Nick Clegg: Lib Dems will be ‘awkward’ to achieve goals in coalition

Deputy PM emphasises party’s ‘distinct voice’ and describes Tories as ‘our political enemies’ in speech at party conference Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat party leader and deputy prime minister, has warned that the party is “prepared to be awkward” in coalition “to put things right” as he sought to assert the party’s distinctive role in government. In the first large gathering of Lib Dem activists since the party received a drubbing at the May polls, Clegg sought to allay the fears of rank and file members over a number of high profile policies by reassuring them that Lib Dem ministers’ job in government was “not to make things easy” for the Tories, but to protect “Liberal values”. In a speech in which he described the Conservatives as “our political enemies”, the leader underlined the party’s mission to assert a “distinct Liberal Democrat voice” on government policies. “Make no mistake, we are punching above our weight,” he told delegates at the rally held on the opening day of the party’s annual conference. The deputy prime minister, who has previously been accused of becoming too cosy with Tory leader David Cameron, stressed that the Lib Dems and the Tories “have not become the same and we never will”. In a combative speech, he sent a strong signal to Conservative colleagues that the Lib Dems would be as awkward as necessary to ensure the government has “Liberal Democrat written on it like a stick of rock”. Although the coalition may appear united in public, Lib Dem ministers were fighting “tooth and nail” for the party’s values behind the scenes, Clegg said. He flaunted a recent report by the BBC that suggests that more of the Lib Dem manifesto is being delivered in government than the priorities set out by the Conservatives, despite the fact that the Lib Dems have just eight percent of MPs in Westminster. “This coalition government has a distinct Liberal Democrat voice and you will hear it,” said Clegg. Speaking after the leadership successfully faced down the first challenge from activists over the decision to rule out the possibility of a vote on the NHS reforms during this week’s conference , Clegg told delegates that “like all families, we have our shares of rows”. But he said these allowed the party to thrash out its priorities and then go out and fight for them all the way. “And when we’ve set ourselves something we don’t give up, no matter how long it takes,” he said, “We never oppose for the sake of opposition but we never shrink from telling it like it is and fighting for what is right. If that makes us a bit awkward, a bit challenging, a bit difficult so be it”. Clegg hit out at the media for trying to “drive a wedge” between the leadership and the rank and file. However, he also sounded a conciliatory note, saying: “What you told me is that we’re not getting across clearly enough what we are achieving in government. “You have heard tonight how we are delivering in government – fair taxes, a fair start for children, building a new green economy and fixing our broken politics. These are the things we put on the front page of our manifesto and now we are delivering them for our country.” Clegg set the tone ahead of the conference as he made clear his determination to keep the 50p top rate of tax despite calls from some of their Tory party coalition partners to have it scrapped. In an interview with the Independent , he said the Liberal Democrats would back abolition of the top rate in the long run if it was not raising much revenue and if it was replaced by new taxes on “unearned income”. These could include a 1% annual “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2m, a land tax, and restricting tax relief on pensions to the basic 20p rate. He also risked inflaming tensions with chancellor George Osborne by acknowledging that the government had to do more to boost growth in the economy, adopting what he called a “Plan A-plus”. Osborne has made no secret of his desire to abolish the 50p rate on incomes over £150,000 – describing it as a “temporary” measure introduced by the former Labour government. However, Clegg made clear that as far as the Lib Dems were concerned, the priority had to be reducing the burden of taxation on lower- and middle-income earners. He said cutting rates for the wealthy while millions were struggling to make ends meet could “destroy” public support for the entire tax system. Business secretary Vince Cable gave a strong signal of a possible trade off between the top rate of tax and the “mansion tax” he championed before the general election. “The argument for that has increased because of the way the property market has worked, particularly in high value areas like London,” Cable told activists during a question and answer session. “So that is out there as a proposal. It is not in the coalition agreement but if the Conservatives were willing to run with that then one could be more flexible with the 50p rate.” Nick Clegg Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrat conference 2010 Liberal-Conservative coalition Economic policy Tax and spending Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 17, 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.