord Ashdown said.

He added that the electoral system in the

.

West Midlands Euro MP Liz Lynne has formally opened the Liberal Democrats’ first national conference to be held in Birmingham.

More than 2,000 Liberal Democrat members and 3,000 media and exhibitors have converged on the International Convention Centre for the Spring Conference of the party, the first time the Liberal Democrats have held their federal conference in Birmingham.

In her inaugural speech at 9am this morning, Liz Lynne formally opened the event with a rallying call for the party to win new seats in Birmingham and across the region in the General Election due within weeks.

She paid tribute to the leadership shown by John Hemming as the city’s first LibDem MP and Paul Tilsley, now deputy leader of the city council and said that the Liberal Democrats had helped to transform the city in recent years to become one of the most dynamic in Europe.

Liz Lynne said: “Labour has offered only false dawn and disappointment, both in their 20 years of power on the Council and 13 years in government.

“But the Conservatives do not offer a tempting alternative. The last Conservative Government presided over two devastating recessions which hit the West Midlands hard. Now, under Labour, we have the worst recession for 80 years.

“Birmingham and the West Midlands has been let down time and time again. The factory at Washwood Heath that made the Pendolino trains - and most London tube trains too - closed. Austin Rover at Longbridge - closed. LDV vans - closed.

“And Cadburys, we had billions of pounds from taxpayer-owned banks being used to fund the takeover nobody wanted.”

“We still have a world class manufacturing capability here, with Jaguar Land Rover now embracing a green future with worldbeating new designs - though they too are having to consolidate with one plant at either Castle Bromwich or Solihull likely to close.

“This recession has hit us hard, make no mistake. In December, it was announced that youth unemployment in Birmingham was now 25% - one in four - the highest of any city in Britain.

“But despite that, Birmingham is changing and still growing. Over the last 50 years it has become one of the most culturally diverse and economically dynamic cities in Europe. We welcome that diversity.

“The last time many of you came to Birmingham might have been the Hodge Hill by election six years ago - where many people commented on the dirty streets, blocked waste chutes in council high rise flats, and money drained from schools.

“That was the reality of life under Labour. Is it any wonder that the voters of Birmingham turned away? Look around now - this city is changing, politics is changing and it is the Liberal Democrats shaping that change. In the Partnership administration, the city is cleaner and greener, crime is falling and services are more efficient.”

“Following the hard work of John Hemming and the hard work of Lorely Burt MP just next door in Solihull, the Liberal Democrats have a superb team of candidates challenging to win right across Birmingham, from Jerry Evans in Hall Green, Tariq Khan in Hodge Hill to Karen Hamilton in Perry Barr, to name but a few.

“Across the city, we are the only choice for change, for fairness and reform. There are just two months to go before the General Election and we are putting our final touches to our policies. I know you will support the programme for fairness that Nick Clegg and Vince Cable have made the centre of our campaign. On behalf of Birmingham Liberal Democrats, welcome, enjoy, and get ready for the General Election.”

Last week councillors, along with representatives from the Partnership and the Police walked the length of the walkways to see for themselves the extent of the abuse that this area is being subjected too.

Virtually the whole length was strewn with litter, cans, garden rubbish, old furniture and there was evidence of illegal activity where plastic had been burned off copper wire and areas where the walkway had been churned up by Quad Bikes and trail bikes.

In the sort term, a massive clean up of the area is to be organised. This will be followed up with plans which will involve the local community in medium to long term solutions to transform the walkways into the attractive amenity that all can enjoy. 

With the announcement recently of plans for a high-speed rail link between Birmingham and London the need for a train station for Willenhall becomes a top priority, say Willenhall Liberal Democrats.

“Now more than ever,we need to have good transport links between Birmingham and the Black Country” said Willenhall South campaigner Dan Barker.

“A train station for Willenhall is a must if the people of Willenhall and local business are to benefit from the 68,000 new jobs predicted by experts KPMG across the West Midlands” said Dan.

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Walsall North and former Willenhall South Focus Team member Nadia Fazal said “The benefits for the local economy and job creation would be a major boost for Willenhall. The only negative comments to the idea have come from the Tories.”

West Midlands Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne who has long campaigned for a high-speed rail link between the West Midlands, London and beyond welcomed the news. “We need to move away from a growing dependence on air travel  within the UK and to major cities in the EU. An expansion of the high-speed rail network will make a significant difference to our carbon footprint” said Liz.

Shall I tell you the one phrase that bothers me more than any other? It’s this.
“That’s just the way things are”.
No. The way things are is not the way they have to be.
 
We do not have to live in a country where the poorest pay the biggest chunk of their income in tax. We do not have to live in a country where politics is the plaything of wealthy donors and corrupt MPs. We do not have to live in a country where the banks can profiteer at the expense of everybody else and our climate is in jeopardy. We do not have to live in a country where children’s chances are determined more by their parents’ background than by their own hopes and dreams.

There is a better way.
 
Imagine instead a primary school with classes of just 20 pupils. Imagine being able to take home the first £10,000 you earn completely free of income tax. Imagine a generation of young people finding work in thriving local manufacturing companies. Imagine being able to sack corrupt MPs, instead of just shouting at them on TV. Imagine knowing your vote counts. Imagine it.

