Nick Clegg has published his New Year message for 2015. Here it is in full:
The text appears below.
2015 should be a year for optimism. I know it might not always feel that way, the last year has been another tough one for many people. And when times are tough, some politicians, instead of telling it like it is and offering a positive way forward, respond with easy simplistic answers or by telling us who to blame. And when that happens, instead offering hope and a way forward, politics becomes about picking a side – us vs them, fear instead of hope.
I can tell you right now what David Cameron and Ed Miliband’s messages to you will be this year: David Cameron will tell you to stick to his plan but the Conservatives’ plan is not a plan for everyone.
That’s why I’ve had to fight inside government, every day, to make this government fairer, to make sure this coalition has stayed on the centre ground, helping millions of people, not just a few, with lower taxes for ordinary workers, more apprenticeships than ever, better pensions, more help for the most disadvantaged children, and an economic recovery that would never have happened if the Liberal Democrats had not stepped up to the plate and formed a stable, strong government.
Now that there’s an election looming, far from sticking to the plan we’ve pursued in government, the Conservatives are swerving off to the right and advocating ideological cuts to our public services.
Ed Miliband will tell you that the day to day pressures people face are all the fault of the government. He wants to pretend he can wave a magic wand and everything will be better. But it won’t. Life isn’t like that. And what he won’t tell you is that the pain of the last few years has been a direct result of the economic collapse his party presided over.
Denial is no way to run a country. Denial won’t fix the economy or help working people. Choosing between Labour and the Conservatives is a pretty grim choice to make.
So this year, make another.
Choose to put the Liberal Democrats in government again and this is what you’ll get: we will always fight to make sure that whoever you are or whatever your background, you have the opportunity to fulfil your potential
But we can’t do that without a stronger economy and Labour in power, on their own, will put the economic recovery at risk.
And we can’t do it without a fairer society. The Conservatives in power, on their own, will look after their own kind. They won’t spread opportunity for everybody.
Only the Liberal Democrats offer both: a stronger economy and a fairer society. Opportunity for all.
I will always stand up for the Liberal British values of openness, tolerance and compassion against those who peddle the politics of grievance, fear and blame.
This year, a lot of mud will be thrown. A lot of over the top claims will be made, a lot of accusations will be hurled around the place.
Ignore them. This year, you get to choose.
Make 2015 a year for hope, not fear. For optimism, not division. For everybody.
Happy New Year.
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34 Comments
Ah a new irregular verb.
I point out the “denials” and “veering” of the other parties.
You critique their approaches.
They sling mud.
Many voters will not be impressed by the sentiment behind this boast —
“…..That’s why I’ve had to fight inside government, every day, …. helping millions of people, not just a few, with lower taxes…”
Many voters will feel more in tune with the thoughts in this Zoe Williams article —
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/29/love-paying-taxes-tax-policy
The sentiment quoted by our glorious leader is essentially a Conservative sentiment about tax.
The thoughts in the article by Zoe Williams are essentially Liberal Democrat thoughts.
It is a shame that Zoe Williams is not leader of our party. If she were we might be able to crawl above the miserable poll ratings to which se have been reduced by ten years of Orange Bookery.
“….The Conservatives in power, on their own, will look after their own kind..”
We are left to form our own conclusion as to what is meant by “…their own kind…”
Would it for example describe the son of an upper class family of considerable wealth, who attended an expensive elite public school, got his first job with a Tory Grandee on the recommendation of another Tory Grandee?
When it comes to “..their own kind…” the Glass House at Chevening is a dangerous point from which to start throwing stones.
Yes, we do face a ‘grim choice’ at the coming general election. A Conservative majority government, in which Cameron would be fettered by his right wing rather than slightly restrained as at present by the LibDems, or a Labour majority government which has done very little thinking about how it would govern differently from last time. However, the most likely outcome is a coalition of some description, but it is not something that people either individually or collectively can vote for, except in the sense that they know that it is something that Clegg wants. The Liberal Democrats have achieved things in their time in government, but another five years in coalition will complete the destruction of the party. A ‘grim choice’ indeed.
@JohnTilley: Thank you for that article from Zoe Williams, it’s spot on. I remember the Liberal party of “a penny on income tax”; I wish it would return to us.
I don’t find this a credible vision for Clegg to stand on come next May. It paints the Liberal Democrats as a party devoid of positive reasons to vote for them but instead a reaction against the Tories or the Labour party and it fails to credibly acknowledge what the LDs have actually done in government. It just won’t stand up for the Liberals to now launch an attach on Austerity after all the times they’ve supported and voted for it in the past. Most of the cuts that George intends for the next parliament are already announced policy – approved by the LDs – so how can they now stand against them? How can they argue that Tory cuts are cruel when they backed the Bedroom tax and the welfare cap?
