Conference Special: Part 2

:00:24. > :00:29.Afternoon, folks. Welcome to our final Daily Politics Conference

:00:29. > :00:32.Special, from the Lib-Dem Conference, here in Birmingham. It

:00:32. > :00:36.will reach its traditional climax with the annual leader's speech to

:00:36. > :00:40.the party faithful. Nick Clegg finished the text last night. No

:00:40. > :00:44.burning of the midnight oil for him. It contains no dramatic new

:00:44. > :00:48.announcements, but a plea to his party and the country to stay the

:00:48. > :00:52.coalition course. He will be on his feet in about four -- half-an-hour.

:00:52. > :00:58.As always, Daily Politics will bring you live and uninterrupted

:00:58. > :01:02.coverage. There is one part of the speech at the Lib Dem spinners have

:01:02. > :01:06.been key to highlight. The decker de Prime Minister's depiction of

:01:06. > :01:14.summer rioters as youngsters who had fallen through the cracks. And

:01:14. > :01:20.his plans to send them all to summer schools. We will be

:01:20. > :01:24.analysing that command anything else he has to say, in the best

:01:24. > :01:29.pre-speech build-up and post-Speech debate in town. And Jo is here with

:01:29. > :01:34.more. I'm soaking up the atmosphere at the Liberal Democrat conference

:01:34. > :01:37.ahead of the big speech. And just what kind of fiscal stimulus is

:01:37. > :01:42.Vince Cable cooking up? The Business Secretary will join us

:01:42. > :01:46.live. And we will hear from former Lib-Dem leader Paddy Ashdown and

:01:46. > :01:56.ask him if he backs divorce or continued married bliss with the

:01:56. > :02:00.

:02:00. > :02:05.Yes, all of that is coming up between now and 4:15pm on BBC Two.

:02:05. > :02:10.To kick off our coverage, with us is a Sam Coates of the Times and

:02:10. > :02:14.Ben Brogan of the Daily Telegraph. What has Mr Clegg got to do in this

:02:14. > :02:17.speech this afternoon? I think it's the perfect speech for an

:02:17. > :02:22.uneventful conference. This conference is all about being dull

:02:22. > :02:25.and steady, just kind of... could say they have achieved that!

:02:26. > :02:30.Writing the ship, but not really taking it anywhere. It's the

:02:30. > :02:33.perfect beach for that kind of conference. It's without major

:02:33. > :02:37.announcements, it raises the hope for a few things, but there isn't a

:02:37. > :02:41.great deal of policy beneath it. There's a big bit in a speech about

:02:41. > :02:45.the economy, and he promises to do more about growth. Does that mean a

:02:45. > :02:49.big fiscal stimulus? No, we are told. There are no plans for that.

:02:49. > :02:54.There is a big section about taking on the unions. Is there a change in

:02:54. > :02:58.position? No, we are told. It will try to rally de troops, settled the

:02:58. > :03:03.troops, but it's not going to change the political markets.

:03:03. > :03:08.telling us to prepare to be bored? I think he's telling us not to

:03:08. > :03:12.expect to see Nick Clegg on the front pages tomorrow. Then maybe it

:03:12. > :03:16.has failed? From his point of view, I think that's a good thing. People

:03:16. > :03:20.have been going around and saying that the conference is boring and

:03:20. > :03:23.flat, but from their point of view, that's quite good. In the past,

:03:23. > :03:28.their conferences have made it into the headlines for the wrong reasons.

:03:29. > :03:32.He desperately wants to persuade us that his party, not just him, is a

:03:32. > :03:36.responsible member of the coalition. It is taking its duties in

:03:36. > :03:41.government seriously. I think he's quite surprised the extent to which

:03:41. > :03:46.his members here, in... Wherever we are, their Eminem... I can confirm

:03:46. > :03:52.we are in Birmingham. -- wherever we are, in Birmingham... They have

:03:52. > :03:57.not said anything outrageous. months ago, you could have

:03:57. > :04:01.speculated this would be a lynch- mob for Nick Clegg. We wrote that!

:04:01. > :04:06.You probably did, that is where we got the phrase from. Thankfully,

:04:06. > :04:11.that is well forgotten. They have studied it, there has not been a

:04:11. > :04:17.great deal of complaining. My Dem activists are hardier than Labour

:04:17. > :04:21.and Tory activists. Why do you say that? They have seen two leaders

:04:21. > :04:24.dispatched, underperforming under a General Election expected to do

:04:24. > :04:29.well in, being thrown into coalition with a party they thought

:04:30. > :04:33.they were in politics to oppose. Broadly speaking, they have behaved

:04:33. > :04:37.themselves and they haven't complained too much. Therein lies

:04:37. > :04:42.the danger. I think the Lib-Dems are over the content with a boring

:04:42. > :04:47.conference, where there is not much to say. To get anywhere useful by

:04:47. > :04:50.2013, to allow them to return dozens of MPs, they are going to

:04:50. > :04:54.need a much clearer forward message about why they are in government

:04:54. > :05:00.and what they appear to do. I don't know what a Lib Dem growth will

:05:00. > :05:03.defence policy is. They haven't really told us. It might not matter.

:05:03. > :05:10.When you look at the international economic situation, they are not in

:05:10. > :05:14.control of any of the events that out washing around us. It is likely

:05:14. > :05:18.to get much worse before it get better? I think that is the

:05:18. > :05:23.backdrop of the conference. It is almost that this conference is

:05:23. > :05:26.pointless, we are staring into the abyss and things across the Channel

:05:26. > :05:31.and across the Atlantic are looking rather dire. I think Nick Clegg is

:05:31. > :05:35.very aware of that. They were grappling with how much politics

:05:35. > :05:38.could be in this speech. They made a clear decision that it needed to

:05:38. > :05:41.be statesmanlike and needed to be she wore of that. People out there

:05:41. > :05:48.are looking at the International situation, they are thinking that

:05:48. > :05:52.they don't want to hear that kind of language. There are an awful lot

:05:52. > :05:55.of points against Labour, he decides not to do any yah-boo

:05:55. > :06:01.politics against the Conservatives. They argued that is because it was

:06:01. > :06:09.done earlier in the week. Who have been the winners of this

:06:09. > :06:13.conference? Who has come through as a leading Lib Dem start? The one

:06:13. > :06:17.that has perhaps jumped the shark is Tim Farron. I'm surprised by the

:06:17. > :06:21.number of his colleagues who said that his speech, with lots of jokes

:06:21. > :06:26.against the Tories, it was perhaps older -- over eight, not

:06:26. > :06:30.necessarily helpful. -- over a bit. People were worried that he might

:06:30. > :06:36.even consider becoming leader of the party, because he would put

:06:36. > :06:39.them to the left of Labour. I think Vince Cable had a good conference.

:06:39. > :06:43.He made a speech that was incredibly gloomy. But you just

:06:43. > :06:46.have to look at the economic news this morning and think that he

:06:46. > :06:51.broadly had it right. There is very little to cheer about. Who do you

:06:51. > :06:57.think has had a good conference? think Nick Clegg has brought Lee

:06:57. > :07:00.had a good conference. He hasn't had the attacks, he hasn't had the

:07:00. > :07:05.questions over his leadership for 2013. They were absolutely take

:07:05. > :07:10.what they had this time around. The other person is Paddy Ashdown. Why?

:07:10. > :07:14.There is a bit of a reshuffle inside Downing Street. All of his

:07:14. > :07:19.old team, Olly Grender, a couple of others, they are going in. A

:07:19. > :07:22.reverse takeover by a party going on in Downing Street. We'll see if

:07:22. > :07:27.we can get him in before the speech and we will put that to him. We

:07:27. > :07:31.will let you go and get pole position for the speech.

:07:31. > :07:37.Andrew, D will be pleased to know that I am a winner and every single

:07:37. > :07:40.key person here is a winner. We are minutes ahead -- away from

:07:40. > :07:47.witnessing the speech. But we want one are due to win big. Imagine

:07:47. > :07:51.sitting back cant luxuriating in the indulgence of the Labour

:07:51. > :07:56.coverage with a Daily Politics mug filled with crystal champagne. You

:07:56. > :08:00.will have to buy the bubbly, but if you enter the guess the year

:08:00. > :08:10.competition, you could win your own mug. Just see if you can remember

:08:10. > :08:22.

:08:22. > :08:32.# In the jungle, the mighty jungle, # Don't say a prayer for me now,

:08:32. > :08:42.and save it until the mourning How long do you think your regime

:08:42. > :08:49.

:08:49. > :08:58.can survive, with battles in the # Never a frown, with golden-

:08:58. > :09:08.It would be wrong and unwise. Apart from anything else, it would be

:09:08. > :09:30.

:09:30. > :09:40.Well, to be in with a chance of winning a Daily Politics?, and you

:09:40. > :09:40.

:09:40. > :09:46.know you want to, or send your You can see the full terms and

:09:46. > :09:51.conditions on the website. Just to say, we will be picking a winner

:09:51. > :09:55.tomorrow, back in the Daily Politics studio.

:09:55. > :10:00.Delegates this year seem to have been very well-behaved. What a

:10:00. > :10:04.shame! They stuck to the party line, much to the joy of press officers

:10:04. > :10:08.but to the sadness of most journalists. Before the Lib Dem

:10:08. > :10:11.spinners completely relax, we sent the Daily Mail's Quentin Letts out

:10:11. > :10:17.to give us his take on how the conference has gone.

:10:17. > :10:20.Nice car, Vince! In the old days, the Liberal Democrats could have

:10:20. > :10:23.their conferences, a supremely confident that they would never get

:10:23. > :10:28.anywhere near a ministerial limousine. Nowadays, they are in

:10:28. > :10:31.government. But don't worry, they still been complaining about the

:10:31. > :10:35.Government they help to create. Take this for some Tory bashing.

:10:35. > :10:39.I'm afraid, divorce is inevitable. As your President, I've taken some

:10:39. > :10:44.legal advice about how we stand in the event of a break-up. There is

:10:44. > :10:54.good news and bad news. Good news, we might get half of Ashcroft's

:10:54. > :10:55.

:10:55. > :10:59.money. Bad news, we have to have pickles at the weekend. Ed Hume was

:10:59. > :11:07.determined not to be had done. danger, if you don't compromise, is

:11:07. > :11:13.Kiev. America, the markets looked over the brink when the madcap

:11:13. > :11:18.Republican Right in Congress would not compromise with the President.

:11:18. > :11:23.Let that be a warning to the Conservative right here. We need no

:11:23. > :11:28.Tea Party tendency in Britain. Dem conferences have always been

:11:28. > :11:33.pretty docile affairs. Look at it, it's not exactly Nuremberg. Nick

:11:33. > :11:40.Clegg certainly thought he had done well under control. Does anybody

:11:40. > :11:44.else want to ask a supplementary? Heavens, how docile. It's like

:11:44. > :11:48.North Korea's conference meetings. They certainly haven't been many of

:11:48. > :11:51.them here this week. But supporting the Lib-Dems is a bit like

:11:51. > :11:55.supporting a lower-league football club. You cheer the T1, whatever

:11:55. > :12:00.the results. That explains how they can clap enthusiastically when Nick

:12:00. > :12:07.Clegg has stood up for the coalition... Just as they have

:12:07. > :12:16.clapped along enthusiastically when others have attacked it. Where are

:12:16. > :12:20.they all? Some rotten so-and-sos reckoned that the Lib-Dems are a

:12:20. > :12:24.bunch of comedians. Education Minister Sarah Teather soon proved

:12:24. > :12:29.them wrong. I thought I wouldn't keep you for too long, because I

:12:29. > :12:35.want to get back to my hotel room to watch Strictly... I've heard

:12:35. > :12:40.that they got Peter Hain booked for the next series. He's doing the

:12:40. > :12:50.tango. Rupert Murdoch is on for the series after. He's been out

:12:50. > :12:52.