These are not dreams. They are ambitions. Our ambitions. And they are ambitions which can come true if we do things differently.
 
But we will never do things differently as long as the job of governing this country remains a game of pass-the-parcel between the two old parties. For 65 years now we have had Labour and Conservative governments. First the blue team. Then the red. Then blue, then red, and yet nothing really changes. The same old promises, always broken.

No wonder people feel let down. No wonder people feel they shouldn’t expect too much. The old parties have drained our ambition to do things differently. They seem to say: we’ve been in charge for decades – don’t now start hoping for more. That’s just the way things are. No.
 
This year’s election is a huge opportunity. Everybody knows, in their heart of hearts, that we need real change. Everybody knows that the way we got here is not the way out.
 
The time to believe in our ambitions starts today. The time to do something different in politics. The time to fight for a fairer Britain. The time to bring real change. It starts today. Change that works for you.

Something really important has been happening in our politics for years. Something big – but gradual – so you wouldn’t notice it from day to day. There is a vast and growing army of people who look at the two old parties and say “no thanks.” People who, like me, like you, want something different.

In 1951, only 2% of voters chose someone other than Labour or the Conservatives. At the last general election, it was 32%.
 
Now, a gimmick here, or a lucky break there may boost Labour or Conservative poll ratings for a few weeks or months, but it cannot, and will not reverse the trend. Who seriously believes that the British people, offered so much choice in every aspect of our daily lives, will ever again settle for a two-party system? If you have two parties, you only ever have two ideas. Actually that’s on a good day. Most of the time they can’t even rustle up a single good idea between them.
 
Labour: the party of the many. The many disasters. You know their new slogan: a future fair for all.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because they’ve used it before. Seven years ago. Well based on what’s happened since then: it isn’t a slogan – it’s a warning. It’s like advertising a second trip on the Titanic. Gordon Brown’s unsinkable economy. Actually, there is one thing I have to give Gordon Brown credit for: He handled Piers Morgan a lot better than I did.
 
As for the Conservatives: the world’s first offshore political party. It used to be a British party. Now it’s a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lord Ashcroft, a man who collects tax havens the way some people collect beer mats. How can David Cameron claim to clean up politics, when he can’t even clean up his own party chairman? The label still says Made in Britain, but the money says Made in Belize.
 
With these two old parties, it is a dismal choice between the party of the few and the party of no-one. A choice between the wrong direction and backwards. They haven’t noticed people are tired of being told there are only two answers to every question. They haven’t noticed people are ready for something new. Ready for something different. And ready to make it happen.

We have had a great weekend. Coming together, here in Birmingham. To vote through the four big promises that will be the heart of our manifesto. Fair taxes that put money back in your pocket. A fair start at school for every child. A fair economy: protecting and creating jobs by reforming the banks and investing in a green future. And a fair deal for you from politicians, cleaning up and clearing out the rotten old system.
 
We have been rigorous in focusing ourselves on these four pledges. We understand that the days of shopping list manifestos are over. The economic and financial circumstances mean we must choose. To focus on what is essential, and not promise more than we can afford. The party which will win the argument during this General Election will be the party which strikes the right balance between generosity and restraint, hope and realism, spending and saving.
 
That is why I make no apology in stating bluntly that we will never take risks with the public finances. Whether we like it or not, we will have to fix the mess Gordon Brown has made. Without sanity in spending, we won’t be able to protect our public services. We won’t be able to give our brave troops the equipment and support they so desperately need in Afghanistan. We won’t be able to provide the fairness we want for all. The question facing us is not whether to cut the deficit. It is how and when.
 
Everyone who’s ever cut back a tree knows there are many ways to do it. You can cut back badly and kill the tree. Or you can do it in a way that helps the tree to flourish in the future. Encouraging growth in a new direction. So as we reduce the deficit. We must cut in a way that does not make the country less fair.  Or less green. That does not jeopardise front line services in the NHS and schools we all depend on. And does not choke off recovery.
 
Labour is in denial about the need for cuts. This week Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown confirmed the pre election budget won’t include any more details on how to bring the deficit under control.
No courage. No honesty.
Just a miserable attempt to save their own skins.
 
Meanwhile the Conservatives have started to make threats. David Cameron, George Osborne and Ken Clarke marched into the City of London the other day and declared that if voters didn’t give them the result they want, the markets would tear the house down.
Cynical. Desperate.

The Tories think they’re entitled to victory – the moment they feel it slipping from their grasp, they start lashing out. It’s a political version of a protection racket: do what we want, or else.
 
Liberal Democrats are, I believe, the guarantor of good sense. After all, we are the party of Vince Cable. We are the guarantor – whatever the outcome of the election – that no risks will be taken with Britain’s financial position. Liberal Democrats have gone further than any political party in identifying cuts – we will be setting out a programme of savings of £15bn a year by 2012. From ending government contributions to Child Trust Funds to removing the top 20% of claimants from the tax credit system. From cancelling the ID card programme to abolishing the Government Offices for the Regions. We have put together, line by line, the most substantial and deliverable programme of deficit reduction in British politics. And we have taken the bold step of cutting back, dramatically, our proposals for new spending.

Postponing ideas that have long been close to our hearts but which are not immediately affordable. So we can put two thirds of the money we save straight into reducing the deficit.
 