Clegg has to run on a platform of being proud of the five years of coalition government.
In the long shadows cast by Rochester’s cathedral on a wintry afternoon, there is a clear sense of just how hard it will be for Nick Clegg to regain voters’ attention. When his name is mentioned, the reception is decidedly chilly.
“We can’t stand Nick Clegg” said one voter – part of a group that had come down to Rochester for the day. “I just think he’s dreadful” added another.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30586538
I think this “news” story in the Mail encapsulates many of the problems that Lib Dems face in 2015: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2890557/Lib-Dem-Scrooge-Families-pay-1-53-letter-arrives-no-stamp-s-MP-s-Christmas-card.html – essentially a national “newspaper” is reporting about a Lib Dem MP forgetting to put a stamp on a Christmas card.
Mud is going to be slung at Lib Dems from all sides.
Perhaps Clegg et al hoped that guiding the party to what they perceived as the centre would allow it to draw support from the left and the right, but instead a rightwards move appears to have lost the party’s traditional supporters and failed to win any new friends.
Sorry but the message does not fill me with hope and optimism. It essentially boils down to more of the same – particularly more equidistant centrism and the dreadful aliberal ‘stronger economy and a fairer society, opportunity for all’ message.
It used to be only the Tories who appeared to openly believe they had the right and duty to hold office. Perhaps John Tilley’s ‘own kind’ comment finds resonance here.
Clearly one period in office has caused huge damage to our party but I am convinced a second would be truly catastrophic.
A vital question for all ordinary party members to ask MPs and candidates is where they stand on the question of another coalition.
The general election survivors must return to parliament with a clear view of what their teams have been working for and what to do with regards ANY coalition. One thing is certain, very few will have been walking the streets for equidistant centrism and more of the same or be willing to tear the party apart to maintain the present Thatcherite economic status quo of our leadership.
Well being disabled my hope that nobody comes up with a final solution is one to be praised by my worry is some banks will be asking why are we being given benefits which could be used to help out seriously poor bankers .
Sorry but for me next year looks pretty dam bleak , and to be honest all I did was work hard and hope other did their jobs well, an unserviced hire machine cost me my legs and my life and the company said sorry the HSE said that’s good enough and my life is now in poverty which MP’s get pay rises.
I use to vote labour changed to the Liberals after Blair but now think the party which I wish we had in England is in Scotland.
Robert:
Yours is the best comment that I have seen for many a long day.
It sums up the appalling lack of choice for voters in England ; no wonder they berate the Scots and praise them in equal measure. We, are fortunate to have 2 political parties (possibly 3) who are left of centre and care more about “people” than “money”.
You could do worse than to do what I did over twenty five years ago and move to Scotland where you would be welcomed.
I am hopeful that we will soon rid ourselves of the Red Tories as well as the last BlueTory come May 2015.
We can then start a wave of dissent rolling across the country, all the way down to the Augian Stables of Westminster.
Optimism for all? There is little or none for us. With the leaders debates to come we face a despairing election. Still it should then give us a few years breathing space to review, repair and renew. Historians will probably look back on 2014 and early 2015 and ask why was Clegg stil in post. It is all very strange.
I just with Labour would get its act together, I would like a left of centre government that stems the growing nastiness that is causing citizen to turn on citizen.
As a now, floating voter, the Green Party seems the only option for me, in my area it will be the equivalent of a wasted vote but I am unprepared to give my vote to supporters of the current Lib Dem leadership, especially the likes of David Laws and Danny Alexander. I certainly don’t feel that I can do what others of my acquaintance say they will do and vote Conservative to keep UKIP out in their areas.
Some of us are between the devil and the deep blue sea.
@ Jayne – “I just with Labour would get its act together, I would like a left of centre government that stems the growing nastiness that is causing citizen to turn on citizen.”
I have been rather hoping the lib-dem’s would get their act together and provide exactly that, thus making the labour’s continuing irrelevance a non-issue for the ~50% of the population that are naturally positive-liberty (left-leaning) people.
Why do even lib-dem’s discount this possibility?
Please, don’t give me the orange-book ‘betrayal’, the real reason is that far too many are happy to sit in opposition on the cushion of their iron principles, pausing only to shudder in revulsion at the populism required to adopt the common ground of Gov’t.
