Lib Dem conference blog – live

Nick Clegg speaks at the Lib Dem spring conference, where delegates are also debating banks, legal aid the party’s future relations with the Tories. 9.17am: For the record, here are the latest YouGov GB polling figures. Labour: 44% (up 14 points since the general election) Conservatives: 33% (down 4) Lib Dems: 10% (down 14) Labour lead: 11 points Government approval: -30 9.10am: There’s some bad news for the Lib Dems this morning; support for the alternative vote is falling. Here’s the Press Association story about it. Public opinion is moving away from a change to the voting system for Westminster elections, according to a new poll. Using the question to be put to a referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) in May, ComRes pollsters found that the No campaign was ahead for the first time. The poll, conducted for the Sunday Mirror and Independent on Sunday, suggested that support for a switch to AV had fallen to 34% from 40% last month. Those planning to vote against AV had increased from 30% to 37%. All previous polls using the wording of the referendum question have shown the Yes campaign in front. The question asked was: “At present, the UK uses the ‘first past the post’ system to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the ‘alternative vote’ system be used instead?” 8.45am: Alarm clock Britain is making a comeback. Today’s proceedings at the Lib Dem spring conference will be dominated by Nick Clegg’s speech and, according to the extracts released in advance, he’s going to reaffirm his commitment to speaking up for “alarm clock Britain”. When Clegg first floated this concept in an article in the Sun at the beginning of the year, the Times columnist David Aaronovitch said: “If anyone can find a worse written, more cliché-ridden, more meaningless, more patronising, more tin-eared collection of absurd propositions paraded as common sense, then I will give them £50.” As far as I know, Aaronovitch’s £50 remains unclaimed. But Clegg does not seem to mind. This is what he’s going to tell the conference. The banner at this conference says: In government, on your side. Some people have asked me: whose side, exactly? My answer is simple. We’re on the side of the people I call Alarm Clock Britain. The side of everyone who wants to get up and get on. People who, unlike the wealthy, have no choice but to work hard to make ends meet. People who are proud to support themselves but are only ever one pay cheque from their overdraft. People who believe in self-reliance but who don’t want to live in a dog-eat-dog world. Who want everyone who can to work hard but they want children, the elderly and the vulnerable to be looked after too. People who believe it is as wrong to opt out of tax as it is to opt out of working. Clegg is also going to insist that the Lib Dems are the party of the centre ground. Our opponents try to divide us with their outdated labels of left and right. But we are not on the left and we are not on the right. We have our own label: Liberal. We are liberals and we own the freehold to the centre ground of British politics. Governing from the middle, for the middle. Clegg’s speech will close the conference. But it’s not the only item on the agenda for the morning. Here’s a full list. 9am: Parliamentary party reports, with brief speeches from Alistair Carmichael, the chief whip, Lord McNally, the Lib Dem leader in the Lords, and Fiona Hall, the leader in the European Parliament. 9.20am: Emergency debate on a motion calling for tougher action on banks and bonuses. 9.50am: Debate on a strategy motion saying the Lib Dems should fight the next election as an independent party “with no preference for potential future coalition partners”. 11am: Simon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote and one of the vice chairs of Yes to Fairer Votes, gives a speech on the alternative vote campaign. 11.15am: Debate on an access to justice motion calling for a proper impact assessment before further cuts are made to legal aid. 11.45am: Nick Clegg speech. I’ll be blogging from the conference throughout the morning. Nick Clegg Liberal Democrats AV Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 13, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.