All three party leaders have been speaking to the CBI Conference today, setting out their election stalls. Nick was keen to emphasise the contribution the Liberal Democrats have made to the Government. It was the right message for an audience of businesspeople.
What we have achieved – together – over the last four and a half years has been nothing less than extraordinary.
In the space of one parliament Britain has gone from being – in the eyes of the rest of the world – one of the worst offenders for fiscal recklessness to the fastest growing economy in the G7; a model of responsibility.
The turnaround has been remarkable.
Yes, we still have a distance to travel; no, we mustn’t be complacent; and nor should we underplay the pressure a lot of people are still feeling.
But, together, we’ve pulled Britain back from the brink – and that should make everyone in this room immensely proud.My party certainly feels that way – a lot of people didn’t believe we had it in us.
But, when Britain needed a government strong enough and stable enough to get it out of a hole – the Liberal Democrats provided it.
And, since then, whenever this Government has been at risk of lurching away from the centre ground of British politics – the rational, sensible, liberal, pragmatic centre – we have kept it there…
…whether on Europe, on immigration, on the cuts…
And what matters to us now is that we safeguard that success.
And if you want open, stable economically competent government after the General Election, then it is clear who you need to call, he added:
We are now less than seven months away from a General Election and everyone needs to be clear on the choice.
Anyone who hopes for single party government after the next election should be careful what they wish for.
Day by day it is becoming clearer that a Labour Government on its own will fail to balance the books.
A Conservative party on its own will end up shutting the door, cutting us adrift from our European neighbours.
Either outcome will jeopardise the recovery; either way we will find ourselves back at square one.
If I seem like I’m being very stark, it’s because the threat is very real and very big.
A Labour party that has not learnt a single lesson about fiscal responsibility.
A Conservative Party that, if allowed, will sever our ties with the EU.
It will be Britain’s businesses that bear the brunt – make no mistake. Your profits. Your share prices. The thousands and thousands of people you employ. The millions of people across Britain who rely an economy driven by your success.
The Liberal Democrats cannot and will not just sit back and watch that happen – we are going to fight tooth and nail to get back into government again.
In 2010 we were the guarantors of Britain’s economic stability because we provided strong government.
In 2015 we will be the guarantors of economic stability because we can provide reasonable, sensible, centrist government.
Sound public finances; an open, trading Britain that stands tall in our European backyard; an unrelenting focus on infrastructure to help move the nation from rescue to renewal.
These are the building blocks of a strong and prosperous economy, filled with opportunity and success – and we are going to do everything in our power to defend them.
For me, though, it was the questions where he was very strong, emphasising the need for reform of the EU, and Whitehall for that matter. He said that opponents of the EU tried to make out that those who wanted to stay in wanted it to stay the same. He said that was absurd. He said that he wanted to reform Whitehall, not burn it to the ground and it was the same with the EU.
He knows fine that he mucked up the answer on reform when he debated Nigel Farage in April but he seems to have found a much stronger form of words now.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social
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7 Comments
Finally a Nick Clegg speech I like and feel is a winner! – This is the approach for the election. Business People fear leaving Europe and a return to Spend, Spend, Spend. There is a huge gap in the centre and we do have a track record to calmly assert – the need for Liberal Democrats at the Treasury post 2015. A New Nick Clegg. Focus on Future Growth backed up by tough choices, that Labour will duck. Tell it true – blood sweat and tears, not Miliband Jam tomorrow.
Come on Jonathan, tell us what you really think!
Was a strong performance from Nick, all the better from his appearance on Free Speech last week. Two very different audiences, two very different sets of issues – but during both he was open and clear with a firm, cohesive Liberal message.
The mistakes of the past still stand, and there be disagreement here about which course of action we should take, but both audiences seemed impressed and open to what he had to say. Much more work to be done, but he seems to be on his best form for years.
How about asking businesses to assess for themselves how the in/out options impact their business, and to share (and discuss) this information with their staff?
Some such strategy might just begin to counter the mis-information being put about by many in this debate.
There is no future for the Lib Dems as the party of big business. It’s a political black hole. Don’t expect this to do any good for the party’s ratings. The days of the electorate being impressed because you’ve got big business onside are long over. I’m sure I saw a poll not so longer ago that showed trust in our corporate leaders lower in the UK than mos other western countries – certainly much lower than the US and Germany.
@ FrankBooth
We never should be the party of the Big Business, or the state for that matter. The role of Liberals is as the movement of people, but given that responsible businesses help raise necessary taxes and provide their staff with help, support and living wages it is still worth talking with and to them.
Also, whilst I don’t see us starting to flash business support as an electoral asset, pointing out that our long-held position on the EU is also the long-held line of the CBI can’t be too much of a bad thing. Where we should be better as a party is pointing out that the Tories are perfectly willing to put jobs at risks to stop their further internal divisions over Europe. Yesterday’s antics were a shameful example of them using government and the Commons for their own party political ends, rather than the country’s benefit. As such, showing ourselves to be different from them, regardless of audience, isn’t a bad thing at all.
If Lib Dems are pro business then how has the FCA just managed to pretty much kill the payday loan sector?
Not happy about this at all. A red line policy, but Lib Dems had already crossed my red line anyway.
“The FCA also said the new rules would lock around 70,000 people out of the payday loans market”.
So we are back to loan sharks? Not happy. Shall we follow China and set up a shadow banking sector?