It is the first time in our history that Liberal Democrats have ever set out a plan for net reductions in government spending. But I am the first to admit that it does not go far enough. There will be more to do, and we will have to find these savings together, as a nation. Our plan is a down payment – a declaration of intent. Your guarantee that Liberal Democrats are putting Britain’s financial future at the heart of our plans for government.

People often ask me what the Liberal Democrats will do after the General Election. I’m flattered that people think I can predict the future. The newspapers certainly think they can. Some days I read we’re planning a deal with Labour. Some days that we’re planning a deal with the Conservatives. Other days that we’ll refuse to talk to anyone at all. Yet, when all the speculation is said and done, I keep coming back to some simple truths:
I am not the kingmaker.
The 45 million voters of Britain are the kingmakers.
They give the politicians their marching orders, not the other way round.
It’s called democracy – and I kind of like it.
 
Almost 1 in 4 voters chose the Liberal Democrats at the last election. If that increased to 1 in 3, we could lead the next government. This election is a time for voters to choose, not a time for politicians to play footsie with each other. The party which gets the strongest mandate from the voters will have the moral authority to be the first to seek to govern. And voters are entitled to know what Liberal Democrats will do – in whatever situation we find ourselves in.

This weekend we’ve given the answer:
We will give you fairer taxes. We will make sure your child gets the fair start in life they deserve.
We will create a new, fair economy where we are no longer held hostage by the greed of bankers in the City of London. And we will give you a fair, open and transparent politics after the gross betrayal of the expenses scandal. It really is as simple as that. No-one can guarantee what the election result will be. But I can guarantee what we will always fight to deliver.
 
And if you like what we say. If you share our values. If you want fair taxes, a fair start in life for your child, a fairer economy, and a new, fair politics. Vote for it.

Tax

One of the biggest changes we offer is to your tax bill. My philosophy on tax is simple. A fair tax system is one that rewards hard work, enterprise and initiative. It penalises pollution and other threats to the common good. It bears down on unearned wealth. That is what we will deliver.
 
Under the Liberal Democrats, no-one will pay tax on the first £10,000 they earn. Let me repeat that: Because this is one of the most substantial changes to tax that a party has ever offered at a General Election. Under the Liberal Democrats, no-one will pay tax on the first £10,000 they earn.
 
We’re not talking about tinkering or tweaking. We’re talking about fundamental, substantial and irreversible reform. Under the Liberal Democrats, no-one will pay tax on the first £10,000 they earn.
 
3.6 million people will be freed from paying tax altogether. Tens of millions more on low and middle incomes will get a tax cut of £700 back in their pockets. A real change to deliver lasting tax fairness for everyone.
 
The Conservatives may want tax cuts for millionaires. We will deliver tax cuts for millions.
 
But it has to be paid for. No-one is going to fall for a false promise of a giveaway. So we will make five simple, but substantial changes to pay for this tax cut. One: Equalising pensions tax relief so top earners no longer get more than everyone else. Two: Equalising Capital Gains Tax with Income Tax so people who make their money trading shares and properties pay the same rates as everyone else. Three: An increase in aviation taxes. Four: A crack down on tax avoidance. And finally – a new mansion tax on properties worth over £2m. This is one tax even oligarchs and billionaires will not be able to avoid. You can’t put a mansion in a briefcase and take it to Belize.
 
Just imagine the difference this change would make. You know anyone working full time on the minimum wage pays more than a £1000 in income tax every year? Under the Liberal Democrats, their tax bill will plummet to less than £6 a week. They’ll be £700 better off. £700 to pay for children’s school clothes, to fix the car, to pay the heating bill.

That is change that works for you.
 
Children

Liberal Democrats will give every child the fair start they deserve. By reducing class sizes and increasing one to one tuition in our schools. Children have to be nurtured and cherished, right from the start.
 
Miriam and I know this as parents of three lovely little boys. We see for ourselves that what happens to our 8 and 5 year old boys in the classroom has a dramatic effect on their enthusiasm to learn and their self confidence which will shape them for the rest of their lives.
 
Mind you, I think both Miriam and I were a little surprised when our eight year old son declared the other day that he had a plan for winning the election. He’d been counting up his pocket money, and suggested we could pay everybody off to vote for us. It’s not so much the suggestion I mind, it more that he’s clearly giving his best ideas to Lord Ashcroft first.
 
But as much as children depend on us today. We are going to depend on them for far longer. Think about a child in your local primary school, doing experiments with egg cartons and elastic bands. That child could be the inventor of a cure for cancer which saves your life thirty years from now.
 
We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know what our children will achieve. All we know is that our country is still not a place truly fit for them to grow up in.
 
Labour’s target for school achievement is to ensure that at least three out of every 10 children in a school get five good GCSEs. Three out of every 10. Imagine being in a class where just passing means you are the exception. We are teaching our children to drop their expectations. Telling them to aim low.

It has to change.
 
Liberal Democrats are the only party promising new investment in our schools. We’ll be putting more money, £2.5 billion every year, into schools to pay for more teachers, better discipline and catch-up classes. An average primary school could cut class sizes to just 20, ensuring children starting out at school have the personal, nurturing relationship with their teacher they need. An average secondary school could put the money into catch-up classes for 160 pupils. Making sure no child is ever left behind.

