Tuesday, July 02, 2013
Social engineering by the Tories
Nick Clegg was quick off the mark yesterday to attack the latest manifestations of the Conservative Party's obsession with marriage and Europe as wrong-headed and illiberal.
The Independent reports that the Deputy Prime Minister hit back at Mr Cameron’s call for the Liberal Democrats to “get off the fence” on Europe and portrayed the Conservatives as backward-looking on marriage:
After Mr Cameron promised Tory MPs he would honour his long-standing pledge to bring in transferable tax allowances for married couples, Mr Clegg suggested the money would be better spent on a tax break to help working families with their child care costs. He said: “This desire of the Conservative Party to hand-pick couples through the tax system who conform to their image of how you should conduct your life, I don't think it's fair.“
Europe is back on the agenda because the Conservative high command is supporting a backbench bill to guarantee an in/out referendum in 2017, which be debated by the Commons on Friday.
Mr Clegg, whose MPs are expected to abstain, argued that the Tories had repeatedly changed their position while the Lib Dems had remained consistent. ”They may increasingly be becoming the party of 'out',“ he said. ”We are unambiguously - and will remain - the party of 'in'”. He said his party would back an in/out referendum when a new EU treaty emerged but added: “They [the Tories] now want to pluck a slightly arbitrary date in the diary out of thin air to have a referendum on a very ill-defined process of so-called renegotiation.“
This stance is very welcome and underlines some of the key philosophical differences between the two parties. Let us hope that when we come to face the electorate we are as clear and as unequivocal in promoting our position as Nick Clegg was yesterday.
The Independent reports that the Deputy Prime Minister hit back at Mr Cameron’s call for the Liberal Democrats to “get off the fence” on Europe and portrayed the Conservatives as backward-looking on marriage:
After Mr Cameron promised Tory MPs he would honour his long-standing pledge to bring in transferable tax allowances for married couples, Mr Clegg suggested the money would be better spent on a tax break to help working families with their child care costs. He said: “This desire of the Conservative Party to hand-pick couples through the tax system who conform to their image of how you should conduct your life, I don't think it's fair.“
Europe is back on the agenda because the Conservative high command is supporting a backbench bill to guarantee an in/out referendum in 2017, which be debated by the Commons on Friday.
Mr Clegg, whose MPs are expected to abstain, argued that the Tories had repeatedly changed their position while the Lib Dems had remained consistent. ”They may increasingly be becoming the party of 'out',“ he said. ”We are unambiguously - and will remain - the party of 'in'”. He said his party would back an in/out referendum when a new EU treaty emerged but added: “They [the Tories] now want to pluck a slightly arbitrary date in the diary out of thin air to have a referendum on a very ill-defined process of so-called renegotiation.“
This stance is very welcome and underlines some of the key philosophical differences between the two parties. Let us hope that when we come to face the electorate we are as clear and as unequivocal in promoting our position as Nick Clegg was yesterday.
Comments:
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Time for the UK to exit the EU ... the core of the EU comprises a plurality of legalized corruption; super high salaries and pension payouts; fantastic perks - people are fed up to the back teeth - they won't get their snouts out of the trough nor will them get rid of the trough so time to GET OUT OF THE EU. cw
# posted by 
: 3:57 PM
: 3:57 PM
"a plurality of legalized corruption; super high salaries and pension payouts; fantastic perks"
Sounds like our beloved rulers and law makers in the UK Parliament ... with another 10% pay rise on the way ... maybe its time to GET OUT OF THE UK.
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Sounds like our beloved rulers and law makers in the UK Parliament ... with another 10% pay rise on the way ... maybe its time to GET OUT OF THE UK.
# posted by : 4:05 PM
: 4:05 PM<< Home
