As David Cameron rolled out another Tory tax cut for the wealthiest in society, Nick Clegg showed where the Liberal Democrat heart lies by setting out Liberal Democrat plans to deal with the deficit without causing more hardship for the poorest. On welfare, the party intends to make £3.5 billion worth of cuts but these will be targeted at the wealthiest pensioners with the withdrawal of Winter Fuel Allowance and free tv licences from households with a higher rate taxpayer. He said that you have to look at who pays to see where a party’s values lie:
So who is asked to pay is one of the most revealing things a political party can tell you about its values
Who wins and who loses, who will make the sacrifices and who will reap the rewards, tells you where a party’s heart really lies.
The Conservatives appear to believe in making the poorest and the most vulnerable in our society pay for the wealthiest.
Labour appear to want the next generation to pay for the mistakes of this one.
The party is keen to show itself as the compassionate, responsible adult in the room when it comes to balancing the books. They have come up with a detailed plan which should appeal to both Labour-leaning and Conservative-leaning voters in key marginals – and both in Scotland where there is increasing evidence of people being prepared to vote tactically to stop the SNP.
Also included are plans to make non-doms pay more which make more sense than Labour’s garbled plan announced this week, and to reform the Barnett Formula to make it fairer to Wales.
Here is his speech in full:
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