That is change that works for you.
 
Economy

The recession has hurt millions of families. But the problems run deeper than just the immediate crisis. For too long, a succession of Conservative and Labour Governments have been obsessed about looking after just one square mile – the City of London. It’s time to invest in the other 100,000 square miles of Britain. Creating jobs and growth that lasts for every town, city and village of this country.
 
After the economic crisis that rocked the world. We must not rebuild the fortresses of old. We must use this as an opportunity to build something new. Not least to ensure we can pass on to our children a planet worth living on. We now know that the next few years are probably our last chance to avert unstoppable climate change. This is not a problem, it is an emergency. It must guide everything we do as we rebalance our economy.
 
Growth that lasts does not threaten our children’s future. It recognises that our planet is a gift that must be cherished. That tomorrow is our responsibility as much as today.
 
And growth that lasts does not leave an underclass behind. It brings everyone along, sharing prosperity – because the more people are included. the more people are enabled to seize opportunities, the more prosperity there is for all.
 
But we cannot have a new kind of growth with the old kind of banks. It is time to break them up.
Bring back competition. Bring back diversity. Bring back building societies.
 
And until we do it we should insist that banks pay a premium on their profits to the taxpayers who have bailed them out. We will separate low risk utility banking from high risk investment finance once and for all. So banks never again take insane risks which jeopardise your everyday savings.
 
Some people say it is impossible to split the banks like this. They’re usually – you guessed it – the bankers themselves. The governor of the Bank of England says it is not only possible but essential to break up the banks. He’s right. They’re wrong. Only the Liberal Democrats say: The banking industry, no industry, must ever again occupy such a privileged position that it can hold a gun to the head of rest of the economy. Never again.
 
But reforming the banks should not be an act of retribution. It is about getting money flowing to the thousands of businesses starved of credit today. Without support from banks, companies go bust, and the jobless remain without hope.
 
I was staggered when I heard that RBS, a bank we own, was lending millions of pounds to help Kraft buy Cadbury. A great Birmingham company. RBS was funding this deal which everybody knew would cost jobs in Britain. While small business customers of this very bank were being turned down for loans or charged extortionate rates. This was a scandal. And Labour let it happen. When we bailed out the banks: Did you ever imagine your money would be used to put British people out of work? Only Liberal Democrats say: never again.
 
Once the banks are lending again. We can turn our attention not just to protecting jobs, but to creating new ones. In our first year in office, we will use the money from that banking levy. And the money from reforming tax credits. To create as many as 100,000 jobs in green industries. Kick-starting the economy on a new, sustainable footing.
 
I was standing in a shipyard on the Tyne just a few weeks ago. It was deserted. And I thought back to the days gone by when it would have been humming with activity. It’s heartbreaking to think of that decline. And the devastating impact it had on whole communities.
 
But it is inspiring to imagine these old shipyards. Once the pride of Britain. Coming back to life as a hub for building the vast new turbines needed for offshore wind and tidal energy. Helping to power Britain and Europe with clean, safe energy for all.
 
Britain used to lead the world. We built ships. We designed railways. We laid the first telegraph cables across the oceans. This is the nation of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. Of Isaac Newton, who made modern science possible. Of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the greatest civil engineer in history.
 
We have to harness that inventive spirit once again. We have been blinded for too long by the glitz of the financial services sector. Blinded to the real, solid virtue of making things. It has to change. Under the Liberal Democrats, it will change. No longer just betting on things. We will start Britain building things again. That is change that works for you.
 
Politics

But there’s something standing in the way of change. Our political system. All the pomp and ceremony of our Parliament. All the adorably daft rituals. Have been camouflage for corruption.
 
It is just plain wrong that a government elected by the votes of just 22% of people can rule however it likes. It is just plain wrong that a government can commit us to an illegal war against the will of the people. It is just plain wrong that some MPs were so out of touch with the basic principles of right and wrong that they thought it was ok to do up house after house at taxpayers’ expense, flip them and flog them off for a profit.
 
People say all politicians are the same. They are not.

Of course, Liberal Democrats are not perfect. But no Liberal Democrat MP “flipped” their home in this way. None of our outer London MPs even claimed a second home allowance. And it was Liberal Democrats who fought against Tory and Labour attempts to keep the whole scandal hidden in the first place. So don’t let them tell you we are all the same because it isn’t true.
 
Liberal Democrats are the only party that understands expenses were just the tip of the iceberg. Our whole political system is a mess. David Cameron and Gordon Brown talk about political reform. But they won’t even contemplate the really radical changes we need.
 
Only Liberal Democrats will get big money and corrupt donors out of politics altogether. Change the voting system to abolish safe seats and make every vote count. Reduce the number of MPs by 150.
Reverse the tide of decades of centralisation. Devolve power over the police and NHS to local communities. Pass a freedom bill to protect our hard-won rights and liberties from the whims of government ministers. And give constituents the right to sack corrupt MPs.

That is change that works for you.
 
Conclusion

Four steps to a fairer Britain:
Fair taxes.
A new, fair start for all children at school.
A rebalanced, fair and green economy.
And clean, open, fair politics.
 
For Gordon Brown, change is what you promise when you want everything to stay the same. For David Cameron, change stops on May 7th. It’s change for him, not change for you. We are different.
 
