Deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes has signalled in the clearest possible langauge his belief that the party’s coalition with the Consevatives can and will run its full five-year course. In a speech today in Bradford, Simon took the opportunity to state how the Lib Dems are delivering results in government:

Just this month nearly one million low income people stop paying income tax altogether. In the metropolitan borough of Bradford alone, 166,000 basic rate taxpayers will receive a tax cut. And this is entirely because of a policy which was campaigned for by Liberal Democrats in opposition and delivered by Liberal Democrats in government.

You can read Simon’s speech in full below:

A little under a year ago Liberal Democrats signed an agreement with the Conservative party to form a coalition government for this parliament.

The coalition agreement is not a love affair, or a marriage or even a meeting of minds. It is a practical business relationship.

It is an agreement for five years, because we need five years to deal with the deficit, to rebuild our economy and make Britain a fairer place.

It is an agreement for actions we have started, and so we’ll finish.

To do otherwise would be irresponsible.

We must never forget that our country is in the midst of a national economic and financial crisis. A crisis which sees our government borrowing £400m a day – the interest alone enough to build a new primary school every hour. A crisis from which Labour has walked away – opposing everything and proposing nothing. In the words of the old saying: today’s Labour party are the empty vessel that makes the most noise.

This has been a crisis of such seriousness that if we did nothing about it we would impoverish our children and our children’s children.

So let me be clear. Liberal Democrats are here in government for the full five year term and through hard times as well as good. Because we believe Liberal Democrats in government can transform British politics for good.

Jo Grimond once said he intended to march his troops towards the sound of gunfire. We are now sometimes having to do the same. But we are proud to have the responsibility of being in government and confident that Liberal Democrats can make sure that this government will make the changes which will make Britain a more fair, more just and more successful place.

To be honest it took us some time after May to get our act together and make the most of the opportunities of being in government.

But now we have done that and the public are hearing more and more about the differences Liberal Democrats are making in government, and seeing more and more the differences between a coalition government with Liberal Democrats fully participating and the only realistic alternative last year, which was a minority Conservative government – which could have become a majority Conservative government at any time.

Just this month nearly one million low income people stop paying income tax altogether. In the metropolitan borough of Bradford alone, 166,000 basic rate taxpayers will receive a tax cut. And this is entirely because of a policy which was campaigned for by Liberal Democrats in opposition and delivered by Liberal Democrats in government.

Just this month, for the first time in since it was abandoned by Margaret Thatcher in 1980, the link between pensions and earnings has been restored. Again, this is entirely because of another Liberal Democrat policy which came straight from the pages of our manifesto in opposition and delivered straight into the incomes of every pensioner in government.

And just this month, after the last Labour government raised taxes on the poor through the abolition of the 10p tax rate and cut capital gains tax which benefited the rich, Liberal Democrats have implemented our manifesto by ensuring that the better off will pay their fair share by the decision to raise capital gains tax in government.

So we must be loud and confident about our successes. But we also now need to be more clear and more determined about other things as well.

Young people

We must continue to take action which shows that we are on the side of young people. Britain’s young people need to know that their government will provide them with the education, training, information, advice and guidance they need so that they gain the skills and make the decisions that will help them achieve their ambitions and their goals.

We have already started.

From this term, schools will get more money to help those from the poorest backgrounds and the government has committed to funding an extra 250,000 apprenticeships. We have won the case for more support to those facing financial difficulty in attending school or college between the ages of 16 and 18.

And now we must now sort out careers advice and the careers service. As I travel around the country in my role as advocate for access to education, almost all young people say they have received very poor careers advice.

We need teenagers to make the right choices so they can do the right jobs for them.

We also need a commitment to much more serious work experience as well as much more useful information, guidance and advice.

I shall soon be giving the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister my report with recommendations as to how the government can do this.

Public Services

We must show more clearly that we are on the side of the public services.

We cannot allow the view to continue that necessary reform means any lack of support for our public services or our public servants.

In education, health and housing, we must constantly strive for the best.

At the end of five years, we want Britain to have the best public services which can be a shining example to the rest of the world.