:12:52. > :12:55.shopping with Andy Coulson already. Living dangerously... Coming back

:12:55. > :13:03.to George Osborne, I heard that he's quite keen to get on the show

:13:03. > :13:07.as well. He wants to delay line dance. -- do we Adeline dance.

:13:07. > :13:11.Lib-Dems have always had a slightly split personality between the old

:13:11. > :13:13.SDLP and the old Liberals. That polarity is continuing with those

:13:13. > :13:20.that are happy to be in government and those that are slightly

:13:20. > :13:25.happening abroad. I'm not sure that anything that is happening in

:13:25. > :13:35.Birmingham has really shaken the world. Oh, well, I'm off to

:13:35. > :13:42.

:13:42. > :13:46.That was Quentin Letts' viewer of Let's get the view from Testament,

:13:47. > :13:50.Julian Huppert and Stephen Williams. Described as docile, dull and

:13:50. > :13:59.irrelevant, well, that was the implication from Quentin Letts?

:13:59. > :14:03.don't think that is true at all. I think it has been an interesting

:14:03. > :14:06.conference, we have started to stretch that some things and see

:14:06. > :14:11.policies that we want to get implemented. How? They have been no

:14:11. > :14:14.divide on any key issues, there has been "no" vote on Health, where is

:14:14. > :14:18.the stretch? There has been a whole lot of things, looking at a

:14:18. > :14:22.sensible policy to stop the war on drugs and reduce harm to people.

:14:22. > :14:26.We'd look at things to do with how to connect people up, developed the

:14:26. > :14:29.digital economy, developing the way we look at our society, towards

:14:29. > :14:33.well-being, how people like what they're doing and not just about

:14:33. > :14:42.money. Generally, people have agreed with it. Plus, the French

:14:42. > :14:44.discussions. Nick Clegg was saying, any supplementary questions? Nobody

:14:44. > :14:51.had anything to say. What happened to the soul of the Liberal Democrat

:14:51. > :14:54.party. We still have them. Where is it? It's interesting. That

:14:54. > :14:58.particular question, there were no supplementary questions for that

:14:58. > :15:05.one, but there were four other questions. The questions we asking

:15:05. > :15:08.ourselves, it is,, when we make policy, it is going to work. We had

:15:08. > :15:12.the luxury of opposition for many years. Now, in government, we are

:15:12. > :15:17.doing the right thing and the fair thing. Do you think it's time to

:15:17. > :15:20.look at plan B on the economy? if we have no money, we can't spend

:15:20. > :15:25.more money. It's absolutely the right thing to do, follow-through.

:15:25. > :15:30.It will make it better for people. Stephen, you negotiated on the

:15:30. > :15:33.referendum on AV, which you lost. At the same time, you have tied

:15:33. > :15:41.yourself to a boundary review which looks pretty awful for the Liberal

:15:41. > :15:45.Democrats. Was that a No member of Parliament likes

:15:45. > :15:50.boundary reviews. I have been through one and I survived it. You

:15:50. > :15:55.can survive them. It was a bargain on constitutional reform that we

:15:55. > :15:59.entered into. It is as much our fault that we lost the referendum

:16:00. > :16:07.because I do not think that we had a strong enough yes campaign.

:16:07. > :16:11.you might lose seats, will you rebel? There are lots of members of

:16:11. > :16:14.Parliament. Conservative MPs are chuntering in the background as

:16:15. > :16:20.well. I think it is right that we have a boundary review and reduce

:16:20. > :16:24.the numbers of seats. I am talking generally, but there is no reason

:16:24. > :16:28.to be cheerful, nothing uplifting. Is that what you want to hear from

:16:28. > :16:32.Nick Clegg? There are lots of things to be cheerful about. We

:16:32. > :16:36.have managed to lift 1 million people out of income tax. You know

:16:36. > :16:39.the record. That is a great achievement. We have spent many

:16:39. > :16:44.decades coming up with great ideas and not being able to do anything

:16:44. > :16:48.about them. Now we are able to help people. We can actually electrify

:16:48. > :16:52.the train line, and put money into the Green Investment Bank, to

:16:52. > :16:56.change things for people in Britain. Still supporting the reforms on

:16:56. > :17:00.health care? I am not actually a fan of them. I hope they can fix

:17:00. > :17:05.that in the House of Lords. There is this pretence that the NHS is

:17:05. > :17:12.perfect as it is. Clearly it is not perfect. People come to my surgery

:17:12. > :17:21.and make that clear time I -- time and again. Why about summer school

:17:21. > :17:26.for rioters? It is not just for them. I do think that the point is

:17:26. > :17:29.that when children move into bigger schools, it is a difficult

:17:29. > :17:33.transition at 11. We have all had that debate about whether the

:17:33. > :17:38.summer holidays are too long, if it might be easier to move young

:17:38. > :17:47.people into this all where they are going to start at 11. One feels it

:17:47. > :17:54.is not the big answer. They began so was the money. The �50 million?

:17:54. > :17:59.-- the big answer was the money. is the pupil premium. This should

:17:59. > :18:04.make things better. Along with many other measures. OK, we have the

:18:04. > :18:09.countdown to the speech. Thank you very much.

:18:09. > :18:14.Thank you, Jo. Before we speak to Paddy Ashdown, let's have a look at

:18:14. > :18:19.Mr Clegg arriving with his wife. Arriving at the Conference Centre,

:18:19. > :18:23.not that long ago. Going through the canal district. This Conference

:18:23. > :18:28.Centre is in the centre of Birmingham. It is part of a new

:18:28. > :18:32.redevelopment programme. His wife was not supposed to want him to

:18:32. > :18:38.stand for his second term but that was knocked down. She is dressed in

:18:38. > :18:47.a yellow dress, I am told, from Topshop. And the jacket is from

:18:47. > :18:53.this are -- another High Street shop. Why is that, Paddy Ashdown? I

:18:53. > :18:57.will not ask you that. However you cut it, among the rank and file

:18:57. > :19:06.here, there remains deep unease that they are in bed with the

:19:06. > :19:11.Tories. However you cut it, Andrew, there remains among the rank and

:19:11. > :19:14.file a deep understanding of why it is necessary. I know that you like

:19:14. > :19:18.fighting and we have not lived up to your comfortable prejudices, but

:19:18. > :19:24.the truth of the matter is this. And our expectations, which were

:19:24. > :19:31.never high. Your expectations never are. Let's come back to the

:19:31. > :19:35.question. There is a deep unease. You may feel you have to do it but

:19:35. > :19:39.there is a deep unease. I suspect there will be an unease in the Tory

:19:39. > :19:44.party about working with the Lib Dems. That is what coalitions are

:19:44. > :19:49.about. This is the point and let's be serious for a moment. I think

:19:49. > :19:55.you have not yet fully recognise the observers of our party, shop

:19:55. > :20:00.and a cute like you they may be, that over the years the path that

:20:00. > :20:04.we have followed, which I initiated as leader, means that the majority

:20:04. > :20:08.of the people here are councillors. They have been in power, had a

:20:08. > :20:12.coalition, understand what it is about. Does a coalition lead to

:20:12. > :20:16.tensions between the parties? Of course it does. Of course there is

:20:16. > :20:24.some unease about that. But the thing that really stands me, and I

:20:24. > :20:28.am pretty surprised, is the sense that the steady understanding that

:20:28. > :20:31.what we are doing is the right thing for our country and the party,

:20:31. > :20:36.and by and large it has been pretty does as well, with the odd slip up

:20:36. > :20:42.here and there. I suggest that one of the reasons why they are uneasy

:20:42. > :20:45.is because leaders like you, and Mr Kennedy, and Mr Campbell, never

:20:45. > :20:49.prepared the rank and file for coalition with the Tories. The

:20:49. > :20:53.party was always clearly on the left when you 3 lead it. The

:20:53. > :21:01.thought was always that if there would be a coalition it would be

:21:01. > :21:07.with Labour. You never said, hang on, one day we may have to their --

:21:07. > :21:17.share power with the Tories. That is a fair point. I was in power

:21:17. > :21:22.when Margaret Thatcher was leading. If we honour the electorate, we had

:21:22. > :21:26.to work with the Tories. For me, it was quite a shock. The ground had

:21:26. > :21:32.not been prepared. Nobody prepared the ground. Nick Clegg had not

:21:33. > :21:37.either. Do we love the Tories? No, we don't. Do we love Labour? We

:21:37. > :21:41.don't. But we are democrats and we listen to the voice of the British

:21:41. > :21:51.people speaking through the ballot box. When it is our duty to respond

:21:51. > :21:54.

:21:54. > :21:57.to that as Democrats, it is not who but what. And of -- the question

:21:57. > :22:01.was how do you govern? This coalition does have tensions about

:22:01. > :22:04.it, but both sides have been surprised by the other. We have

:22:04. > :22:08.been surprised by the number of things we actually agree with with

:22:08. > :22:10.the Conservatives, starting with a deficit reduction plan, and they

:22:10. > :22:20.have been surprised with the combatants and the steadiness of

:22:20. > :22:25.the party, based in its ministers and its members. -- competence,

:22:25. > :22:28.both in its ministers and its members. The general attitude is

:22:28. > :22:33.collectivist. It is the minority of economic liberals that have

:22:33. > :22:36.actually won the argument in your party. You now have to stand for

:22:36. > :22:41.fiscal discipline, cutting the size of Government, not raising taxes

:22:41. > :22:46.any more, no more public spending. You lost the argument. You would

:22:46. > :22:50.forgive me if I said to you that you are normally highly acute, but

:22:50. > :22:54.you are just plain wrong. If you did not notice that when I took

:22:54. > :22:58.over in 1983, we moved the party away from social liberalism on to

:22:58. > :23:08.the free market, on to the enterprise based approach of the

:23:08. > :23:09.

:23:09. > :23:13.SDP, combining with the St -- SDP. That began that shift. You always

:23:13. > :23:17.calling for higher taxes and Government spending. I was not. I

:23:17. > :23:22.was calling for spending on education. Where does David Laws

:23:22. > :23:27.come from? He joined his party when I was leader, he is my successor.

:23:27. > :23:31.Nick Clegg joined his party when I was leader, and if you have not

:23:31. > :23:38.spotted that your old prejudice view that we are collectively

:23:38. > :23:42.Socialists... Of no, I said you were divided and they had won the

:23:42. > :23:47.argument. Those that believe that there is a proper balance between

:23:47. > :23:51.economic and social liberalism but the balance had shifted too far

:23:51. > :23:55.towards social liberalism include me. That is where I wanted to lead

:23:55. > :23:59.the party to. I am surprised that you did not notice that change

:23:59. > :24:04.taking place over the last 10 years. This is the fruition of it. At we

:24:04. > :24:09.will try to do better next time. am glad to hear it. What would you

:24:09. > :24:16.do now if you were making these speeches? Exactly what we are doing.

:24:16. > :24:19.No, I mean in terms of preparation. Would you be pacing up and down?