I want to warn you about something that is coming in the next few weeks. We are going to hear a nonsensical claim from the two old parties. Designed to scare people into voting against their best interests. The Conservatives will say: vote Lib Dem… get Brown. Labour will say: vote Lib Dem… get Cameron.

Don’t believe it for a second. They are wrong.
Vote Lib Dem… get change.
Vote Lib Dem… get fairness.
A vote for the Liberal Democrats is not a vote for anyone else.
It is your guarantee of real change that works for you.
 
A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a commitment to hope and opportunity.
It’s a vote that says:
I want government to be honest and open.
I want a green economy.
I want fairer taxes.
I want a fairer future for my children and for all our children.
 
I know there are many people who listen to the Liberal Democrats and really like what they hear.
But you worry that your vote would be wasted. You worry that your choice won’t make enough of a difference. So you are thinking of giving your vote to someone else. Some people are thinking of holding their noses and voting for Brown just to keep out the Conservatives. I say to you: don’t do it.

Some people are thinking of holding their noses and voting for Cameron just to get rid of Labour. Don’t do it. You have a once in a generation opportunity for real change.
A wasted vote is one that throws that opportunity away.
A wasted vote is one for a party that is stuck in the past.
A wasted vote is one for a party you don’t believe in.
 
How do you want to feel when you wake up on May 7th and hear the news? Would you smile at the prospect of five more years of Gordon Brown? Would you be thrilled if a Conservative government was now in charge?

If the answer is no, then don’t give them your vote. If you vote for less… you will get less. If you compromise on them… they will compromise on you. Just good enough – is not good enough any more.
 
When you think about who to vote for remember that the future of your country is at stake. Whatever you do… do not settle for the way things are.

Be demanding.
Vote for what you believe in.
Vote with your heart.
 
If you once voted Labour but have lost hope. If you once voted Conservative but don’t know what they stand for any longer. If you have given up voting altogether because nothing ever seems to change. Vote for something different this time.
 
Vote Lib Dem: get fairness.
Vote Lib Dem: get change.
Vote for what you believe in… or you will wake up on May 7th facing another five years of more of the same.
This is your chance.
This is your opportunity – for the sake of our future, do not waste it.
 
Choose the Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat Spring Conference today backed plans to rebalance the economy and create thousands of new green jobs.

The plans will play a vital part in a fair recovery that locks in investment and ensures a path of low-carbon growth.

The plans for a green economic stimulus package are a core part of the Liberal Democrat election manifesto and include:

·        Immediate investment to expand our green energy infrastructure

·        Bringing hundreds of thousands of empty homes back into use

·        Insulating schools and other public buildings

·        An ‘eco-cashback’ scheme to reward people who make energy efficiency improvements in their homes

·        A National Infrastructure Bank to promote long-term investment in sustainable public transport and renewable energy

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

“The Liberal Democrats have set out a blueprint for a fair economy that’s fit to last.

“A green stimulus package will help boost investment in clean energy, reduce fuel bills and create thousands of new jobs.

“Labour and the Tories can’t be trusted to deliver the green growth we need.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have bold and credible plans to rebalance the economy and put Britain at the forefront of this vital transition.”

Liberal Democrat Spring Conference today passed plans to clean up politics and urgently create a fairer and more local political system.

The proposals include:
 
 - A fairer voting system
 
 - A requirement for those who stand for Parliament or sit in the House of Lords to pay tax in Britain
 
 - A fully elected second chamber
 
 - The right for voters to sack their MP
 
 Commenting, Liberal Democrat Manifesto Chair, Danny Alexander said:
 
“Our broken political system desperately needs to be cleaned up.  Public confidence in politics is at an all time low, and the way the country is governed needs urgent reform.  
 
“The Liberal Democrats have passed plans today to make politics fairer, local and more transparent.  
 
“Labour has had 13 years to change our broken politics, and it’s failed to do so.
 
“Only the Liberal Democrats would end safe seats, reform the voting system and give local people a real say over how their neighbourhoods are governed.”

The full text of the speech is below:

Conference, I have been in our party for 29 years – almost a generation – and I am just as angry at our unfair voting system today as I was when I joined. 

The first general election I fought was in 1983  - I lost three times before I started winning – when we won almost as many votes as Labour but just a tenth the seats.
 
That election night, I knew this is not right.
 
It is not fair.
 
It is no way to run a democracy.
 
Since then, the system has got even worse. 
 
This Labour government has won more than half the MPs with just a third of those who voted, and a fifth of those entitled to vote.
 
No majority government has ever been elected with less support.
 
We have a parliament that reflects our nation as badly as a distorting fairground mirror, a muddle of bulges.
 
This voting system means that we can predict now about half of the MPs in the next parliament.
 
The seats are so safe that the only real contest is for the party ticket.
In safe seats, the general election is just a charade.
 
And we know about human nature.
 
Give someone a job for life, and they will take advantage.
 
Dip their fingers in the till.
 
Clean a moat.
 
Buy a duck house.
 
Claim for a non-existent mortgage.
 
MPs in safe seats were three times as likely to have fiddled their expenses as MPs in battleground seats.
 
Remember not a single Liberal Democrat MP flipped their home.
 
