The Western Region Liberal Democrats conference in Bath was a great success on Saturday 7 . The speech from Paddy Ashdown was great and when you hear him speaking unscripted and from the heart you feel great. The EU would do now better than appoint him as the first president rather than all the candidates they are considering. Still any of the options would be better than Tony Blair who simply deserves nothing for his anti european prime ministership and his disgraceful invasion of Iraq.
Don Foster MP made a good speech too
Speech to Western Counties
We meet with just under six months to go before we face some important local elections in the regions and, almost certainly, a General Election.
Many of you have already been working towards these elections for some time. And I thank you for what you have been doing.
And it makes a huge difference. Take just the views of the electorate about Liberal Democrat MPs compared to those from other parties.
A recent PoliticsHome survey concluded;
“Liberal Democrat MPs were more highly regarded by their constituents than Conservative or Labour MPs were by theirs. The most significant contrast, which probably goes someway to explaining all the other differences, is the level to which constituents of Liberal Democrat MPs think their MP keeps in touch via newsletters and leaflets.”
And the same is true of our councillors.
After all, it is that message of “working for you all year round – not just at election time” that, in part, distinguishes the Liberal Democrats from the other parties.
But it’s not just working for local people; it’s a record of action for local people; getting things done.
And, for that, we should all be proud and grateful for the service to our party and the people they serve, of our local Liberal Democrat councillors. They, and all of our party members who support them, deserve our thanks.
But, with just six months to go, we have to re-double our efforts.
We have to ensure we use the next six months to get over our key messages; that we Liberal Democrats are ambitious, that we are straight talking and that we are very, very different from the two tired old parties.
We Liberal Democrats believe that there is hope for a different future; for a different way of doing things in Britain; a way that will build a fairer and freer society, that will create a sustainable economy and will clean up politics (not least through a fair voting system so that every vote counts and makes safe seats a thing of the past).
The country is fed up with Labour.
Labour’s time is up. They are past their sell by date. They’ve let us all down.
Labour as a progressive, radical party is hollowed out. There’s only a withering hulk left.
How can Labour claim to be a progressive and radical party when;
· It’s even more centralising than the Tories were
· It’s taken us into a war on a false prospectus
· It’s presided over the biggest ever encroachment on civil liberties.
Take that one issue of civil liberties alone.
Who could have imagined, in those balmy days of Tony Blair’s victory in 1997, that nearly 13 years later New Labour would have;
· Introduced 3,500 new criminal offences in almost the same number of days
· Banned protest outside parliament – even passing laws which saw someone arrested for reading out, by the cenotaph the names of those who had died in
· Introduced 28 days detention without charge– the longest in any modern democracy.
· Built up the largest DNA database in the world
· Proposed ID cards
· Created a surveillance society in which with just 1% of the world’s population we have 20% of the world’s CCTV cameras and so much more………
150 years ago, John Stuart Mill – in many ways the founder of the Liberal party – wrote his famous essay, “On
He will be turning in his grave at the reductions in liberty that have taken place under so-called New Labour.
The country is crying out for change; crying out for a fresh start.
We face enormous problems; enormous challenges; young people out of work, broken politics, climate change spinning out of control, poor housing, growing inequalities and civil liberties under threat.
We face an economic crisis, an environmental crisis and a democratic crisis.
People want straight answers, fairer taxes, a country fit for ALL children, green jobs and political reform.
Now there is a clear choice between the fake change offered by the Conservatives and the real change for the better offered by the Liberal Democrats.
Already people are beginning to see the Liberal Democrats as the leading progressive party in the battle for ideas. Already we are seen as straight talkers who get it right;
· On
· On the looming recession
· On Northern Rock
· On political reform
· On the Speaker
· On the Ghurkhas
· On Trident
· On
· On the environment
On all of these we have been prepared to speak out when other tried to be silent.
Despite all this, many believe that it’s the Tories turn; that the Tories will just have to get through the inconvenience of a General Election and then be handed the keys to Numbers 10 and 11; that in under six months Cameron, Osborne and the rest will have moved in.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Let me tell you why I think – as you leave here and redouble your campaigning efforts – you can do so with a real spring in your steps; why I think that while being ambitious for the country we can also – with confidence – be ambitious for our party.
