Clegg: ‘I’ve done too well at promoting idea of Coalition’
As the Coalition reaches its first anniversary, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg says it is time for a “changing” relationship with the Conservatives of “necessity, not of conviction”.
Mr Clegg has used a speech to spell out the changed nature of the relationship between the parties, saying: “We will stand together, but not so closely that we stand in each other’s shadow.”
Mr Clegg insisted he was “absolutely right” to join forces with Tories to tackle the UK’s economic crisis.
But he said that, after being given a “bloody nose” by voters in last week’s elections, it was time for his party to be more assertive within Government.
Borrowing a phrase from Prime Minister David Cameron, Mr Clegg promised a more “muscular liberalism” in the months and years to come.
Earlier, both men said that their parties will take a more “businesslike” approach to their partnership in the coming year.
The anniversary was marked by a poll suggesting public confidence in the coalition has slumped to a low point, with almost half (49 per cent) of voters saying it has been bad for Britain and more than half (53 per cent) rating its record so far as disappointing.
We’ve normalised the idea of a coalition government, of two separate parties working together. Maybe we’ve done too good a job of that. Nick Clegg
Last night the PM insisted the Conservative partnership with Liberal Democrats will survive a full five-year parliamentary term to 2015, but acknowledged that more of their arguments will be played out in public.
The Coalition was put under unprecedented strain during the campaign for last week’s elections and the failed referendum on electoral reform.
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And Mr Clegg has taken the brunt of voters’ anger, with 63 per cent of those questioned by ComRes poll saying they do not trust him, and more than half (59 per cent) agreeing he has overseen a sell-out of Lib Dem principles.
Just 24 per cent agreed he was a good leader for his party and one in three (33 per cent) thought he should quit.
Mr Clegg has vowed to make the Lib Dem voice in Government louder – starting with demands for changes to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS.
BLOG: A happy anniversary for the coalition?
He will insist that the Lib Dems remain a “formidable political force in the future” despite last week’s humiliation, when they lost more than 700 councillors and saw their cherished dream of electoral reform dashed.
Mr Clegg has dismissed the fear that his party faces marginalisation as a result of joining Tories in coalition, insisting that it will go into the 2015 election with a “unique” offer of social fairness and economic credibility which will appeal to millions of voters.
Lib Dems took “a hard knock” on Thursday, but have been “punching well above our weight” within the Government and will succeed in making Britain “a more liberal country” by the time of the next election.
Of course coalitions are different, and it does mean sometimes quite noisy arguments between Conservatives and Lib Dems. David Cameron
In the coming months and years, he and fellow ministers will be more assertive and more ready to blow their own trumpets on policy successes, in order to “make the Liberal Democrat imprint and influence more visible”.
But he pledges that this will be done without threatening the stability of the Government, making clear he wants to avoid “tit-for-tat government” and the kind of rows that blighted the Blair/Brown administrations.