If you thought you had seen this New Year’s message before, think back to December 2007 —
“…..Mr Clegg is the third Lib Dem leader in three years to deliver the party’s New Year message.
He said he had the leadership skills that would enable the party to challenge the dominance of Labour and the Conservatives by tapping into Britain’s liberal beliefs.
He said. “We must reach beyond the stale two-party system to the millions of people who share our liberal values and change Britain for the better.
“Let us show what that means in the local elections that face us this spring.” ”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7165397.
After 7 years as our Leader what has changed?
The party has suffered the worst decline since the 1920s with the loss of a third of its members, half its councillors, two thirds of its MSPs, and all but one of its MEPs.
In city councils such as Manchester, half the councils in Scotland and most London Borough councils we have been completely wiped out.
In parliamentary by-elections we can no longer even get 5% of the vote to save our deposit.
In the General Election in 2010 we lost five MPs. How many more will we lose in 2015?
We know that the number of lost deposits in May 2015 will be more than an embarrassment.
All this fromThe man who told us in that New Year’s Message of 7 years ago — “.. he had the leadership skills that would enable the party to challenge the dominance of Labour and the Conservatives by tapping into Britain’s liberal beliefs..”
What could possibly have gone wrong ?
But on the positive side — a few people have been invited for a jolly time at Chevening, so at least that is something they will be able to think about when they try to remember some good times with Clegg.
The real problem for Nick is nobody is listening. Why would anyone be interested in the promises of someone that ditched their promises after the last election. I see a vote for the party as a vote for the unknown. Yes I know that is partly the case with any party (whether or not there is a coalition) but to paraphrase a certain US politician of a few years ago, what NC would do in a coalition is a “known unknown” and that is not worthy of my vote. Even a suggestion that the LD will not form another coalition with the Tories would not give me trust enough to vote LD.
Instead I’ll be forced to vote for the only major party I know will NOT support the Tories.
You and Tories are offerings doom gloom and more Europe and more poverty
>Instead I’ll be forced to vote for the only major party I know will NOT support the Tories.
If you mean Labour, doesn’t that entail voting for the party that most resembles the Tories? Come to think of it, the Tories were less Tory than the last Labour government this time around. You have my sympathies though and I have no better answers, it’d be great if there was a party that I believed in.
When considering voting Labour, remember the WAR (what was it good for?), PFI, selling off the gold, tuition fees (and funding crisis), end of boom and bust, etc, etc. They did mess a lot of stuff up.
@ ChrisB,
And what have the foreign interventions supported by the Lib Dems when in government been good for?
Jayne Mansfield 30th Dec ’14 – 2:14pm
“@ ChrisB,
And what have the foreign interventions supported by the Lib Dems when in government been good for? ”
Good question Jayne Mansfield. Remember those promises from only a few months ago that sending bombers to bomb Iraq in 2014 to defend us from those extremists WOULD NOT RESULT in “BOOTS ON THE GROUND” ?
LDV has not yet done a follow-up article on those promises from the PM and his oh so loyal DPM.
But I live in hopes that an article will appear in LDV soon explaining how the hundreds of UK troops now being sent to Iraq will not be wearing boots or perhaps how these troops will walk on their hands.
In the age of instant political amnesia nobody remembers the promises of the PM and his DPM longer than 24 hours.
That is how they get away with it.
Although the first comment has an ironic, but justified point, what Clegg is setting out here looks justified and a lot more realistic than headlong rush into the naïve optimism of May 2010. The statement that worries me is “The Conservatives/Labour in power, on their own, will……..”: the implication is that Clegg is looking for another coalition. Of Course, I do realise that outwardly he does have to advocate this. I do hope that he has other plans for what is plausible if there is a significant loss of Lib Dem MPs.
I accept that an important objective in 2010, apart from dealing with a precarious economy, was to demonstrate that a coalition could govern for a full term. Why spoil this by taking part in a coalition that cannot hold together? Lib Dems could be the fourth largest party in Westminster, surely this would be reason enough to stand aside. In fact, I hope he is privately reluctant to take part in a new coalition and thinking of standing aside as leader. He could then be more free to speak for himself when commenting on political events. He could with his experience in government be quite effective in this role.
I would like to see Lib Dems set our stall with some hard demands for any involvement in a coalition, such as to abandon how the so called ‘bedroom tax’ works. This would make it harder to form a coalition, but that would be no bad thing.
In terms of preparing for the election we need to understand the need to emphasise the risk for Labour inclined voters who decline to vote tactically for a Lib Dem. It is this group that could in effect hand a slim majority (or something workably close) to the Conservatives. They need to be convinced that a vote for Labour could end up as a vote against Labour.