:24:19. > :24:23.have seen many leaders do this and I think this is the most difficult

:24:23. > :24:28.thing that the party leader has to do. 45 minutes of speech,

:24:28. > :24:38.WordPerfect, stir the hall, make the press listen, speak to the

:24:38. > :24:39.

:24:39. > :24:42.country beyond the hall. It is a huge pressure. I used to the pace

:24:42. > :24:47.up and down. My wife said don't go near me because I would bite your

:24:47. > :24:51.head off. But Nick Clegg will be nervous, he will be. We will let

:24:51. > :24:56.you get a good seat. We expect they have reserved one for you. Thank

:24:56. > :25:00.you, Paddy Ashdown. You have just heard that it is

:25:00. > :25:09.never easy being party leader and this year has proved that for Nick

:25:09. > :25:19.Clegg. Somebody else that knows about the trials and tribulations

:25:19. > :25:24.

:25:24. > :25:27.is Charles Kennedy. This is his Well, in the words of the song, If

:25:27. > :25:32.I Could turn Back Time. Of course, for the Lib Dems, we cannot. We

:25:32. > :25:37.have had 12 months of the real grind of Government, and with it,

:25:37. > :25:41.policy splits at the top, electoral setbacks, sometimes severe, the

:25:41. > :25:46.loss of that alternative vote referendum, and more recently of

:25:46. > :25:49.course, and disturbingly, rioting on the streets. And do you know

:25:49. > :25:59.what? There is no suggestion that the next 12 months will get any

:25:59. > :26:02.

:26:02. > :26:10.Now, this is Nick Clegg's rather magisterial deputy prime

:26:10. > :26:14.ministerial compound on Whitehall. It was just one year ago that he

:26:14. > :26:18.addressed our party conference in that role. Hold our nerve, and we

:26:18. > :26:23.will have changed British politics for good. Hold our nerve, and we

:26:23. > :26:28.will have changed Britain for good. And of course, he is right.

:26:28. > :26:34.Politics, you know, is always a marathon more than a sprint. As a

:26:34. > :26:38.party of Government we are still the rules of engagement have

:26:38. > :26:42.changed, and that we still have four long years to go. Of course,

:26:42. > :26:46.probably the biggest single flashpoint came with that notorious

:26:46. > :26:53.U-turn over student tuition fees. Thousands of angry students on the

:26:53. > :26:57.streets, right here in Whitehall, police having to kettle in certain

:26:57. > :27:01.areas, like outside the Treasury when I am standing, long from the

:27:01. > :27:05.Cabinet War Rooms. I was around that afternoon and it felt like

:27:05. > :27:09.wartime conditions. Inside the Commons chamber itself, highly

:27:09. > :27:14.heated debate, followed by that vote. The Lib Dems, well, we were

:27:14. > :27:17.unable to resolve our internal differences, and we ended up voting

:27:17. > :27:24.in three different directions. With his former leader and another

:27:24. > :27:30.former leader both voting against the Government. Their noes to the

:27:30. > :27:35.left, 302. Of course, once you are in Government, you are also much

:27:35. > :27:39.more likely to find yourself in the full glare of the media. This year

:27:39. > :27:42.David Laws was suspended from the Commons for seven days after the

:27:42. > :27:47.standards committee found that he had mismanaged his expenses. Chris

:27:47. > :27:53.Huhne, dogged by questions about that driving penalty. And Vince

:27:53. > :27:57.Cable, stripped of responsibility for media and telecoms issues after

:27:57. > :28:03.a newspaper surreptitiously recorded in declaring war on Rupert

:28:03. > :28:06.Murdoch. -- recorded him. It has been the toughest of tough years.

:28:06. > :28:12.First the Oldham East by-election, which proved that we are no longer

:28:12. > :28:15.the automatic insurgent party of those kind of contests. Then the

:28:15. > :28:20.meltdown at the Scottish parliamentary elections. There was

:28:20. > :28:22.no way in the time available, 12 months, that the coalition

:28:22. > :28:27.agreement and medicine from Westminster would do anything other

:28:27. > :28:31.than hold back the party in Scotland, and so it proved. And

:28:31. > :28:35.then the English local elections, usually a source of good support

:28:35. > :28:39.for us at grassroots level. I am afraid to say, not the case this

:28:39. > :28:45.year. The biggest issue that came up on the doorstep was tuition fees,

:28:45. > :28:48.but also the way that Nick Clegg has run the coalition, and I am in

:28:48. > :28:52.favour of the coalition, but I think he has run it very badly and

:28:52. > :28:57.in my view should resign immediately. A huge blow of course

:28:57. > :29:00.was losing that alternative vote referendum campaign. It was a

:29:00. > :29:04.campaign that just did not seem to send the right signals, get the

:29:05. > :29:09.right messages across. If anything, it appeared to press all the wrong

:29:09. > :29:13.buttons with those that did bother to go out and vote. It has kicked

:29:13. > :29:19.into the very long grass the subject closest to Liberal Democrat

:29:19. > :29:24.hearts, I fear, for perhaps another political generation. It has

:29:24. > :29:28.certainly soured relations between the two coalition parties. Put it

:29:28. > :29:32.this way. I think everybody knows my views about the nature of no

:29:32. > :29:36.campaign. It has been a fairly nasty campaign which has sought to

:29:36. > :29:39.Brighton and mislead people. Although I take the view that

:29:39. > :29:43.former leaders should be seen occasionally but not heard too

:29:43. > :29:46.often, if I did have one word of advice for Nick Clegg I think it

:29:46. > :29:53.would be this. At the moment there is a sense that we are just trying

:29:53. > :30:03.to fight too many battle fronts at the same time. So let's just be a

:30:03. > :30:07.bit more canny, pick our fights, Well, that was Charles Kennedy.

:30:07. > :30:12.Joining me now, top-level people at the conference, Mark Littlewood

:30:12. > :30:16.from the Institute of economic Affairs and Evan habits -- Evan

:30:16. > :30:21.Harris, chair of the Lib Dem committee. What does he have to do,

:30:21. > :30:22.Nick Clegg, this afternoon? I hope that he speaks beyond the

:30:22. > :30:26.that he speaks beyond the conference floor. A lot of this

:30:26. > :30:30.conference has been about making sure that the Liberal Democrat

:30:30. > :30:34.party is comfortable alongside him. It's been surprisingly disciplined.

:30:34. > :30:38.I thought that after year-old coalition there would be many more

:30:38. > :30:41.complaints, much fewer people being comfortable with being in coalition.

:30:41. > :30:46.There hasn't been a sign of that at all. The party leadership can be

:30:46. > :30:52.happy with that. The question is, the people watching on television,

:30:52. > :30:58.not the few 1000 Liberal Democrat activists in the hall. His Mark

:30:59. > :31:01.Harris right? There hasn't been much dissent and he has actually

:31:01. > :31:06.concentrated too much on the cosiness of the Liberal Democrats,

:31:06. > :31:10.making them feel comfortable with all that Tory bashing, rather than

:31:10. > :31:13.concentrating on the issues of the day? I think Mark is right, we

:31:14. > :31:18.voted for the coalition, we are a democratic party. You asked the

:31:18. > :31:21.question, being in the coalition, no. What most of the people

:31:21. > :31:25.concerned about policy matters, and there has been some debate, though

:31:25. > :31:29.not a lot, they want to stick to the coalition agreement. They don't

:31:29. > :31:34.want to go beyond it, into the wild west of Tory manifesto commitments

:31:35. > :31:38.that we thought we had excluded. Health is a good example. Although

:31:38. > :31:41.it wasn't brought to the conference for on a motion, there were a lot

:31:41. > :31:46.of people condemning the fact it was not on a motion. Norman Lamb

:31:46. > :31:49.quite fairly said this morning that there is still more work to do on

:31:49. > :31:53.health. People are not complaining about the coalition, they are

:31:53. > :31:57.surprisingly sanguine about the state of the polls, but they are

:31:57. > :32:01.still concerned about policy. That is how we should be. The Lib Dems

:32:01. > :32:06.have been screaming from the rooftops, Nick Clegg in particular.

:32:06. > :32:10.75% of the Lib Dem manifesto has been implemented. We are only in

:32:10. > :32:14.the first year. But to what extent is that a good percentage and can

:32:14. > :32:18.you push further? My worry is that there has been quite a lot of Tory

:32:18. > :32:22.bashing, which I don't think would happen in Whitehall, from a lot of

:32:22. > :32:25.people doing it, because they are in a safe enclave of Liberal

:32:25. > :32:30.Democrats. And there's not been enough about what the double

:32:30. > :32:35.Democrats want to do to get growth into the economy. Vince Cable...

:32:35. > :32:39.Well, you must have missed Vince Cable's speech. I don't think you

:32:39. > :32:43.missed it, I think you disagreed. We are saying it is right that the

:32:43. > :32:46.Tories should be painted, and they are proud to be painted as people

:32:46. > :32:50.that want to cut taxes for millionaires with the 50 pence rate.

:32:50. > :32:54.We are clear that we are fighting against that. They say it is

:32:54. > :32:57.temporary. You think it should be permanent? We are saying that

:32:57. > :33:01.unless you replace it with something that makes the better-off

:33:01. > :33:05.pay their fair share, then it should stay. We complained in March

:33:05. > :33:08.and September that it was not being distinctive enough. I think Mark

:33:08. > :33:12.agreed that it wasn't being distinctive enough. Now he is

:33:12. > :33:18.putting out our distinctive position and people say it is anti-

:33:18. > :33:23.Tory. He is a anti-Tory because he is not a Tory. I did Nick Clegg,

:33:23. > :33:26.Vince Cable and others have shown a lot of honesty about the shape of

:33:26. > :33:29.the economy. They have not been saying that it is going to come

:33:29. > :33:32.good quickly. But they haven't really matter a programme about how

:33:32. > :33:37.they will get growth into the economy. Despite the stimulus,

:33:37. > :33:40.which isn't really extra money at all, they haven't got a plan. The

:33:40. > :33:43.Business Secretary Hotson set out where growth is going to come from.

:33:43. > :33:47.There is a real difficulty. They don't want to move into plan B,

:33:47. > :33:54.because they don't think that plan A has been given enough time to

:33:54. > :33:59.work. I think Mark would agree that plan B, or a non- plan of Labour,

:33:59. > :34:09.would not be an answer. But we are running out of time before there

:34:09. > :34:10.

