Our ambition is to deliver fairness
I am delighted.
The Guardian reported on Sunday (followed by a lovely little article from Stephen Tall on Monday – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/15/clever-clegg-third-way) that senior Lib Dems have let it be known that the party will not be doing any deals with the Conservatives or Labour if the electorate returns a balanced Parliament at the General Election.
Instead, our Leader, Nick Clegg, is determined to use his parliamentary leverage to get positive outcomes in respect of the party's four main manifesto priorities: a fairer education system; a greener, more sustainable economy; fairer taxes, and political reform.
This is great news – particularly because the idea of some sort of coalition with either of the other two parties is fraught with difficulties: inside the party and out.
There is a real buzz within the Liberal Democrats at the moment because of the possibilities that are opening up on the political horizon.
Only this morning, at the 10th birthday meeting of Business Network International (Hastings Chapter), when each of the visitors to the meeting were asked to stand up and give a brief explanation of their organisation, I was able to say hand on heart, that we Lib Dems are aiming to introduce a new, energetic brand to the tired world of the Old Politics.
Despite the rhetoric from Labour and the Conservatives, many people on the doorstep are saying to me that the don't see much of a difference between the two. Both parties have been discredited by the Iraq War; both parties have been discredited by the MP expenses scandal; both parties have been roadblocks to electoral reform...
The Liberal Democrats remain largely untainted by these issues. First under the leadership of Charles Kennedy, and now under the leadership of Nick Clegg, we are demonstrating that we have an instinctively different approach to politics, and understand the need for a modern political contract between politicians and the electorate.
This is why, for example, we are the only party that is advocating for the people to be able to recall their MPs and sack them if they are not cutting the mustard.
Many people in the UK would rather be proud of our political system than be alienated from it. We have a world famous Parliament, and we need it to be fit for purpose – fit for a politics characterised by openness, honesty and fairness.
These are the core values of the Britain that most people want to live in, and these are the priorities of the Liberal Democrats.
Whatever the outcome of the General Election, we are committed to using our influence to these ends.
Needless to say, the sure-fire way of helping this New Politics to take root and flourish, is to elect yourself a Liberal Democrat MP!
(To read more about what Nick has been up to, check out his blog – 'Nick Perry for Hastings & Rye' at www.nickperrylibdem.wordpress.com; or reply to him: @nickperrylibdem on Twitter]
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Weather for Hastings
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