Public services are by their nature publicly funded. Driving the state to bankruptcy does nothing to support them. The government necessarily has had to make cuts, but it will not make any more cuts than necessary.

And to be effective and responsive, public services must also be publicly accountable.

Throughout my career in politics the great weakness of the NHS has been that none of the decisions have been locally or regionally democratically accountable.

As we decide over the next few months what changes need to be made to the proposed reforms of the NHS, we must make sure that any changes inspire public confidence.

And the public will be confident in an NHS which is more transparent, with decisions taken in public

They will be confident in an NHS which is more democratically accountable

And where the public will know that there will be no competition on price alone.

We must also have a government which visibly and effectively supports public and social housing – a vital resource which provides security for millions in a world where so many things are insecure. That is why this government has committed to build at least as many affordable homes in every year of this government as were built in any year of the last Labour government – and this commitment will be delivered. The first independent study of the government’s housing policies said that in each year they will more than double the amount of homes built in any year under Tony Blair.

Gap between the rich and poor

We must also reverse what was the inescapable and inexcusable failure of the last Labour and Tory governments, the thirty year trend of a rising gap between the rich and poor.

The huge gap which exists today between the well off and the worse off is one of the most corrosive and dangerous threats to our society.

At the end of these five years our economy must sustain a more cohesive and united society and not divide it.

That is why for Liberal Democrats it is a priority to end the scandal of tax payer owned businesses paying out millions of pounds to just a few employees. Obscene bonuses have no place in a modern and fairer Britain.

A successful Britain

We must also concentrate on making our businesses, our trades, our exports and our imports more successful. And the key is reskilling our economy, and rebuilding our manufacturing base. Small, medium and large businesses, and the self-employed, must know that this government is on their side.

Bradford is our test

The test for the coalition will be cities like Bradford.

We need to prove that at the end of these five years people and communities who were written off by previous governments will have their chances turned around.

That we will have created a sustainable economy which provides work and opportunity to our great provincial cities and not just the City of London.

That we have given to communities and cities the power to make their own future.

Local government

There are now three weeks to go until the local elections in England and the UK referendum on fairer votes.

I am clear that Liberal Democrats are absolutely vital in districts and counties, and in town halls and city halls, if we want councillors who defend local government and defend local democracy – something which the two centralising parties have too often failed to do.

On May 5th Liberal Democrats will hold many seats and win many seats because people across the country know that value of local representatives who stand up for them and their local communities as Liberal Democrats have always done and will always do.

People across the country know the value of having local Liberal Democrat representatives who fight for local services, rather than cut local services.

And people in Bradford on May 5th will know the value of having people like Jeannette Sunderland and her Liberal Democrat colleagues on Bradford council who rejected cuts of up to 25% in local services like the youth service and instead forced the council to make greater savings in its management and administration.

Fairer votes

But there is another important vote on May 5th also. For the first time ever the British people will be able to take part in a referendum to decide how our representatives to Westminster are elected. I am clear the referendum can be won, a referendum which itself never would have been held without Liberal Democrats in government.

The choice is very simple.

After May 5th do we want politics as before or more accountable politicians in the future?

I do not believe that it is an accident that we have seen Labour MPs in Barnsley Central and Bury and Scunthorpe commit criminal acts when they thought they had jobs for life. Nor was it an accident that at the last election we saw many Conservative MPs stand down after committing some of the most scandalous abuses of their parliamentary expenses from safe Conservative seats.

AV is a simple change which will make a big difference.

It will allow people to express a preference, vote for the MP who they want and not who they think has the best chance of winning, and it will mean that all MPs are elected with the majority of the support of their voting constituents.

Conclusion

So today I am proud to be here in Bradford to launch the campaign for the local elections and the referendum for fairer votes. It is now up to you to go out there and make sure the people of Bradford know what Liberal Democrats are doing and what we will do to make Bradford a better place to live and to give ordinary working people a better chance.

You must make the argument and win the referendum on fairer votes, so that we can have a better more accountable parliament which will mean a better government for all.

Most importantly you must continue, along with Jeanette Sutherland, David Ward and all Liberal Democrats to campaign with us for a fairer, more just and most importantly more liberal Britain.

We are on your side and together we will win.