:34:11. > :34:14.has to at least be a plan A plus. Some more stimulus, more Keynesian

:34:14. > :34:22.worker. Paul quantitative easing, which we are pressing the Bank of

:34:22. > :34:26.England to do. If the economy doesn't recover, then both Labour

:34:26. > :34:30.and Liberal Democrat are in trouble. Does their committed in point? We

:34:30. > :34:36.know that growth is barely coming off the bottom. Forecasts have been

:34:36. > :34:39.downgraded again. When does the grant -- downgrade come? If the IMF

:34:39. > :34:42.are right, rather than the earlier government forecasts, then the

:34:42. > :34:45.deficit is not going to be controlled in the way that George

:34:45. > :34:48.Osborne wants. That's the problem, we'll have to look at a spending

:34:48. > :34:52.review. But I don't think we've heard enough this week about what

:34:52. > :34:57.we are going to do to make Britain and easier and better place to do

:34:57. > :35:00.business in. Cut in corporation tax? There have been these points

:35:00. > :35:03.about fairness, but I would like to see more about how we are going to

:35:04. > :35:11.attract inward investment into Britain, how we are going to make

:35:11. > :35:14.it easier for entrepreneurs. It's not in competition. You can be

:35:14. > :35:23.entrepreneurial in your outlook, still have people making a huge

:35:23. > :35:28.amount of money, people that are turning their wealth. You can do

:35:28. > :35:32.that and you can still have a fairer society. Or as fair a

:35:32. > :35:37.society as possible, given the austerity. I don't just brush that

:35:37. > :35:42.offer. Liberals like me, mainstream liberal Democrats, put social

:35:42. > :35:46.justice first. But the Tories want the economy to be first, that's the

:35:46. > :35:50.reality? You don't get fairness without using the fruits of the

:35:50. > :35:54.economy. You can't just say that the fairness stuff is not critical

:35:54. > :35:58.for us. Do I think we are getting close to the time for the big

:35:58. > :36:01.speech. Back to you Andrew. The we were told by party managers that

:36:01. > :36:06.Nick Clegg was going to run and little early.

:36:06. > :36:10.Now we are told he is going to run a little late. Don Foster has just

:36:10. > :36:15.given a warm-up speech. A fund- raising speech. They are passing

:36:15. > :36:22.around the bucket in the hall. I did say passing around the bucket,

:36:22. > :36:26.not kicking the bucket! Just to be clear on that. While we wait for

:36:26. > :36:31.Nick Clegg to take to the stage, let's have a word with Nick

:36:31. > :36:34.Robinson. What has Mr Clegg got to do this afternoon? Quite simply to

:36:34. > :36:39.try to persuade people who are not listening to him any more to listen

:36:39. > :36:44.to him once again. In a sense, it's an incredibly modest target. But

:36:44. > :36:48.nothing else he does is worthwhile if he is not getting a hearing. The

:36:48. > :36:52.problem, he believes, is quite simple. After going into government

:36:52. > :36:57.with the Conservatives, which many traditional Lib-Dem voters regarded

:36:57. > :37:00.as a betrayal, after breaking his word, as they saw it, on tuition

:37:00. > :37:05.fees, that they have simply not been listening to anything he has

:37:05. > :37:09.said since. They don't want to know. His aim today is to say, with this

:37:09. > :37:12.refrain we will hear again and again, that it wasn't easy to go

:37:12. > :37:17.into government, but it was right. You might not agree with everything

:37:17. > :37:20.we are doing, it might be difficult and painful, but, for goodness sake,

:37:20. > :37:23.credit me with doing it for the right reasons. If that is all he

:37:23. > :37:27.achieves, he'll be perfectly content, I think. But he hasn't

:37:28. > :37:31.given anything very dramatic to get people's attention. The Government

:37:31. > :37:36.has no money and they are very confined by the international

:37:36. > :37:39.economic situation. What he is offering is an argument. His risky

:37:39. > :37:46.is that people lie in the mood to say, I don't want to hear your

:37:46. > :37:51.argument. People might say, what difference did it make? We've had

:37:51. > :37:55.some bleak economic news. Vince Cable using the metaphor of it

:37:55. > :37:58.being an economic war time. That went down rather badly, not just in

:37:59. > :38:02.the Treasury but with other Liberal Democrats. They thought it was

:38:02. > :38:06.rather bleak, although characteristic of Vince Cable. He

:38:06. > :38:10.now can't say, we have the solution to this wartime problem. He will

:38:10. > :38:14.make a commitment to deal with the problem of the deficit and the lack

:38:14. > :38:18.of growth, and a commitment to do what he can to spend more on

:38:18. > :38:23.infrastructure, not for sources of growth. We are not expecting any

:38:23. > :38:27.detail in that. I know that he believes that the sort of

:38:27. > :38:30.conference speech that has five or six new announcements and has

:38:30. > :38:34.people scurrying to work out if it is new money or not, that it's not

:38:34. > :38:40.the best way to use these pictures. It's a rare moment way you get

:38:40. > :38:44.quite a sizable audience watching the whole thing live. You get

:38:44. > :38:49.substantial coverage on BBC news bulletins, instead of one or two

:38:49. > :38:55.clips, you can get people having a chance to seek your argument. That

:38:55. > :39:03.is the best way. That's going to do all. I believe Mr Roberts and... No,

:39:03. > :39:06.you are Mr Robinson, you are not speaking today. Nick Clegg, getting

:39:06. > :39:11.a standing ovation before he has even said a word. It's the sort of

:39:11. > :39:16.thing that happens in party conferences. Let's listen to the

:39:16. > :39:26.leader's address at the Lib Dem conference of 2011. We bring it to

:39:26. > :39:36.

:39:36. > :39:40.you live. The deputy Prime Minister, Thank you. France -- friends, his

:39:40. > :39:49.party, the Liberal Democrats, we have now been in government for 500

:39:49. > :39:54.days. Not easy, is it? None of us thought it would be a walk in the

:39:54. > :40:03.park. But I suspect none of us predicted just how tough it would

:40:03. > :40:12.turn out to be. We have or support, we have lost seats, we have lost a

:40:12. > :40:17.referendum. I know how painful it has been to face anger and

:40:17. > :40:24.frustration on the doorstep. Some of you may even have wondered, will

:40:24. > :40:33.it all be worth it in the end? It will be. And, today, I want to

:40:33. > :40:41.explain why. But above all I want to pay tribute to you. Your

:40:41. > :40:50.resilience, your Grace Under Fire. I have been genuinely moved by your

:40:50. > :40:56.spirit and your strength. Thank you. And thank you, bow ball, for never

:40:56. > :41:00.forgetting what we are in politics for. At the May elections, Alex

:41:00. > :41:06.Cole-Hamilton, one of our defeated candidates in Edinburgh, said that

:41:06. > :41:12.if cruising was part payment for ending child detention, then, as he

:41:12. > :41:22.said, I accept it with all my heart. -- if losing was part payment. That

:41:22. > :41:30.

:41:30. > :41:37.is the liberal spirit. That is It is a spirit that gave birth to

:41:37. > :41:42.our party. That kept us alive when the other two parties tried to kill

:41:42. > :41:49.us off. The spirit that means, however great our past, our fight

:41:49. > :41:56.will always be for a better future. Now, down in Westminster, we have

:41:56. > :41:59.been vilified like never before. The left and the right, I tell you,

:41:59. > :42:03.they didn't like a as much in opposition and they like as a whole

:42:03. > :42:08.lot less now we are in government. The left accuse us of being

:42:08. > :42:13.powerless puppets, duped by a right-wing conservative clique. The

:42:13. > :42:18.right accuse us of being a sinister left-wing clique, who have duped

:42:18. > :42:25.powerless Conservatives. I wish they would make up their minds! Yes,

:42:25. > :42:31.it has been hard. And adversity tests the character of a party,

:42:31. > :42:38.just as it tests any person. We have shown, you have shown, immense

:42:38. > :42:43.strength. After being hit hard, we picked ourselves up and we came out

:42:43. > :42:49.fighting. Fighting to keep the NHS safe, fighting to protect human

:42:49. > :42:58.rights, fighting to create jobs, fighting for every family. Not

:42:59. > :43:04.doing the easy thing. But doing the right thing. Not easy, but right.

:43:04. > :43:09.As for of those seats were lost in May, let me tell you this. I will

:43:09. > :43:19.not rest, we will not rest until we have won every single one of those

:43:19. > :43:34.

:43:34. > :43:41.Now, these may not be easy times for others as a party. But much

:43:41. > :43:45.more importantly, these are not easy times for our country.

:43:45. > :43:52.Economic insecurity, conflict, terrorism, disorder flaring on our

:43:52. > :43:59.streets. Times like these can breathe protectionism and populism.

:43:59. > :44:03.So, times like these are when liberals are needed most. Our party

:44:03. > :44:13.has fought for liberal values for a century and a half, justice,

:44:13. > :44:25.

:44:25. > :44:30.optimism, freedom, we are not about This Conference Centre is on the

:44:30. > :44:37.site of the old Bingley Hall, where William Gladstone stood, 130 years

:44:37. > :44:42.ago, have to found the National Liberal Federation. He observed

:44:42. > :44:50.that day that Birmingham had shown it was no place for week need

:44:50. > :45:00.liberalism. No change there, then. So we are strong, united, true to

:45:00. > :45:08.

:45:08. > :45:15.our values, back in Government and In Government you are faced with

:45:15. > :45:21.hard choices every single day. The question is how you make them. Some

:45:22. > :45:30.ask how we can get a market to work here. Others, how can this win a

:45:31. > :45:37.small boats? If you, what will the press think? -- win a small votes.

:45:37. > :45:41.For liberals, the litmus test is always the national interest. Not

:45:41. > :45:45.doing the easy thing, but the right thing. That takes a certain kind of

:45:45. > :45:51.character, one that we have seen on display over the last few months

:45:51. > :45:55.and days here in Birmingham. Brave, principal, awkward, resolute,

:45:55. > :46:03.optimistic, unstoppable, and I am not just talking about Paddy

:46:03. > :46:13.Ashdown, I am talking about every single one of you in this hall! But

:46:13. > :46:16.

:46:16. > :46:21.I think... But I think people still need to know more. More about the

:46:21. > :46:27.character of our party. Not just how we govern, but why. We proved

:46:27. > :46:31.something about ourselves last year when we faced a historic choice,

:46:32. > :46:36.whether or not to enter Government in coalition with the Conservatives.

:46:36. > :46:40.Now, the easy thing would have been to sit on the opposition benches,

:46:40. > :46:44.throwing rocks at the Government as it tried to get control of the

:46:44. > :46:50.public finances, and in the short term it might even have been more

:46:50. > :46:56.popular. But it wouldn't have been right. At that moment, Britain

:46:56. > :47:01.needed a strong Government. Alistair Darling's recent book is

:47:01. > :47:07.called Back From The Brink. In reality, Labour left us on the

:47:07. > :47:12.brink. Teetering on the edge of an economic precipice, so we put aside

:47:12. > :47:17.party differences for the sake of the national interest. People

:47:17. > :47:21.before politics. Nation before party. And while other countries

:47:21. > :47:24.have been riven by political bickering, we have shown that they

:47:24. > :47:28.coalition forged in the time of emergency could be a different kind

:47:28. > :47:34.of Government, governing different league. Because let me tell you

:47:34. > :47:38.this, you don't play politics at a time of national crisis. You don't

:47:38. > :47:48.play politics with the economy, and you never, ever play politics with

:47:48. > :48:05.

:48:05. > :48:11.Our first big decision was of course to clear the structural

:48:11. > :48:16.deficit, this Parliament. To wipe the slate clean up by 2015. This

:48:17. > :48:25.has meant painful cuts, agonisingly difficult decisions. Not easy. But

:48:25. > :48:30.right. Because handing control of the economy to the traders, that is

:48:30. > :48:37.not progressive. Burying your head in the sand, that is not liberal.

:48:37. > :48:42.Sanderling our children with the notion's debt, that is not fair.

:48:43. > :48:52.Labour says the Government is going too far, too fast. I say Labour

:48:53. > :48:57.

