Sunday, November 27, 2011
No going back to the 1980s
And thank goodness for that! The main message from Nick Clegg's interview with today's Observer is that this is not a Conservative Government nor is it driven by ideology in the same way as Thatcher's early governments were:
The deputy prime minister is in overdrive, dismissing questions that challenge his views. "Hang on a minute," he says repeatedly, before ploughing on with his original arguments. He paints himself as the one key figure in the coalition who can understand the concerns of those struggling in today's sickly economy — and temper the sink-or-swim approach of the Tories.
"I'm acutely aware, probably more than anyone else sitting around the cabinet table, as the only senior cabinet member from a big northern city suffering some very, very difficult times, how important it is not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s and to take remedial action now."
He points to a series of measures, including his £1bn Youth Contract to tackle rising unemployment among 16-24-year-olds that he announced on Friday, as evidence of the Lib Dems' distinctive approach and influence — and of his own personal political priorities.
"Whether it's on youth unemployment, whether it's on youngsters, whether it's on getting behind advanced manufacturing and not putting all our eggs into the City of London basket, I don't think that would have happened without the coalition."
Getting the economy back on track of course is not easy, and means that difficult decisions have to be made. Many of those decisions were avoided by Labour simply because they were too hard.
What is important is that the influennce of the Liberal Democrats continues so as to ensure that the needs of the less-well-off are paramount and that it is the wealthiest in our society who are hit the hardest.
All the advance briefings about the Chancellor's statement on Tuesday indicate that this message is getting through and is being translated into Government action.
The deputy prime minister is in overdrive, dismissing questions that challenge his views. "Hang on a minute," he says repeatedly, before ploughing on with his original arguments. He paints himself as the one key figure in the coalition who can understand the concerns of those struggling in today's sickly economy — and temper the sink-or-swim approach of the Tories.
"I'm acutely aware, probably more than anyone else sitting around the cabinet table, as the only senior cabinet member from a big northern city suffering some very, very difficult times, how important it is not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s and to take remedial action now."
He points to a series of measures, including his £1bn Youth Contract to tackle rising unemployment among 16-24-year-olds that he announced on Friday, as evidence of the Lib Dems' distinctive approach and influence — and of his own personal political priorities.
"Whether it's on youth unemployment, whether it's on youngsters, whether it's on getting behind advanced manufacturing and not putting all our eggs into the City of London basket, I don't think that would have happened without the coalition."
Getting the economy back on track of course is not easy, and means that difficult decisions have to be made. Many of those decisions were avoided by Labour simply because they were too hard.
What is important is that the influennce of the Liberal Democrats continues so as to ensure that the needs of the less-well-off are paramount and that it is the wealthiest in our society who are hit the hardest.
All the advance briefings about the Chancellor's statement on Tuesday indicate that this message is getting through and is being translated into Government action.
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Regrettably for Clegg and the rest of his party, people's perceptions are that he's in with a right wing Tory government.
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