Not a single Lib Dem MP avoided capital gains tax.
 
Not a single Lib Dem MP in London claimed a second home allowance at all.
 
I don’t say we got everything right, but our respect for public money is bred by winning our seats vote by hard-won vote.
 
It’s why we have not been involved in the worst expenses abuses.
 
It is why Liberal Democrat MPs claim lower personal expenses than Labour or Tory MPs.
 
It is also why the same discipline should apply to every MP.
 
Let’s abolish safe seats.
 
Labour has taken a teeny step in the right direction by arguing for one-two-three voting.
 
Talk about deathbed conversions.
 
Thirteen years doing nothing, and it takes the spectre of defeat to spur them to do anything.
 
But so little, so late.
 
True, preference votes remove the need for tactical voting.
 
They let people vote honestly for who they want, without fearing that they will let in who they hate.
 
But they still leave us with far too many safe seats, and the political parties will still decide who stands and wins in Toffshire South or Labour rotten borough North.
 
Instead, our Liberal Democrat system will give every voter the choice of two or more candidates for each party in a three to five MP constituency.
 
Of course, you could still vote to change the party in power.
 
But you could also keep the same party, but vote for another MP.
 
Voters will have the power to vote for the person as well as the party.
 
In Ireland, the professional politicians hate this system.
 
Why?
 
Because a third of those who lose their seats lose to members of their own party, not the opposition.
 
For the first time, every MP will have a strong incentive to answer the letters of their constituents, take up cases, champion local interests and causes.
That’s the real local link.
 
Nor does a representative parliament mean weak government.
 
Greece is the country in most financial trouble, and yet it always has single party government.
 
Britain is next in line, and so have we since 1945.
 
So which part of strong government do David Cameron and Gordon Brown most like?
 
The boom and the bust?
 
The legislative diarrhoea?
 
Or the illegal war in Iraq?
 
Take crime.
 
It is not a sign of strength that the Government has created 4300 new criminal offences since 1997.
 
We do not need these useless laws.
 
Some 60 criminal justice bills.
 
Nine immigration bills.
 
This is the political equivalent of attention-deficit disorder.
 
We need less law and better law.
Law that is properly scrutinised, settled and long lasting.
 
We need a simple penal code that magistrates, police officers and offenders can understand.
 
And we need a focus on what works to cut crime.
 
Liberal Democrats will take no lessons from the Tories or Labour on crime.
 
In Lib Dem council areas, preventive measures have pushed crime down further and faster than anywhere else.
 
In Tory areas, crime is down since the peak by 16 per cent.
 
In Lib Dem areas, it is down 20 per cent.
 
Imagine what more we could do in Government.
 
Labour and the Tories love to posture about tough penalties.
 
But penalties cannot make a blind bit of difference when only one in a hundred crimes ends in a court conviction.
 
The real deterrent is the fear of getting caught, and that means more police on the beat.
 
We are the only party committed to raising police numbers.
 
That means better policing by raising standards.
 
It means prison that reforms offenders, and does not enroll them in a college course in crime.
 
**
 
Whether on crime, or taxes, or the economy, fair politics must surely mean a battle of ideas, not bank balances.
 
As Nick has pointed out, the Ashcroft scandal shows why we must clean up party funding.
 
A billionaire baron from Belize has bought the Tory party like a banana republic, and it stinks.
 
Ashcroft made solemn and binding undertakings to become a permanent resident, and then broke them.
 
He does not pay full British taxes, but he thinks that he should pass laws for those of us that do.
 
Ashcroft wants to run the club, but not pay the sub.
 
This scandal tells us a lot about David Cameron.
 
He would not stand up to Ashcroft.
 
We named and shamed Ashcroft as a non-dom at prime minister’s questions, but even then Cameron failed to ask his over-mighty baron whether he was keeping his promises.
 
If that is the smack of strong management, heaven help the country if Cameron wins.
 
If he can’t clean up his own party, he is not fit for number 10.
 
We have heard a lot about bullying recently.
 
Real bullies sack the weak and suck up to the strong.
 
This was Cameron’s big test of character and leadership, and he failed.
 
He’s rattled.
 
He’s rumbled.
 
And he’s humbled.
 
And fair politics means local politics too.
 
Less power for the centre.
 
More power for Edinburgh and Cardiff.
 
More tax power for communities across England.
 
The business rate back to councils as a first step.
 
Elected health boards.
 
Elected police authorities with real powers to set the precept, and sack the Chief Constable.
 
Only local power can unleash the creativity that we need in tough times.
 
There are two parties in this election
arguing about changing faces and changing places, not changing Britain.
 
What matters is not playing ministerial musical chairs, but transforming the whole way we do politics.
 
By making every vote count, wherever you live, we will give every person in our nation a voice in its destiny.
 
Everyone, however rich or poor, low or high, will have their proper say.
 
You cannot build a fair society on an unfair voting system.
 
In this election, we have the chance of a generation to remake our politics and our society.
 
Don’t miss it.
 
Don’t mess up.
 
Don’t wake up on 7th May saying
“I wish I’d done more”.
 
Wake up saying
“Thank God I did enough.
We’ve won the power to build a fairer Britain.”

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.”

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.

Liberal Democrat Spring Conference today endorsed plans for a new international body to coordinate efforts for a stronger deal on climate change.