:48:57. > :49:03.would have offered too little, too late. Imagine, imagine for a moment,

:49:03. > :49:08.if Ed Miliband and Ed Balls had still been in power. Gordon Brown's

:49:08. > :49:13.backroom boys, when Labour was failing to balance the books,

:49:13. > :49:18.failing to regulate the financial markets, and failing to take on the

:49:18. > :49:24.banks. The two Eds, behind the scenes, lurking in the shadows,

:49:24. > :49:30.always plotting, always scheming, never taking responsibility. And at

:49:30. > :49:40.this time of crisis, what Britain needs is real leadership. This is

:49:40. > :49:52.

:49:52. > :49:58.Labour's economy was based on bad debt, and false hope. Labour got us

:49:58. > :50:05.into this mess and they are clueless about how to get us out.

:50:05. > :50:09.Another turn of Labour would have been a disaster for our economy, so

:50:09. > :50:16.don't for a moment let Labour get away with it. Don't forget the

:50:16. > :50:26.chaos, the fear, of 2008, and never ever trust Labour again with the

:50:26. > :50:31.

:50:31. > :50:35.You know, Government has certainly been a bit of a learning experience.

:50:35. > :50:39.For example, you go on these international visits and you have

:50:39. > :50:42.to exchange gifts with the foreign dignitaries that you meet. But what

:50:42. > :50:47.do you get them? When I met the French Prime Minister for the first

:50:47. > :50:53.time, he had done his research, he had found out exactly what he I was

:50:53. > :50:59.born in, and presented me with a beautiful bottle of 1967 brandy. My

:50:59. > :51:08.office told me that he light hiking, so what did I give him? -- he like

:51:08. > :51:13.hiking. A bar of Kendal mint cake. Tim Farron's idea! But Government

:51:13. > :51:19.has also brought difficult decisions. And of course the most

:51:19. > :51:26.heart-wrenching for me, for all of us, was on university funding. Like

:51:26. > :51:31.all of you, I saw the anger, I understand it, I felt it. And I

:51:31. > :51:38.have learned from it. I know how much damage this has done to us as

:51:38. > :51:44.a party. By far the most painful part of our transition from the

:51:44. > :51:49.easy promises of opposition to the invidious choices of Government.

:51:49. > :51:56.And probably the most important lesson I have learned is this. No

:51:56. > :52:02.matter how hard you work, on the details of a policy, it is no good

:52:02. > :52:06.if the perception is wrong. We can say until we are blue in the face

:52:06. > :52:14.that no one will have to pay any fees as a student, but still people

:52:14. > :52:17.don't believe it. At once you have left university, you will pay less

:52:17. > :52:24.week in week out than under the current system, but still people

:52:24. > :52:29.don't believe it. That the support given to students from poorer

:52:29. > :52:35.families will increase dramatically, but still people don't believe it.

:52:35. > :52:41.The simple truth is that the Conservatives and Labour were both

:52:41. > :52:47.set on increasing fees. And in those circumstances, we did the

:52:47. > :52:51.best thing we could. Working tirelessly to ensure anyone that

:52:51. > :52:56.wants to go to university can. Freeing part-time students from

:52:56. > :53:05.upfront fees for the first time. Ensuring fair repayments for all

:53:05. > :53:09.graduates. But we failed to properly explain those dilemmas. We

:53:09. > :53:14.failed to explain that there were no other easy options. And we have

:53:14. > :53:22.failed so far to show that the new system will be much, much better

:53:22. > :53:29.than people fear. So, yes, lessons learned. But the most important

:53:29. > :53:34.thing right now is to get out there and show that university is for

:53:34. > :53:38.everyone. And we should all take a leaf out of Simon Hughes's book. He

:53:38. > :53:43.has been busting a gut as the Government's Advocate For Access,

:53:43. > :53:47.travelling the country, explaining the new system, finding ways to get

:53:47. > :53:51.young people from all backgrounds to apply for university. Simon did

:53:52. > :53:57.not like the decision we made for reasons that I respect. But rather

:53:57. > :54:07.than sitting back, he has rolled up his sleeves, and got on with making

:54:07. > :54:20.

:54:20. > :54:24.the new system work. Simon, thank Right now, of course, our biggest

:54:24. > :54:30.concern is the economy. The recovery is fragile, every worker,

:54:30. > :54:35.every family knows that. There is a long, hard road ahead. Just in the

:54:35. > :54:40.last few days alone, we have seen the financial storm in the eurozone,

:54:40. > :54:45.rising unemployment, falling stock markets. So we were right to pull

:54:45. > :54:49.the economy back from the brink. It is clearer now than ever that

:54:49. > :54:56.deficit reduction was essential to protect the economy. To protect

:54:56. > :55:02.homes and jobs. Because deficit reduction lays the foundations for

:55:02. > :55:06.growth, but on its own it is not enough. That is why we are already

:55:06. > :55:12.investing in infrastructure, reducing red tape, promoting skills,

:55:12. > :55:20.getting the banks lending. The outlook for the global economy has

:55:20. > :55:30.got worse. So we need to do more. We can do more and we will do more

:55:30. > :55:38.

:55:38. > :55:44.Because we are not in politics just to repair the damage done by Labour,

:55:44. > :55:50.too glued back together the pieces of the old economy. We are here to

:55:50. > :55:54.build a new economy. A new economy say from Casino speculation, that

:55:54. > :55:58.is why the Liberal Democrat Businee Secretary is putting a firewall

:55:59. > :56:04.into the banking system, protecting the people that have worked hard

:56:04. > :56:08.and saved. A new economy that safeguards the environment. That is

:56:08. > :56:13.why a Liberal Democrat environment secretary is creating the world's

:56:13. > :56:17.first Green Investment Bank, spending �3 billion to create new

:56:17. > :56:21.jobs, a new economy where the lowest paid get to keep the money

:56:21. > :56:27.they earn. That is why a Liberal Democrat, Chief Secretary to the

:56:27. > :56:32.Treasury, has put �200 into the pocket of every basic rate taxpayer,

:56:32. > :56:42.and taken almost 1 million workers, most of them women, out of income

:56:42. > :56:50.

:56:50. > :56:55.A new economy. A new economy based on skills. And that is why one

:56:55. > :56:58.Liberal Democrat minister is creating a quarter of a million new

:56:58. > :57:02.apprenticeships and another is investing in schools and early

:57:02. > :57:07.years education. A new economy that works for families, where men and

:57:07. > :57:09.women can choose how to balance work and home. That is why Liberal

:57:09. > :57:15.Democrats are bringing in shared parental leave and more flexible

:57:15. > :57:19.working. And a new economy run for ordinary people, rather than big

:57:19. > :57:27.finance, after the so-called masters of the universe turned out

:57:27. > :57:34.to be the masters of destruction instead. Which is why... Which is

:57:34. > :57:41.why when we come to sell those bank shares I want to see a pay back to

:57:41. > :57:45.British citizens. Your money was put at risk. Your money was used to

:57:45. > :57:52.bail-out the banks. And so the money made by the banks is your

:57:52. > :57:56.money, too. An economy for everyone. In Scotland, Wales, in every part

:57:56. > :58:06.of the United Kingdom, for women and men, young and old, town and

:58:06. > :58:19.

:58:19. > :58:28.country, North and South, a new Because as Liberal Democrats, we

:58:28. > :58:36.act for the whole nation. In our long, proud, liberal history, we

:58:36. > :58:41.have never, never served the media moguls, the union barons, all the

:58:41. > :58:51.bankers -- or the bankers. We do not serve and we have never served

:58:51. > :59:13.

:59:13. > :59:19.vested interests. We are in OK, OK, OK! I get it, you agree

:59:19. > :59:28.with that! That is why we can make decisions in the national interest.

:59:28. > :59:31.Not easy. But right. That is why we speak up, first and loudest, when

:59:32. > :59:36.the establishment let the people down. In the last three years, we

:59:36. > :59:40.have seen establishment institutions exposed, one by one.

:59:40. > :59:46.The City of London, shattered by the greed of bankers. The media,

:59:46. > :59:51.corrupted by phone hacking, Parliament shamed by expenses. I

:59:51. > :00:01.was brought up to know that it is not polite to say I told you so.

:00:01. > :00:05.

:00:05. > :00:11.In 2006, when Vince Cable warned that bad debts were growing and

:00:11. > :00:17.that bank lending levels were recklessly irresponsible. In 2002,

:00:17. > :00:25.when Tom McNally... I can't see him... There he is! When he said

:00:25. > :00:30.that the Government must guard the public interest as much as Mr

:00:30. > :00:35.Murdoch guards his shareholder's interests. In 1996, when Paddy

:00:35. > :00:41.Ashdown said that Parliament had become a dishevelled old corpse of

:00:41. > :00:51.what was once called the mother of all parliaments. Never one to pull

:00:51. > :00:55.

:00:55. > :01:01.Free to tell it like it really is. Because we are no bodies pocket. Of

:01:01. > :01:08.all the claims that Ed Miliband has made, the most risible is that his

:01:08. > :01:12.party is the enemy of vested interests. I mean, give me a break.

:01:12. > :01:17.While we were campaigning for change and the banking system, they

:01:17. > :01:21.were on their prawn cocktail offensive in the city. While we led

:01:21. > :01:27.the charge against the media barons, Labour has cowered before them for

:01:27. > :01:33.decades. Do you know the most shocking thing about the news that

:01:33. > :01:42.Tony Blair is godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch's children is that

:01:42. > :01:49.nobody was really shocked at all? And, today, Labour is in hock to

:01:49. > :01:53.the trade union balance. After their government stipend, 95% of

:01:53. > :01:57.Labour's money comes from unions, most of it from just four of them.

:01:57. > :02:01.Let me be clear, the values of trade unionism are as relevant as

:02:02. > :02:11.ever. Supporting workers, fighting for fairness at work. But I don't

:02:12. > :02:22.

:02:22. > :02:26.think the unions should be able to Ed Miliband says he wants to loosen

:02:26. > :02:31.the ties between Labour and the union barons who helps him to beat

:02:31. > :02:35.his brother. OK. Let's see him put his money where his mouth is. Let's

:02:36. > :02:39.see if he will support radical reform of party funding. Every

:02:39. > :02:45.previous attempt has been blocked by the vested interests of the

:02:46. > :02:50.other two parties. We are all stuck in a system that we know is wrong.

:02:51. > :02:54.We have all been damaged by it. But if we learned anything from the

:02:54. > :02:58.expenses scandal it is surely that if the system has broken then we

:02:58. > :03:08.should not wait for the next scandal, we should fix it and fix

:03:08. > :03:19.

:03:19. > :03:27.So, whether it is securing the economy, sorting the banks or

:03:27. > :03:34.cleaning out politics, we are making the big, difficult decisions.

:03:34. > :03:41.Not easy, but right. And that is what it means to be a party of

:03:41. > :03:47.national government again. Not just making arguments, making change.

:03:47. > :03:51.Now, in a coalition we have two kinds of power. The power to hold

:03:51. > :03:57.our coalition partners back and the power to move the Government for

:03:57. > :04:02.what. So, we can keep the Government to a liberal path, and

:04:02. > :04:08.could the Government in the centre ground. -- and could the Government.

