Nick Clegg: we can and will do more for growth and jobs

Liberal Democrat leader closes party conference with speech urging supporters: ‘Never apologise for the difficult things we are having to do’ The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, closed the party’s conference on Wednesday with a promise that the party “can and will do more” to help a worsening economy. Stressing that the coalition would not veer from its commitment to eliminate the structural deficit by the end of the parliament, he admitted there was a “long, hard road ahead”. Quoting JS Mill, he added: “the only struggles worth having are the uphill ones” and urged his party to lift their spirits, saying: “Never apologise for the difficult things we are having to do.” He said the Lib Dems were anchoring the government to the centre ground and keeping it to a liberal path. The party had grown up by going through the door of government, he said, doing the right thing and not the easy thing in the national interest. Clegg also promised to keep the Human Rights Act, continue to reform the health service, build a new balanced economy and “fight for greater fairness, even in the headwinds of an economic slowdown”. He told the conference: “In a coalition, we have two kinds of power – the power to hold our coalition partners back and the power to move the government forwards, so we can keep the government to a liberal path, anchor the government in the centre ground.” In a lengthy passage on the state of the economy, he said the “outlook for the global economy has got worse”, adding: “We need to do more, we can do more, and we will do more for growth and jobs.” But his aides insisted the speech should not be seen as a call to increase capital spending or bring forward planned spending, saying the goal remained to eliminate the structural deficit by 2015. Faced with calls from some of his party colleagues to loosen controls on capital spending, Clegg said deficit reduction laid the foundations for growth and no shortcuts existed. Claiming “we were right to pull the economy back from the brink”, he said the recovery was “fragile”, adding: “In the last few days alone, we have seen a financial storm in the eurozone, rising unemployment, falling stock markets. “It is clearer now than ever that deficit reduction was essential to protect the economy, to protect homes and jobs. Deficit reduction lays the foundations for growth. “Handing control of the economy to the bond traders: that’s not progressive. Burying your head in the sand: that’s not liberal. Saddling our children with the nation’s debt: that’s not fair.” The speech was designed to set out a route map for the Lib Dems in government, with Clegg claiming that the party – still floundering at 10% in the polls – would eventually gain respect for acting in the national interest. The Lib Dems he said, had moved from the easy promises of opposition to the invidious choices of government. Uniquely, he said, the party stood up against a trinity of vested interests – media moguls, union barons and greedy bankers. Clegg admitted: “None of us could have predicted how tough government would be. “We’ve lost support, we’ve lost councillors, and we lost a referendum. I know how painful it has been to face anger and frustration on the doorstep. Some of you may have even wondered: will it all be worth it in the end?” But he claimed he and the Lib Dems had “picked themselves up and had now come out fighting for the NHS, human rights and families”. Unlike the speeches of many of his cabinet colleagues earlier in the week, his remarks were devoid of attacks on the Conservatives, instead highlighting party differences by referring to Lib Dem policies such as higher personal allowances and the pupil premium. But the leader’s speech contained pointed criticisms of Labour over the economy and for being under the control of the trade unions. In his sole explicit reference to the Tory right he said: “The left accuse us of being powerless puppets, duped by a rightwing Conservative clique. The right accuse us of being a sinister leftwing clique who’ve duped powerless Conservatives. I do wish they’d make up their minds.” He claimed the party had matured, saying: “We proved something about ourselves last year, when we faced a historic choice – whether or not to enter government in coalition with the Conservatives. “The easy thing would have been to sit on the opposition benches throwing rocks at the government as it tried to get control of the public finances. It might even, in the short run, have been more popular, but it would not have been right. At that moment, Britain needed a strong government.” In a reference to the political rows disabling the US, Clegg said: “While other countries have been riven by political bickering, we have shown that a coalition forged in a time of emergency could be a different kind of government, governing differently.” In a series of attacks on Labour, he described Ed Balls and Ed Miliband as”the backroom boys at the time when Labour was failing to balance the books, failing to regulate the financial markets, and failing to take on the banks”. “The two Eds, behind the scenes, lurking in the shadows, always plotting, always scheming, never taking responsibility. At this time of crisis what Britain needs is real leadership. This is no time for the backroom boys,” he said, adding that people should “never, ever trust Labour with our economy again”. Clegg called Miliband’s claim to be the enemy of vested interest risible, and said: “While we were campaigning for change in the banking system, they were on their prawn cocktail offensive in the City. “While we’ve led the charge against the media barons, Labour has cowered before them for decades. The most shocking thing about the news that Tony Blair is godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch’s children is that nobody was really shocked at all.” He said it was wrong for the unions to be able to “buy themselves” a party, and challenged Miliband to sanction proposed reforms to the party funding system due to be published shortly by Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of standards in public life. “We are all stuck in a system that we know is wrong,” he said. “We’ve all been damaged by it. But if we learned anything from the expenses scandal, it is surely that, if the system’s broken, we should not wait for the next scandal. We should fix it, and fix it fast.” He also addressed the anger still felt in the country and among Liberal Democrats over the party’s “heart-wrenching” decision to treble tuition fees in breach of its manifesto promise. “Like all of you, I saw the anger. I understand it. I felt it. I have learned from it. And I know how much damage this has done to us as a party,” he said. “Probably the most important lesson I have learned is this: no matter how hard you work on the details of a policy, it’s no good if the perception is wrong. We failed to properly explain the dilemmas. We failed to explain that there were no other easy options. And we have failed so far to show that the new system will be much, much better than people fear.” He ended by telling delegates: “Hold your heads up and look our critics squarely in the eye. “Never apologise for the difficult things we are having to do. We are serving a great country at a time of great need. There are no shortcuts, but we won’t flinch.” Nick Clegg Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Economic policy Economics Global economy Recession Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 21, 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.