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.”

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 Democrat Spring Conference today backed radical plans to change the education system to give children a fair start in life.

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 Democrat Spring Conference today pledged its commitment to ending child detention in immigration centres.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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 >

Liberal Democrat Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Simon Hughes today called on the Government to hold a public inquiry into the ‘Justification’ for new nuclear power stations.

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.”

Plans for a new high-speed rail network, featuring 250mph trains, have been announced by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.

A White Paper is recommending a route for a new line between London and Birmingham with a future extension to northern England and Scotland. The public will be consulted on the proposed route, with work unlikely to start until 2017 at the earliest. Network Rail said high-speed rail “can drive economic growth and boost jobs”. Lord Adonis told the House of Lords that “extensive and detailed” consultation would be needed on the project, particularly with any communities which might be affected.

Like many people, we’re yet to be convinced that the overall business case for HS2 - the high-speed line - stacks up environmentally, financially and socially Patrick Begg, National Trust

“Subject to this consultation, the London terminus for the high-speed line would be Euston, the Birmingham city centre station would be at Curzon Street, and there would be interchange stations with Crossrail west of Paddington and near Birmingham airport.” Lord Adonis said the project would create 10,000 jobs and yield £2 in benefits for every £1 spent. He said the first 120 miles between London and the West Midlands would cost between £15.8bn and £17.4bn. The cost per mile beyond Birmingham is then estimated to halve, taking the overall cost of the 335 mile Y-shaped network to about £30bn. The main opposition parties are also committed, in principle, to the need for a high-speed rail network. However, reaching the necessary political consensus for a particular route may prove to be difficult ahead of the general election. Scotland’s Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said developing high speed rail to Scotland “is central to the economic case for high-speed rail in the UK”. Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher said high-speed rail was “a vital part of a modern, dynamic economy”.

He also said that it would “take cars and lorries off the road, cut domestic flights and release capacity on the existing rail network, transforming services even for those communities not served directly by a high-speed line. “It is the low-carbon, sustainable transport of the future.” Michael Roberts, chief executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc), said: “The commitment that all three parties have shown to HSR [high-speed rail] is a vote of confidence in the industry, and will help place train travel at the heart of a successful low-carbon economy. Public consultation “The plans must be affordable at a time of real constraint in the public finances and must show how HSR will be paid for while continuing to invest in the existing network on which passengers make more than a billion journeys a year.” For the past year, the government-backed company High Speed Two has been working on plans to develop a new high-speed rail network, initially between London and Birmingham. The new line could cut the journey time between the cities to just 46 minutes. Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT union, said: “We welcome any move to expand the rail network and to bring more passengers on to the trains. “However, development of HSR in the UK has been left in the slow lane because of our fragmented, privatised system which puts short-term profits first and long-term, strategic planning a very poor second.” Environmental impact Patrick Begg, director for the National Trust’s Thames and Solent region, said the proposed route could cause “serious and significant impacts on the landscape” of the Chilterns. He added: “We’re taking a keen interest in how these impacts have been considered and assessed, particularly exploring the government’s proposals for mitigating against these impacts through design and tunnelling. “Like many people, we’re yet to be convinced that the overall business case for HS2 - the high-speed line - stacks up environmentally, financially and socially.”

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

Geraldine Nicholson, the chairwoman of No Third Runway Action Group (NoTRAG), which is opposed to Heathrow Airport expansion, said: “If the government thought it was going to get plaudits from us for its plans, it is sorely mistaken. “What we want to see is an HSR scheme that goes all the way to Scotland, a scheme that is designed to make it easy for people to use the train instead of the plane. “We will oppose any scheme that does not involve the dropping of the third runway.” Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, said he welcomed “the commitment that the new line will be an addition to the current network - not a bolt-on rich man’s railway”. He added: “The ability to turn up and travel remains a key attraction of Britain’s railway. This new line, with fast frequent services could, with attractive fares, start to revolutionise intercity rail travel.” http://bit.ly/dgE009

A small display at Walsall Museum during March and April 2010 celebrates the achievements of Walsall’s Karting Champion, Roy Johnson.

Fourteen year old Roy, who comes from Pelsall and attends Great Wyrley School, is thought of as one of Britain’s most promising karting talents.  He began karting at the age of four years old and has been competing in karting competitions since 2004.  In 2008 Roy became the British Cadet Kart Champion, and his achievements have been compared to those of Lewis Hamilton at a similar age…. http://bit.ly/aWrvPI

Liberal Democrat Spokeswoman for Youth and Equality, Lynne Featherstone today launched the party’s ‘Free to be Young’ policy paper.

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.”

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.”

“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.

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.”

“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,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary.

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.”

“If civil servants don’t talk like the rest of the people in this country, then they are in danger of having a ‘goldfish bowl facilitated conversation’ that no one much cares about,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary.

Commenting on the LGA’s annual list of words that public sector workers shouldn’t use, Julia Goldsworthy said:
 
“It is essential that the public knows what officials are up to and it’s not enough just to publish what councils spend on the web.
 
“The decision-making process needs to be easy to understand, instead of hidden behind baffling ‘Labour speak’.
 