:04:08. > :04:11.You were absolutely right to stop the NHS Bill in its tracks. To

:04:11. > :04:17.ensure a change in our terms, no arbitrary but deadlines, no threat

:04:18. > :04:21.to the basic principles at the heart of our NHS. We are right to

:04:21. > :04:26.stand up for civil liberties. No retreat to the illiberal populism

:04:26. > :04:31.of the Labour years. We are right to keep insisting on a fair tax

:04:31. > :04:40.system, asking the most of the people who have the most. And we

:04:40. > :04:48.will always defend human rights. At home, as well as abroad. The

:04:48. > :04:53.European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act are not,

:04:53. > :04:58.as some would have you believe, foreign in positions. These are

:04:58. > :05:01.British rights, drafted by British lawyers, forged in the aftermath of

:05:01. > :05:08.the atrocities of the Second World War, fought for by Winston

:05:08. > :05:11.Churchill. So, let me say something. Let me say something really care

:05:11. > :05:21.about the Human Rights Act. In fact, I will do it in words of one

:05:21. > :05:46.

:05:46. > :05:52.So, friends, we will always hold the liberal line. But, much more

:05:52. > :05:58.important, the positive power of government. Not just stopping bad

:05:58. > :06:05.things but doing good things. Last year, I walked through the door of

:06:05. > :06:11.Number 10. But we all walked through a kind of altogether. Did

:06:11. > :06:19.being, once again, a party of national government. So, we must

:06:19. > :06:25.now move beyond the reflexes of opposition, to the opportunities of

:06:25. > :06:30.government. New social housing. Criminal justice reform. Fixed-term

:06:30. > :06:36.parliaments. Keeping our post offices open. House of Lords reform.

:06:36. > :06:40.Better mental health care. Safer banks. Income tax down for ordinary

:06:40. > :06:46.workers, capital gains tax up for the rich. Compulsory retirement,

:06:46. > :06:56.scrapped. Pensions protected by a triple lock. ID cards, history.

:06:56. > :06:58.

:06:58. > :07:03.Child detention, ended. Just look at what we have announced in the

:07:03. > :07:08.last five days. After decades of campaigning, thanks to Lynne

:07:08. > :07:13.Featherstone, equal marriage, straight or gay. All-powerful

:07:13. > :07:18.consumers over energy companies. Calling time on rewards for failure

:07:18. > :07:24.in boardrooms. Investing in education for girls in developing

:07:24. > :07:28.countries. New powers to turn empty homes back into family homes. A

:07:28. > :07:38.�500 million investment in growth. Liberal achievements from a liberal

:07:38. > :07:51.

:07:51. > :07:57.And we have stood by our commitments to act on the

:07:57. > :08:01.environment. The pollsters tell us that climate change has dropped

:08:01. > :08:06.down people's list of worries. That people have more immediate concerns.

:08:06. > :08:13.I understand this. So, the politically convenient thing would

:08:13. > :08:21.have been to put this off to another day. Instead, we have acted

:08:21. > :08:26.immediately. Not easy, but right. Ambitious carbon targets, energy

:08:26. > :08:31.market reform. Councils generated renewable energy. A Green Deal to

:08:31. > :08:37.make bills lower and homes warmer. Carbon capture and storage. Green

:08:37. > :08:47.buses, trains and trams. The world's first ever Green Investment

:08:47. > :09:01.

:09:01. > :09:05.Bank. Green achievements from a I've learnt quite a bit in the last

:09:05. > :09:11.500 days. About the responsibilities of government,

:09:11. > :09:18.about the resilience of our party. The integrity of our members, our

:09:18. > :09:25.determination to do the right thing. In government, every single day

:09:25. > :09:30.brings hard choices. You know, you can very quickly lose your way

:09:30. > :09:34.unless you at some reduce certain of your calls. Why you're there in

:09:34. > :09:40.the first place. -- unless you are absolutely certain of your calls,

:09:40. > :09:45.why you're there in the first place. Everyone of us in this hall has

:09:45. > :09:50.strong convictions. A human rights, political reform, civil liberties,

:09:50. > :09:55.fighting capitalism, fighting climate change. -- responsible

:09:55. > :09:59.capitalism, fighting climate change. Every one of us has a political

:09:59. > :10:04.passion, too. The firing side that drew us into politics and the first

:10:04. > :10:13.place. Let me tell you about what I care most about. My passion is

:10:13. > :10:18.insuring a fair start for every child. I have a simple,

:10:18. > :10:24.unquenchable belief that every child can do good things, great

:10:24. > :10:30.things, if only we give them the opportunities they deserve. Equal

:10:30. > :10:36.opportunity. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? Everyone agrees that it.

:10:36. > :10:40.But then we allow prejudice, tradition, class, to crush a

:10:40. > :10:45.million hopes and dreams. Watch young children's lives go off-track,

:10:45. > :10:52.even before they go off to school, sit idly by while talent goes to

:10:52. > :11:01.waste. I know I have had all the advantages you could dream of. Good

:11:01. > :11:05.school, great parents. I was lucky. But it shouldn't be about luck. On

:11:05. > :11:10.Saturday I met a group of young people, just after I arrived in

:11:10. > :11:15.Birmingham, from a charity called UpRising. They were all from really

:11:15. > :11:23.difficult backgrounds. One young woman, Chantal, she told me that

:11:23. > :11:30.she only started to thrive when she found someone who believed in her.

:11:30. > :11:38.I want every child to believe in themselves. In terms of opportunity,

:11:38. > :11:41.we are a nation divided. Children from a poor background, a gear

:11:41. > :11:47.behind in language skills before the age of five. More young black

:11:47. > :11:53.men in prison than at Russell Group universities. In Hammersmith and

:11:53. > :11:58.Fulham in West London, more than half the children leading state

:11:58. > :12:04.schools head to a good university. Just 30 minutes down the District

:12:04. > :12:11.Line to Tower Hamlets, just 4% do. Odds stacked against too many of

:12:11. > :12:19.our children. A deep injustice, when birth his destiny. That is why

:12:19. > :12:29.I have been leading the charge for social mobility. For fairer chances,

:12:29. > :12:40.

:12:40. > :12:46.You know, people keep telling me that it's too hard. That it is

:12:46. > :12:51.futile to push for fairness, into the headwinds of an economic

:12:51. > :12:58.slowdown. Or they say it will take too long, that I should find some

:12:58. > :13:03.politically convenient, quick wins instead. I also encountered fierce

:13:03. > :13:08.resistance from those who do so well out of the status quo. But for

:13:08. > :13:14.liberals, the only struggles worth having are the uphill ones.

:13:14. > :13:17.Allowing schools to move poorer children at the cue for admissions.

:13:17. > :13:22.Making universities open their doors to everyone. Making firms

:13:22. > :13:32.work harder to get women on their boards. Breaking open internships.

:13:32. > :13:41.

:13:41. > :13:46.Or controversial, all difficult. So, I am not backing down. I am not

:13:46. > :13:51.slowing down. Because this will not be a liberal nation until every

:13:51. > :14:01.citizen can thrive and prosper, until birth is no longer destiny,

:14:01. > :14:12.

:14:12. > :14:18.This summer, we saw the consequences of a society in which

:14:18. > :14:23.some people feel they have no stake at all. Nobody could fail to be

:14:23. > :14:30.horrified by what we saw during the riots. These were not organised

:14:30. > :14:34.campaigns for change. They were outbursts of nihilism and greed.

:14:34. > :14:39.I'll never forget the woman I met in Tottenham. She told me the

:14:39. > :14:47.clothes that she stood in were the only possessions she had in the

:14:47. > :14:53.torched. But, you know, in every city where trouble broke out, most

:14:53. > :14:57.people did the right thing. So many more people were out there to clean

:14:57. > :15:01.up the streets that went out to trash them in the first place. In

:15:01. > :15:05.Manchester I met a cafe owner who boarded up her broken windows and

:15:05. > :15:12.started serving tea and coffee straight away it to the people that

:15:12. > :15:18.were helping clear up. Here in Birmingham, the community stood

:15:18. > :15:23.together in the face of disorder and tragedy. Our emergency services,

:15:23. > :15:31.police, courts, they all rose to the challenge. But we have to now

:15:31. > :15:34.ensure that the offenders become ex-offenders, for good. Three out

:15:35. > :15:39.of four had previous convictions. We have to push ahead, not step

:15:39. > :15:44.back from, but push ahead with a government rehabilitation

:15:44. > :15:50.revolution. Punishment that sticks, that changes behaviour. An end to

:15:50. > :15:55.the corrosive cycle of crime. And I want the criminal to look their

:15:55. > :16:02.victims in the eye. Two of see the consequences of their actions and

:16:02. > :16:06.put it right. That is why there will be community pay back projects

:16:06. > :16:13.in every city affected. Why we are investing in drug recovery wings in

:16:13. > :16:23.our prisons, tackling down culture, tougher community sentences.

:16:23. > :16:36.

:16:36. > :16:44.Effective, restorative justice. Let me say something else. The

:16:44. > :16:50.rioters are not the face of Britain's young people. The vast

:16:50. > :17:00.majority of our young people are good, decent, and doing the best

:17:00. > :17:09.

:17:09. > :17:16.they can. Don't condemn all of them Do you know what really struck me?

:17:16. > :17:20.It was how so many of those that did join the riots seems to have

:17:20. > :17:25.nothing to lose. It was about what they could get here and now. Not

:17:25. > :17:30.what lay in front of them tomorrow and the years ahead, as if their

:17:30. > :17:34.own future had little value. Too many of these young people had

:17:34. > :17:40.simply fallen through the cracks, not just this summer, but many

:17:40. > :17:43.summers ago, when they lost touch with their own future. And so often

:17:43. > :17:51.the people that have gone off the rails are the ones that are

:17:51. > :17:56.struggling years earlier, not least in making that critical leap from

:17:56. > :18:04.primary to secondary school. So today I am launching a new scheme

:18:04. > :18:07.to help the children that need it most, in the summer before they

:18:07. > :18:11.start secondary school. A two-week summer school helping them catch up

:18:11. > :18:16.in maths and English and getting them ready for the challenges ahead.

:18:16. > :18:26.Because we know this is a time when too many children lose their way.

:18:26. > :18:36.

:18:36. > :18:40.So this is a �50 million investment And that is why we have found the

:18:40. > :18:46.money even now to invest in education, protecting the school's

:18:46. > :18:52.budget. A �2.5 billion pupil premium by the end of the Palmer.

:18:52. > :18:57.More investment in early years education. 50 hours for all three

:18:57. > :19:01.and four year-olds. New provision for the poorest two year-olds. All

:19:01. > :19:08.steps towards a society where nobody is enslaved by poverty,

:19:08. > :19:13.ignorance or conformity, towards a liberal society. These are

:19:13. > :19:17.investments that will take years or even decades to pay off. By the

:19:17. > :19:23.time the two year-olds that we have next year come to vote, I will be

:19:23. > :19:30.60. It is even possible that I will no longer be leader by then! At

:19:30. > :19:35.least, that is what I have told Miriam. So why are we doing it when

:19:35. > :19:40.it cost so much and take so long? Because investing early makes such

:19:40. > :19:50.a huge difference. Especially for the poorest children. Not easy. Not

:19:50. > :20:08.

:20:08. > :20:12.So hold your heads up. Look our critics squarely in the eye. This

:20:12. > :20:18.country would be in deep trouble today if we had not gone into

:20:18. > :20:24.Government last year. And Britain will be a fairer nation tomorrow

:20:24. > :20:31.because we are in Government today. Never apologise for the difficult

:20:31. > :20:40.things we are having to do. We are serving a great country at the time

:20:41. > :20:44.of great need. There are no short cuts, but we won't flinch. Our

:20:44. > :20:54.values are strong, our instincts are good. Reason, not prejudice,

:20:54. > :21:08.