@ Martin
“They need to be convinced that a vote for Labour could end up as a vote against Labour.”
Only in an electoral system so poorly suited to the modern reality could a statement such as this make any sense at all – yet you are completely right Martin.
” Cameron would be fettered by his right wing rather than slightly restrained as at present by the LibDems”
Honestly, your Honour, I only joined the gang out of a moral duty to restrain my co-defendent. It is true that he was kicking the tramp; it is true that I was the one that suggested 9 or 10 kicks – but what the court and jury is failing to take note of is that if I had not been there then clearly it would have been in my co-defendent’s nature to administer 10 more. Clearly, in every case of tramp-kicking my co-defendent has been involved in, I have been present, and have indeed been involved in determining the number and severity of kicks administered, but this only shows how consistent and dutiful has been my desire to limit tramp-kicking to the limit considered reasonable by my psychotic friend. As any fule kno I thus cannot possibly be held in any way guilty of the crime of kicking a tramp.
When Vince Cable attacked the Tory economic policy on the “Andrew Marr Show” a few weeks ago, the party’s opinion-poll rating doubled. Now, just imagine what would happen if Vince Cable attacked the Tory economic policy ever day, rather than on those few occasions that he is allowed off the leash? Just imagine what would happen to the party’s electoral fortunes if Vince Cable was leader?
Which begs the question, why isn’t Vince Cable leader?
Richard Harris,
“I see a vote for the party as a vote for the unknown. … what NC would do in a coalition is a “known unknown” and that is not worthy of my vote.”
That’s actually what Clegg would like left-of-centre people to believe, as it might persuade a few to vote for him. But it ain’t so. Yes, Clegg carefully balances Labour against the Tories in his prepared statements, for example his careful formulation “Labour in power, on their own, will put the economic recovery at risk” which hints at the possibility of a Lib-Lab coalition. But he does no more than hint, and with good reason. Clegg wouldn’t actually touch Miliband with a bargepole, and that feeling is fully reciprocated. All Clegg’s more impromptu comments – in parliamentary Questions for example – show that he is totally wedded to the Tory Coalition.
A Lib Dem vote is a vote for alliance with the Conservatives. Nothing more, nothing less. In the hopelessly hung parliament we can soon expect, with SNP, UKIP, Lib Dems and Paisleyites (probably in that order) all holding the balance, expect to see Clegg (Right) and SNP (Left) identify at once which side they are on.
“Remember those promises from only a few months ago that sending bombers to bomb Iraq in 2014 to defend us from those extremists WOULD NOT RESULT in “BOOTS ON THE GROUND” ?”
If further proof of my naiivity were needed, I responded to the email which was sent from the Leader’s Office at the time the bombers were sent in ‘asking for comments’. My input was, could bombing alone be insufficient and would it come to be shown that ISIS could only be defeated on the ground? In the first instance, this will mean by the Iraqi forces, but (QED) there is no way they have the training and capability to do this (in contrast to the millions of dollars worth of hardware provided c/o the US taxpayer which was left to fall into ISIS hands as the Iraqi forces ran away), so will Western advisers need to be sent in to provide this and, in turn, Western infantry etc to protect the advisers?
I am afraid that, as others have pointed out, NC’s credibility among swathes of the electorate on ANY issue whatsoever is now totally zero and that (as with the elections of Democrats in the US) any success by LD candidates at local and constituency elections in the coming months will be entirely and solely due to THEIR efforts and merits (and possibly some tactical voting where it may be effective). I cannot conceive of (a) the Party as a whole wanting to use NC’s image etc on advertising material in May 2015 or (b) his being retained as Leader (whatever the outcome) beyond the 2015 Autumn Conference. Hopefully we can then begin to rebuild the Party which millions of electors are seeking (and thought they had until the grim actions of 2010/2011 disgusted so many of them and sent them off in various directions instead).
As a follow-up, I think the Party should be doing all it can to torpedo a repeat of the televised debates in the run-up to the General Election. I really cannot imagine many “I agree with Nick!” comments emerging this time but his rather being an object of derision and being torn apart by the other leaders, who know exactly Clegg is perceived among swathes of the electorate and who will make maximum use of this! Unless it is agreed that Natalie Bennett can take part (the leader of a party which has had a ‘genuine’ MP (not a couple of turncoats) elected on a clear party manifesto for the entire period of this Parliament, I doubt if I shall be watching in any case. (Apart from issues of equity, the prospect of watching four white, middle aged, middle class, (very expensively) privately (3/4) and Oxbridge (3/4) educated blokes “speaking for Britain” sounds like a joke!) The issue of Green participation should be made a key issue (plus the fact that the real outcome in May 2015 is very likely to lie in the hands of the SNP, DUP etc as well, the argument could also be advanced that any debate among ‘national’ party leaders should well include them as well!)