“If civil servants don’t talk like the rest of the people in this country, then they are in danger of having a ‘goldfish bowl facilitated conversation’ that no one much cares about.”

“We need more well-led and properly funded schools if we are to address the disadvantages faced by so many young people in Britain,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Schools Secretary.

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.”

Local Euro MP Liz Lynne has welcomed today’s European Parliament vote for a plan to exempt struggling very small businesses from the need to produce annual accounts.

The proposal backed by MEPs in Strasbourg would dramatically reduce the bureaucratic burden on small businesses which can qualify as ‘micro-entities’ to enhance their competitiveness in the wake of the financial crisis…. http://bit.ly/dD3pkw

Liberal Democrat Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Alistair Carmichael has called on David Cameron to clarify the position of his Tory/UUP alliance on the devolution of policing and justice powers.

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?”

Liberal Democrat peer Dick Taverne has written to the Sub-Committee on Lords’ Interests to ask for an investigation into whether Lord Ashcroft’s behaviour has breached the House of Lords Code of Conduct and principles of standards in public life.

The Honours Scrutiny Committee withdrew its objections to Lord Ashcroft becoming a peer on the basis of his clear undertaking that he would “take up permanent residence in the United Kingdom again before the end of the calendar year”.
 
Commenting, Lord Taverne said:
 
“If Lord Ashcroft’s undertaking was broken, or significantly changed without the House of Lords being informed, that would be a serious breach of the Code of Conduct.
 
“Lord Ashcroft does not appear to have been straight with the Lords. This directly contravenes the principles of standards in public life and therefore raises the question of his suitability for public office.
 
“Transparency and honour are vital to maintain the standing and good name of the House of Lords. The opaque and secretive nature of Lord Ashcroft’s behaviour risks bringing the House of Lords into disrepute.”

“These are deeply alarming figures which suggest that British exporters simply haven’t been able to take advantage of the big devaluation which occurred in the last year,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor.

Commenting on the news that UK exports took their biggest plunge in more than three years during January, Vince Cable said:

“These are deeply alarming figures which suggest that British exporters simply haven’t been able to take advantage of the big devaluation which occurred in the last year.

“They suggest that the long term decline and neglect of British manufacturing has taken its toll and that an awful lot more needs to be done to rebalance the economy to make it more competitive.
 
“It is wrong to suggest that the British economy can escape from this recession by just relying on exports. It just isn’t happening.

“Exports are one modest part of the national economy. We need an economy that is strong and secure across the board – and the Liberal Democrats are committed to delivering that.”

“Only the Liberal Democrats can be trusted to follow the evidence of what works to cut crime,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary.

Commenting on the spat over crime figures between Chris Grayling and Alan Johnson, Chris Huhne said:
 
“The Conservatives are wrong to say that crime is rising, and Labour is wrong to claim the credit as crime is falling in every western European country except Belgium. Technology and demographics are doing the work.
 
“On crime, Labour and the Tories try to make up the figures as they go along. Only the Liberal Democrats can be trusted to follow the evidence of what works to cut crime.”

“Only the Liberal Democrats have produced a credible and coherent plan for dealing with the deficit,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor.

Commenting on the BCC’s downgrading of its expectations for economic growth this year, Vince Cable said:

“The BCC are spot on.

“The British economy is still weak and cutting spending too soon risks stifling growth and recovery.

“The Liberal Democrats have made it clear that the point at which we cut spending will be based on economics and not political dogma.

“While Labour buries its head in the sand and the Tories mire themselves in confusion, only the Liberal Democrats have produced a credible and coherent plan for dealing with the deficit.

“The BCC are also right to highlight the key role that sound and solvent small and medium sized businesses have to play in our economic recovery. 

“Unfortunately, many of these businesses are being starved of the capital they need. The nationalised and semi nationalised banks must work in the national interest and get credit flowing to these businesses so that they can survive and expand.  This will protect jobs and ensure that growth isn’t damaged.”

The figures, released ahead of tomorrow’s cross-party social care conference, undermine Conservative claims that their plans would enable older people to pass their homes on to their children as two thirds of pensioner households would have to sell or release equity from their homes to pay for the private insurance scheme.

The figures reveal that:

• 63% of pensioner couple households (1.4m) do not have non-housing assets of £16,000 (cost of insurance to cover both pensioners)
• 71% of single female pensioner households (1.6m) do not have non-housing assets of £8,000
• 64% of single male pensioner households (600,000) do not have non-housing assets of £8,000

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:
 
“The reality is that Conservative social care plans are unworkable, unfair and unaffordable for the majority of pensioners in this country and do nothing to pay for the costs of care at home. 

“This is basically a ‘poll tax’ and many people on modest means will be wondering how the Tories could think it’s fair that they should pay the same amount for care as multi-millionaires.

“David Cameron needs to start being honest with older voters. Most couples don’t have a spare £16,000 to cover an insurance premium and it’s incredibly dishonest to say this will stop people from having to sell their homes to pay for care. 

“The Tories need to explain how they’re going to get the numbers to add up on this plan especially as the private insurance market has failed to get people interested. Perhaps this is yet another example where the Tories need a little help when it comes to using a calculator.

“Whoever wins the next election cannot avoid the fact that we’re facing a crisis in funding for care. What we need is a long-term solution which is both fair and affordable in the long-term.”