:21:08. > :21:13.compassion not greed. Hope, not After the summer riots message

:21:13. > :21:22.boards sprang up. They became known as peace walls. And on the one in

:21:22. > :21:27.Peckham there was a note that simply said - our home, our

:21:27. > :21:36.children, our future. Six words that say so much more than 600

:21:36. > :21:42.speeches. Our home, our children, our future. Britain is our home. We

:21:42. > :21:48.will make it safe and strong. These are our children. We will tear down

:21:48. > :21:58.every barrier they face. And this is our future. We start building it

:21:58. > :22:07.

:22:07. > :22:10.JUDO: Nick Clegg finishes his address. His wife Miriam on her

:22:10. > :22:13.feet with the rest of the conference will a statutory

:22:13. > :22:22.standing ovation that all party leaders get at this stage. He spoke

:22:22. > :22:26.for about 45 minutes. It was a pretty are repentant Lib Dem leader.

:22:26. > :22:29.-- unrepentant. He would not apologise for joining in the

:22:29. > :22:36.coalition with the Tories because they had to act in the interests of

:22:36. > :22:40.the nation. The Deputy Prime Minister even DUP the previous

:22:40. > :22:44.attacks on the Tories by criticising Ed Miliband and Ed

:22:44. > :22:49.Balls as the backroom boys. Never trust Labour again on the economy,

:22:49. > :22:57.he said. Words that may come back to haunt him a little bit iffy as

:22:57. > :23:02.to form a coalition with them in the future. -- if he has to form a

:23:02. > :23:11.coalition. And on a Human Rights Act, a lot of Conservatives want to

:23:11. > :23:18.replace that with a British Human to stay. He told quite a bit about

:23:18. > :23:22.social mobility as well. He said quite a lot about the rioting. He

:23:22. > :23:29.announced a �50 million initiative to send children from the more

:23:29. > :23:33.deprived parts of our cities and elsewhere into two weeks' summer

:23:33. > :23:37.schools in the gap between leaving primary school and going to

:23:37. > :23:40.secondary school so they could catch up on maths and English. Many

:23:40. > :23:44.people will wonder what difference that might make. When we see the

:23:44. > :23:49.details, it will no doubt be debated. He is going through the

:23:49. > :23:55.hall. It was not packed. You may have seen from our coverage quite a

:23:55. > :24:00.few empty seats. But he seems to have done the business. Sam Coates

:24:00. > :24:03.from the Times is with me. What did you make of that? It was

:24:03. > :24:08.interesting that he was making an appeal to the hall, rather than to

:24:08. > :24:12.the country. The slogan of the speech was not easy but right and

:24:12. > :24:16.he said it over and over. It was an appeal to activists to stay

:24:16. > :24:20.together and pull together. I think he knows this is not a front page

:24:20. > :24:25.speech. I think he knows that the job of today was to reassure

:24:25. > :24:30.activists that it would be all right in the end, and to

:24:30. > :24:34.essentially give them... Praising the people around him, at their

:24:34. > :24:38.resilience and determination. Politically, one line steered

:24:38. > :24:43.through. The line about Labour, never trust Labour on the economy

:24:43. > :24:47.again. Surely that will mean that they can never go into coalition

:24:47. > :24:51.with the Labour Party. We said that to them and they said not at all

:24:51. > :24:55.because they would make it all right if they did. I am not sure he

:24:55. > :24:59.can escape from that line. It is kind of they get out of jail free

:24:59. > :25:02.card because you cannot trust Labour on their own, they will need

:25:02. > :25:06.to be there to keep them on the right tracks. They have basically

:25:06. > :25:11.been saying that about the Tories as well. In a sense, this may not

:25:11. > :25:15.resonate, but will it make your front page tomorrow? It is in the

:25:15. > :25:20.balance. There is a lot of bad economic news out today. The worst

:25:20. > :25:24.borrowing figures ever, the speeches later on today, and the

:25:24. > :25:27.development in Athens with the eurozone crisis. What Nick Clegg

:25:27. > :25:31.had to say on the economy is actually worth highlighting. He

:25:31. > :25:35.said they would do more growth. Again, in the briefing before the

:25:35. > :25:40.speech we asked what that would be. But there is no new money, it

:25:40. > :25:49.appears. A message for the hall, again, but not underpinning it as

:25:49. > :25:53.you might want. He can regard Birmingham as a reasonable success

:25:53. > :25:57.for him. There were rumblings that they wanted to ditch Nick Clegg,

:25:57. > :26:01.because going into the bed with the Tories was a disaster. They may not

:26:01. > :26:05.be very happy about it, but nobody is saying that Nick Clegg's

:26:05. > :26:09.position is in jeopardy. He lives to fight another day as leader of

:26:09. > :26:12.the Liberal Democrats. One of the interesting things about the

:26:12. > :26:17.conference as a whole is that Nick Clegg has got his mojo back. The

:26:17. > :26:21.top senior people all acknowledge that. That is interesting because

:26:21. > :26:25.before the summer they may not have been so sure. Now he is determined

:26:25. > :26:35.to fight into the next election and through it as well. And he promised

:26:35. > :26:41.Mary and that he would not just be serving for one turn. -- Miriam.

:26:41. > :26:44.That is the big if. Thank you. We have got more with some Lib Dem

:26:44. > :26:48.activists now. Yes, I have. You may be able to

:26:48. > :26:52.hear the noise of delegates streaming out of the Conference

:26:52. > :26:56.Centre after the speech. We have managed to grab two of them for the

:26:56. > :27:01.moment and we might get some more. Paul Hodgkinson and Neil McGovern,

:27:01. > :27:06.both councillors. Welcome to you both. Your first impression? Really

:27:06. > :27:10.good. What I liked about it was that Nick was unapologetic about

:27:10. > :27:14.making tough decisions. He was really trumpeting our liberal

:27:14. > :27:20.values. Things like the vested interest. They really liked that.

:27:20. > :27:27.Yes, they did. And the stuff about the Green Investment Bank, taking

:27:27. > :27:31.people out of tax at the bottom of the scale. He is really good and he

:27:31. > :27:34.needs to say more. There are two things that he needs to do. One of

:27:34. > :27:39.them was dealing with the issues that face us at the moment, so

:27:39. > :27:42.cutting the deficit and making sure we get a good green recovery. And a

:27:42. > :27:49.second one is that he has differentiated the Lib Dems on the

:27:49. > :27:53.Tories and Labour. He mentioned that we have Labour and the Tories,

:27:53. > :27:56.and we are different. It is clear what difference we are making to

:27:56. > :28:02.this Government. He said this was less about Conservative bashing and

:28:02. > :28:06.much more about firing at the Labour Party. Would you support

:28:06. > :28:11.that? Would you say that on the doorsteps? I think it is very much

:28:11. > :28:15.about what we are bringing to the Government. The things we are doing.

:28:15. > :28:20.You heard him say very clearly then that the Human Rights Act will not

:28:20. > :28:26.go. That was a real warning to the Conservatives. For me that is an

:28:26. > :28:33.important thing. You are refused fan? Yes, and lots of Liberal

:28:33. > :28:36.Democrat staff. -- a huge fan? So what is it like on the doorstep?

:28:36. > :28:40.is different in the Cotswolds because we had a great result in

:28:40. > :28:46.Labour and the best result in the country. Then we don't want to talk

:28:46. > :28:49.to you! And in Cambridge? There has been a lot of anger but not from

:28:49. > :28:53.people that vote Liberal Democrat. The Labour vote now think it is OK

:28:53. > :28:57.to vote Labour again. They have forgotten a 10 pence tax rate,

:28:57. > :29:01.things like that, and we are seeing lot of people coming out again.

:29:01. > :29:08.Among the voters that we have got, they are still strong and it is

:29:08. > :29:11.growing day-by-day, we have had members joining all the time.

:29:11. > :29:14.experience was completely different. In those areas that have been

:29:14. > :29:18.Conservative in the past, they are very comfortable with the coalition,

:29:18. > :29:23.and we bring a break to those more extreme views. You are lucky enough

:29:23. > :29:31.to be able to take a bad review. Which one would you like? I will

:29:31. > :29:36.take the one which says I Love high-speed rail. It is not going

:29:36. > :29:42.through your constituency! And you? I love the 50 pence tax rate.

:29:42. > :29:50.controversial. We will return at the end of the programme and speak

:29:50. > :29:54.to more delegates. Now back to We are joined by Nick Robinson,

:29:55. > :29:58.what is your overview? In a sense, it was less of a speech and more of

:29:58. > :30:02.a plea to the country to understand why he and his party had done what

:30:02. > :30:06.they had done. There was that passionate moment, he said, we had

:30:06. > :30:11.to go into government. That constant refrain, it's not easy,

:30:11. > :30:14.but it is right. I think, in a sense, that is all the speech was.

:30:14. > :30:19.There were lots of bits that pleased but all that didn't

:30:19. > :30:23.actually sing off the page when we read the script before. They liked

:30:23. > :30:27.the insistence that the party was in nobody's pocket, that they had

:30:27. > :30:31.been that people that warned about the banks, but Rupert Murdoch and

:30:31. > :30:35.the state of Parliament before expenses crisis. That gave them a

:30:35. > :30:41.sense of who they were. They liked the stance about the human rights

:30:41. > :30:44.act, his commitment, let me spell it out, he said, it is here to say

:30:44. > :30:49.-- stayed. They liked the list of liberal achievement in government.

:30:49. > :30:52.To the country, the message was, I did this for a reason you have to

:30:52. > :30:57.understand. You might not like me, you might think I broke my word,

:30:57. > :31:01.you might wish I hadn't done it, but accept why I did it. A little

:31:01. > :31:05.bit like Tony Blair, again and again, he said, you may disagree

:31:05. > :31:10.with me on Iraq but at least accept that I did it for the reasons I

:31:10. > :31:13.believed in. They were never in Rupert Murdoch's pocket, but then

:31:13. > :31:18.he never invited them into his pocket and we don't know what they

:31:18. > :31:22.would have done if he had. Is it best to see this... Although he was

:31:22. > :31:26.speaking to the wider audience as well, overwhelmingly to me it

:31:26. > :31:31.seemed it was a speech to consolidate, almost re consolidate

:31:31. > :31:35.his position with his own party. To that extent, he succeeded?

:31:35. > :31:39.Absolutely. In a sense, he had succeeded before the speech was

:31:39. > :31:43.delivered. Back in May, when he lost the election so badly, not

:31:44. > :31:49.just the English locals, but in Scotland and Wales, when he lost

:31:49. > :31:53.the referendum on voting change, the great Liberal Democrat dream

:31:53. > :31:56.for so many years, when he was the target for so much personal abuse,

:31:56. > :32:00.you might have believed that this was a day when he was pleading for

:32:00. > :32:05.his leadership, for a continuance of the coalition. In truth, he is

:32:06. > :32:10.not. In part, that's because his main rivals have been damaged on

:32:10. > :32:13.the way. Vince Cable for political reasons, his comments that were

:32:13. > :32:16.recorded by the Daily Telegraph, Chris Huhne for personal reasons.

:32:16. > :32:20.They are not the kind of threat they might have been a few months

:32:20. > :32:23.ago. I think you are right, he was trying to say, there are things we

:32:23. > :32:28.believe in that we are fighting for and we are winning. You don't have

:32:28. > :32:34.to spend the whole time thinking you're only job is simply to find

:32:34. > :32:37.things you don't like that the Tories are to and say no. Let's go

:32:37. > :32:42.back to Jo for some more reaction from her end of things.