Jayne: “Some of us are between the devil and the deep blue sea.”
Me too. I shall watch the local polls very carefully. This was a “rock solid” Labour seat for decades but socio-economic/demographic changes have meant it is now a marginal Labour/Conservative one. I shall be voting for whichever is likely to win (indeed “the devil and the deep blue sea”) purely and simply to keep the Kippers as far from having the slightest prospects of getting their hands on it as can possibly be done. My support for the LDs (financial, canvassing, phone etc) will be focused entirely on areas where they have a real chance of success (which, as the May elections showed, is unfortunately definitely not around here (for the present)).
The video above says it’s private now, I think for some reason they pulled it and re-uploaded it. Hopefully one of the LDV crew can correct the embed used on this page with the new version uploaded yesterday.
I’ve never looked at Lib Dem’s YouTube presence until now, shocked by how few views party videos get. Nobody is listening to the party and there’s no clearer proof of this than YouTube. It must really only be us lot here at LDV looking at these things, most of them don’t make it into 4 figures! Compare them with other smaller parties, for example the Monster Raving Loony’s or the Greens. Even a video with celebs like Frank Bruno don’t get more than 1000 hits! The only exception is The Poke’s “I’m Sorry”, which garnered 2.8m hits – far more than all other Lib Dem related YouTube videos combined, which of course was Cleggs funeral march. It’s as if the party simply can’t interpret what the public is saying to them any more.
I find the persistence in doing things we know don’t work frustrating. It’s a terrible meta-narrative for a political organisation and demonstrates that remaining members won’t/can’t fix what’s broken.
ChrisB – the video embed has now been updated and is live.
Chris B
As I write, Nick Clegg’s new year message has had 851 views. Ed Miliband’s has had 691 views. David Cameron and Nigel Farage haven’t bothered to do new year messages that I can find. Nicola Sturgeon’s new year message has had “301+” views.
This is a good start. 2015 is a fantastic opportunity for the LibDems. We are the only party to stand on the centre ground of ‘Stronger economy and fairer society’ We have already supported the ‘tough decisions’ that were needed and now we can promote a steady reduction in the deficit through reductions in spending and higher taxes for the well off whilst reducing the gap between rich and poor. Tories, Labour and UKIP are way off to the right, SNP and the Greens to the left leaving the LibDems in the centre. At 6% in the opinion polls there is nothing to lose by being honest and fair with the electorate. There is nothing to fear except fear itself.
ChrisB wrote:
“I’ve never looked at Lib Dem’s YouTube presence until now, shocked by how few views party videos get. Nobody is listening to the party and there’s no clearer proof of this than YouTube.”
Perhaps we should be looking for more effective ways of using YouTube. The following is one of many YouTube videos uploaded by Bildu (“to gather”), a coalition of political parties ranging from the centre-left to hard left operating in Euskal Herria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFMokLG1DIM
This one has had 47, 402 hits in three years, which is an improvement on the superficially more polished stuff that we upload. And one can see why.
“Choose to put the Liberal Democrats in government again”
Unfortunately, Nick Clegg appears to not understand that the voters of this country cannot ‘choose to put ANYONE in government.
Setting aside, for one moment, the facts that there are more than a twentienth of the seats in the country where no potential ‘majority governing Party’ candidate either stands for election or stands any hope of winning , the fact that the result in about 400 seats is a foregone conclusion and the fact that most people in Scotland appear to be planning to vote in May 2015 on issues which are nothing at all to do with alternative UK governments, our system is a CONSTITUENCY system. You vote for your Member of Parliament, period, with no clue about how any other constituency is voting or what the accumulated national results will be or what your own MP will do after these results are declared. Were this not the case, every single constituency which presently has a Lib Dem MP – and certainly every single constituency which has a Lib Dem MP post-May – would be represented by a Member from a different Party.
Hey Sesenco,
Yeah, to be honest a video of a party that looks like a literal party has some appeal, beyond sitting and hearing serious, sincere voices make promises they can’t keep. If you look at the Lib Dem YouTube channel by hits you can see there’s something very wrong here :
https://www.youtube.com/user/LibDem/videos?flow=grid&view=0&sort=p
The most popular videos are actually the ones where people are slagging the party off. So the YouTube channel has actually been feeding the backlash against the party!