I said that we tell it like it is. Here are some of the media reactions when we’ve done so;
On the Economy
- “Cable’s the man to power up our failing economy” – Daily Express editorial:
- “Seismic times could yet see the Lib Dems eclipse Labour: Vince Cable is setting the agenda, and the party is closer than it seems to reclaiming the mantle of British progressivism”. – Guardian
On the Gurkhas
- “The vote is a personal victory for Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader who first challenged Mr Brown over the issue in the Commons in March last year” – Daily Telegraph:
- “Nick Clegg has looked over the past fortnight like a man whose time has come.” –
On Speaker Martin
· “Lib Dem chief Nick Clegg’s opposition ejected Michael Martin from the Speaker’s chair.” – Daily Mirror
· Nick Clegg has “captured the public mood” – The Times:
And more generally;
- “the Liberal Democrats had been “ahead of the curve on
- “The Liberal Democrats can make a reasonable claim to be the most intellectually vigorous of
- “[The next election] may set off a once-in-a-century upheaval in the structure of British politics, with the Liberal Democrats displacing Labour as the dominant part of the Left.” – The Times,
Of course, I hear you say, that’s all very well but we’re behind in the opinion polls.
True, but with a very big BUT.
Our polling is ahead of what we normally see in the electoral cycle.
More importantly, the polls also show;
Approval ratings for Nick Clegg continue to strengthen (he’s already way ahead of Gordon Brown and rapidly catching up with David Cameron).
Vince Cable is the most trusted of all leading politicians.
And, when polls were taken immediately after our conference – and the same level of coverage we will also be guaranteed at election time – our figures shot up.
But perhaps most interesting are the in-depth polls which show that Tory support is neither deep nor based on any real desire for David Cameron to be Prime Minister.
A recent ICM poll summed it up;
ICM for News of the World, Sep 27
Do you agree with following things said about the Conservative party:
Cameron is new face but Tories haven’t changed Agree 61 Disagree 34
I’m more likely to vote Tory because of Cameron Agree 45 Disagree 51
Cameron is more spin than substance Agree 55 Disagree 38
Cameron is not that good, just the best of a bad lot Agree 56 Disagree 41
What is clear is that even voters prepared to switch to the Tories do not trust the party. There is strong evidence that people do not trust David Cameron and his party. Overwhelmingly people believe that he is spin, not substance, and that he is merely the best of a bad lot. He has far from convinced the public that the Tories deserve their vote.
The message is very clear; it’s all to play for.
And that message is re-enforced by looking at real votes in real ballot boxes.
Local Government by-elections provide a real test;
And what’s happened;
Since the start of this year what would you have expected?
Labour losing loads, LibDems possibly holding their own and the Conservatives shooting up?
Absolutely not.
In fact Labour has made a nett GAIN of 4 seats while the Tories have made nett LOSSES of 18 seats.
And who are the big gainers? Yes, it’s the Liberal Democrats with nett gains of 15 council seats.
And, there are many by-elections where seats didn’t change hands but where our share of the vote has gone up.
Take just one – and well done to all concerned – Lynford ward on Taunton Deane Borough Council – a ward in Jeremy Browne’s constituency. We were fighting to hold the seat against stiff Conservative opposition. Yet, despite that, we held the seat with an increased majority.
And there have been other staggering wins in real elections.
Take the recent election for a mayor in
The mayoral area covers 40 percent of a safe Tory seat and all of a Labour/Conservative marginal.
But with all the ballots in, Dave Hodgson, Liberal Democrat was declared the winner.
And that means Liberal Democrat control of another major city.
Remember, we run, or are in are partners in administration for 17 of the country’s biggest cities:
So it really is all to play for.
The party nationally is playing its part;
Paddy leading the fight in
A major fund-raising campaign led by our new, highly experienced and successful fund-raising manager.
Three million centrall-provided tabloids being delivered in many of our key target seats before Christmas.
A brand-new web site and more and more support than ever from the Cowley Street Campaigns team, and from ALDC.
Why all this effort? Simple. We have the best chance ever of replacing Labour as the party of the centre left and as the one truly radical and progressive party in this country.
So as you go out campaigning; campaigning for real change, do so with a spring in your step, do so with ambition for the country and for the Liberal Democrats and do so knowing that the next six months could be the most exciting time of your political life and the most exciting for the Liberal Democrats.