:32:42. > :32:46.Janet Morgan has been a councillor in Abingdon in Oxfordshire. Your

:32:46. > :32:52.impressions of the atmosphere, first of all, what was it like in

:32:52. > :32:58.that all? I thought it was very positive for their speech. A very

:32:58. > :33:03.comprehensive speech. Not showy, but really down-to-earth.

:33:03. > :33:08.didn't think it was too sombre, too much about the fight ahead? All of

:33:08. > :33:12.the decisions are difficult? Was it uplifting enough? Yes, I think it

:33:12. > :33:16.was realistic and uplifting. Particularly at the end, the

:33:16. > :33:22.concentration on children, John people, one of them being the

:33:22. > :33:25.future. That was definitely uplifting. Did you agree with Nick

:33:26. > :33:28.Clegg in the staunch defence of the economic programme? That being in

:33:28. > :33:32.coalition with the Conservatives is right and that they have to stick

:33:32. > :33:37.to the plan of spending cuts? think so, provided it goes with the

:33:37. > :33:42.other things like the emphasis on, particularly, looking at young

:33:42. > :33:45.people for the future. What would you like to see? What would be the

:33:46. > :33:53.most important thing you would like to see the Liberal Democrat achieve

:33:53. > :33:56.in government now? The whole thing about tax, we started the progress

:33:56. > :34:00.of taking people out of tax at the bottom of the scale. We need to go

:34:00. > :34:04.fully ahead with that, by 2015 I want to see that everybody on the

:34:04. > :34:09.minimum wage pays no tax at all. The other thing I would like to see

:34:09. > :34:14.is more taxation for the bankers. I don't think we have gone far enough

:34:14. > :34:21.on that. The bids is very strong on that. -- Vince Cable is very strong

:34:21. > :34:25.on that. What would you like to see? More on more excessive bonuses,

:34:25. > :34:28.more money coming back to us from the money we put into the banking

:34:29. > :34:34.system in the first place. We've gone some way, but we need to go

:34:34. > :34:39.further. In terms of tax, you have a badge saying I love the 50 pence

:34:39. > :34:43.tax rate. It is staying for the moment. Is that something you would

:34:43. > :34:48.like to see permanently? I think it is. I don't think it's the argument

:34:48. > :34:53.that if we suddenly get some of the richest people a bit of a tax break,

:34:53. > :34:57.it means they will leave the country and will lose thousands of

:34:57. > :35:00.pounds. It's about sending a message, the people that pay the

:35:00. > :35:04.most should be able to help the most. Are you invigorated to go

:35:04. > :35:10.back out on the doorsteps, all three of you? Absolutely.

:35:10. > :35:14.Absolutely. All three of you, thank you very much. We'll let you go in

:35:14. > :35:18.a few minutes' time. At it from us with the delegates. Actor you.

:35:18. > :35:23.We are joined by the Business Secretary Vince Cable. Welcome back

:35:23. > :35:27.to the Daily Politics. Have you lost the stimulus argument in this

:35:27. > :35:33.government? Absolutely not. I spoke on Monday about the need for

:35:33. > :35:38.financial stability, stepping -- staying with our deficit-reduction

:35:38. > :35:41.targets. This is partly about the measures to attract investment,

:35:41. > :35:49.apprenticeship technology. In the short term, some of the things that

:35:49. > :35:54.can happen, the modest support for infrastructure that Danny Alexander

:35:54. > :35:57.had. At the weekend you called for a new deal style stimulus? I set

:35:57. > :36:01.out a set of measures on how government can stimulate and

:36:01. > :36:07.encourage growth, without at the same time undermining of

:36:07. > :36:13.sacrificing... Well, there are new deals throughout our economic

:36:13. > :36:20.history, that means a substantial increase in government investment.

:36:20. > :36:26.You're not going to get that. didn't used that phrase, New Deal.

:36:26. > :36:31.Someone glamorised it. It wasn't inaccurate? Of course, we need as

:36:31. > :36:33.much commitment as we can for investment in the economy.

:36:33. > :36:37.Government money can leverage in a substantial amount of private

:36:37. > :36:41.capital. We are doing that with the Green Investment Bank, but we

:36:41. > :36:46.mustn't compromise our public expenditure commitments and our

:36:46. > :36:51.deficit reduction. Do you accept that there cannot be a substantial

:36:51. > :36:57.amount of new capital investment without reaching your budget

:36:57. > :37:00.targets and spending limits? You accept that? We are having to stick

:37:01. > :37:03.to the commitments. But we are dealing with a moving target. As

:37:03. > :37:07.far as capital expenditure is concerned, the Government has

:37:07. > :37:12.already increased it. It was savaged under the outgoing

:37:12. > :37:16.government. It clearly plays an important role in private-sector

:37:17. > :37:20.investment. Danny Alexander has put in an additional commitment to that

:37:20. > :37:24.during the conference. Your leader said today, deficit-reduction lays

:37:24. > :37:28.the foundation for growth. We are getting the deficit reduction,

:37:28. > :37:31.where is the growth? Deficit reduction leads to growth through

:37:31. > :37:36.the following mechanisms. If you have external confidence... But we

:37:36. > :37:40.haven't got the growth. That is a common problem throughout the

:37:40. > :37:44.Western world. So, one isn't following the other? The growth we

:37:44. > :37:47.need to have is beginning to become apparent in exports, manufacturing,

:37:47. > :37:51.business investment. The biggest thing that happened on the first

:37:51. > :37:55.day of the conference is the commitment to a big engine plant

:37:55. > :38:01.that is happening throughout the manufacturing sector. That is the

:38:01. > :38:06.kind of growth that is sustainable. Who are, to quote you, the

:38:06. > :38:11.ideological descendants of those who sent children up chimneys?

:38:11. > :38:17.There are people that are trying to suggest... Who? Well, I'm not

:38:17. > :38:27.naming individuals... At why not? Let's just say segments of the

:38:27. > :38:30.press... Depressed? -- the press? Not the Tories? I'm not criticising

:38:30. > :38:40.the Conservatives... Which newspapers are in favour of sending

:38:40. > :38:41.

:38:41. > :38:48.children up chimneys? I didn't actually say that... Or the

:38:48. > :38:53.ideological? I'm trying to reform... Who was it that ended children

:38:53. > :38:57.going up children -- tinnies? expected was one of the most

:38:57. > :39:05.enlightened Prime Ministers... lord Shaftesbury, a Tory. Who

:39:05. > :39:10.opposed the ending? Probably one our people! Yes, prominent...

:39:11. > :39:15.Nobody is arguing... In a sense, you live the ideological descendent.

:39:15. > :39:22.Nobody is really arguing about trim -- children going up chimneys.

:39:22. > :39:26.mentioned it, not Mable stock -- not me. When your leader went on

:39:26. > :39:30.and on about social mobility, steps that would be taken to improve it,

:39:30. > :39:34.including cleaning up internships. As you will know, internships and

:39:34. > :39:38.work experience are the way that privileged people can get a leg up.

:39:38. > :39:43.They are often not paid and they depend on contract. From your own

:39:44. > :39:49.website, I have a list of jobs for interns from Lib Dem MPs and your

:39:49. > :39:54.own party headquarters. All of them are offering unpaid internships.

:39:54. > :39:58.Wider to clean up your own house first? Unpaid internships can be a

:39:58. > :40:05.valid form of work experience. They can have those negative effects,

:40:05. > :40:10.that they can be valuable. We know they are valuable. That is not the

:40:10. > :40:13.issue. The issue is that if they are unpaid, if you don't come from

:40:13. > :40:17.a well-off family, especially if you don't come from London, you

:40:17. > :40:21.cannot take these jobs. You are already making sure, on your own

:40:21. > :40:27.website, that these jobs will only go to the privileged and well-

:40:27. > :40:31.connected. That is not the case. Internships work for me, I try to

:40:31. > :40:35.choose people from a wide variety of backgrounds. How can you live in

:40:35. > :40:38.London and how an internship without a salary? A lot of people

:40:39. > :40:45.are at home, they've left college, they are looking to gain experience.

:40:45. > :40:50.Excuse me, this is quite important. You talk about this all the time.

:40:50. > :40:54.If you are a bright boy or girl from Birmingham, just coming out of

:40:54. > :40:59.university, from an ordinary, working-class family, how could you

:40:59. > :41:04.afford to take any insure unshipped -- internship from the Liberal

:41:04. > :41:09.Democrat when it is unpaid? We are not going to scrap internships.

:41:09. > :41:13.did you just pay them? The major problems of social mobility have to

:41:13. > :41:18.be overcome in a variety of ways, helping people to get to university,

:41:18. > :41:23.the Pupil Premium and the rest. Internships are a valuable form of

:41:23. > :41:28.training. They perform a useful function, themselves. You said you

:41:28. > :41:35.were going to do something dramatic to curb executive pay. I didn't say

:41:35. > :41:38.anything about dramatic. You ended up only consultant. Since you

:41:38. > :41:48.control the pay of the Royal Bank of Scotland, why don't you do

:41:48. > :41:52.You talk about Mr Hester? He has a long-term contract. Well, all of

:41:53. > :41:57.them. The Government does not want to be in a position of managing

:41:57. > :42:00.every executive decision in those banks which are state-owned.

:42:00. > :42:05.even though you think that bankers are paid too much, you can do

:42:05. > :42:09.nothing about the banks that your own? Well, we can do. One of the

:42:09. > :42:13.eminence of the Merlin agreement was getting acceptance from the

:42:13. > :42:18.banks, including state-owned banks, that they would exercise moderation

:42:18. > :42:23.in their pay. In your view, have they? They are still getting

:42:23. > :42:29.millions of pounds. Not enough. That is what we are working on.

:42:29. > :42:31.will understand, as you lecture others to control their pay, in

:42:31. > :42:35.banks way you want a shareholder, you can't do anything. It's like

:42:35. > :42:40.your internships. You do one thing at a party conference, in reality,

:42:40. > :42:45.you're not doing it at all. There is a great deal of restraint in

:42:46. > :42:49.public sector pay, particularly at the top end. The banks, including

:42:49. > :42:53.state banks, are under a lot of pressure to reduce bonuses and pay.

:42:54. > :42:58.Perhaps they should do more of that. I acknowledge that in the case of

:42:58. > :43:02.people that have failed, like the former head of Lloyds Bank, we

:43:02. > :43:06.should maybe do more. In your heart of hearts, don't you think that

:43:06. > :43:09.Greece will end up defaulting? will have to be written down. I

:43:09. > :43:13.think that is acceptable. I hope they will remain within the

:43:13. > :43:18.eurozone. That is a different issue. And that it will continue. It's a

:43:18. > :43:22.while since we have been talking, I enjoyed that. Nice to see you. That

:43:22. > :43:26.is the end of our coverage from the Lib Dem conference in Birmingham.

:43:26. > :43:29.The day when Nick Clegg re- establish his credentials as Lib

:43:29. > :43:33.Dem leader and convinced his party that they had no alternative but to

:43:33. > :43:37.stick with the coalition in the national interests. We now move

:43:37. > :43:43.from Birmingham to the Good City of Liverpool, where the Labour

:43:43. > :43:45.conference will be gathering for their annual event. Join us there