:00:14. > :00:17.Good evening and welcome to our first today at a conference of the
:00:17. > :00:21.2012 party conference season. We are here in Brighton, with the
:00:21. > :00:25.Liberal Democrats, not quite as many or as cheerful as usual as
:00:25. > :00:29.they shelter from the miserable weather and a separate --
:00:29. > :00:34.depressing poll ratings keep landing on the party like going
:00:34. > :00:38.from a broken roof. Can Nick Clegg give them hope? Today, a plan for
:00:38. > :00:41.business, backed with a billion pounds of public money and the
:00:42. > :00:48.treasurer of the Lib Dems, Vince Cable, behind it. If the economy
:00:48. > :00:52.recovers, maybe the Lib Dems can, too. And after Nick Clegg's much
:00:52. > :00:57.mocked tuition fees apology, we will see if the rank are in a mood
:00:58. > :01:04.to forgive and forget? # I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so
:01:04. > :01:08.sorry. A lot of Lib Dems hair at the Grand
:01:08. > :01:12.Hotel will tell you they love a Vince Cable speech. It is almost as
:01:12. > :01:15.if he is the Lib Dem they would like to be when they grow up. Old,
:01:15. > :01:20.but not too old to be leader, not that he is after the job, you
:01:20. > :01:23.understand, Wise, more left-wing than Nick Clegg, a bit like them,
:01:23. > :01:29.and reassuringly comfortable in coalition for the sake of the
:01:29. > :01:39.economy. And not above having a swipe at their Conservative
:01:39. > :01:45.
:01:45. > :01:51.partners. We are so good at so many things in this country. But for far
:01:51. > :01:57.too long, the mirage of growth based on property speculation and
:01:57. > :02:07.financial gambling has hidden the harder for Jews of making things
:02:07. > :02:09.
:02:09. > :02:15.So we have got to get behind successful British firms in
:02:16. > :02:21.vehicles and aerospace, life science and creative industries.
:02:21. > :02:28.Industrial strategy can only work if finance supports business
:02:28. > :02:35.investment and growth and country, it doesn't. Hour leading banks are
:02:35. > :02:39.often anti-business, especially anti small business. They through
:02:39. > :02:47.traditional relationship banking over the side, and sold it useless
:02:47. > :02:55.insurance and dodgy derivatives instead. A her we need a new
:02:55. > :03:05.British business back with a clean balance sheet and an ability to
:03:05. > :03:14.
:03:14. > :03:18.expand. I can announce to you today that we will have one. I am working
:03:18. > :03:22.with the Chancellor to develop a new institution that will combine
:03:22. > :03:27.�1 billion of new government capital with a larger private
:03:27. > :03:31.sector contribution, and this will apply leverage through guarantees
:03:31. > :03:36.to support up to �10 billion of finance to small and mid-sized
:03:36. > :03:40.companies. This is a significant proportion of all the lending
:03:40. > :03:44.currently available. We are scrapping unnecessary red tape on
:03:44. > :03:49.small businesses, while strengthening regulation where it
:03:49. > :03:55.is necessary. As for the Environment, we are getting more
:03:55. > :04:01.women into top business positions on boards, and we have seen off the
:04:01. > :04:11.head bangers who want our hire-and- fire culture, and seemed to find
:04:11. > :04:14.
:04:14. > :04:18.the idea of sacking people as some kind of aphrodisiac. Actually, it
:04:18. > :04:27.is totally ro and in the country with flexible labour markets which
:04:27. > :04:32.have created over 1 million private sector jobs in the last two years.
:04:32. > :04:38.Instead, we have concentrated on practical tribunal reform and
:04:38. > :04:42.supported progressive firms who want working participation.
:04:42. > :04:48.Furthermore, we want the cost of our current crisis to be fairly
:04:48. > :04:54.shared. We are all in it together. It is a good slogan. Forget the
:04:54. > :04:59.Tory messengers, let's just apply the message. And that means
:04:59. > :05:09.cracking down hard not just on criminal tax evasion, but on
:05:09. > :05:10.
:05:10. > :05:14.abusive tax avoidance. It means working with our allies to close
:05:14. > :05:20.down tax havens, because nobody keeps their cash in tax havens for
:05:21. > :05:30.the quality of investment advice. These are sunny places for shady
:05:31. > :05:36.
:05:36. > :05:41.Now, I note that there are some of you who hanker after an assault on
:05:41. > :05:47.top incomes. But we do know that very high marginal rates of income
:05:47. > :05:57.tax are counter-productive. So if I were advising Mr Hollande, I would
:05:57. > :06:00.
:06:00. > :06:09.be recommending a chateau tax. For those of us who never even managed
:06:09. > :06:14.a dumbed down GCSE in French, that means a mansion tax. Core Lib Dem
:06:14. > :06:19.policy says a first step to the proper taxation of wealth and land.
:06:19. > :06:22.I know it revise the Tory backwoods men, but it is popular and right.
:06:23. > :06:32.The super rich can't move their shattered to Monaco or Switzerland,
:06:33. > :06:35.
:06:35. > :06:40.so let's get on with it and tax them here. But now, you might say,
:06:40. > :06:46.well, that is fine, but how do we get out of the present mess? We are
:06:46. > :06:51.in a dangerous phase of this crisis of go go as consumer spending is
:06:51. > :06:58.squeezed by falling incomes and debt, and exports to the European
:06:58. > :07:02.Union are being hit by the Eurozone crisis. Now, our critics on the
:07:02. > :07:07.left say, a cut more slowly. But the Government has already extended
:07:08. > :07:15.the period to eliminate the structural deficit from four to six
:07:16. > :07:24.years. Yet Ed Balls says "workers of the world, unite. We need a plan
:07:24. > :07:32.B". We should, he says, not cut the deficit in six years, but seven.
:07:32. > :07:37.Wow! Of and then our critics on the White say that all we need is
:07:37. > :07:42.supply-side reform to liberate the animal spirits of business. Well,
:07:42. > :07:47.of course we need and we value our entrepreneurs. But no amount of
:07:47. > :07:57.push from supply-side reform can possibly succeed without the pull
:07:57. > :08:00.
:08:00. > :08:05.of demand. Other critics say, why not borrow more when interest rates
:08:05. > :08:08.are solar? Actually, that is what we are doing. We are absorbing the
:08:08. > :08:12.slowdown, restoring some of the savage cuts in capital spending
:08:12. > :08:17.from the last year of Labour government. So boring has been
:08:17. > :08:21.allowed to rise, and that is sensible -- borrowing has been
:08:21. > :08:25.allowed to rise. I have considerable personal sympathy for
:08:25. > :08:30.the Chancellor, who has been attacked for borrowing too much and
:08:30. > :08:40.borrowing too little at the same time. Actually, and it is not a
:08:40. > :08:44.
:08:44. > :08:54.matter of plan A versus plan B or plan C. When we came into
:08:54. > :08:57.government, we had to balance the competing risks of the economic
:08:57. > :09:00.downturn versus the risks of losing the confidence of lenders. I
:09:00. > :09:05.believe we struck the right balance and adopted a deficit reduction
:09:05. > :09:13.plan. I make no apology for my continuing support for that fiscal
:09:13. > :09:20.discipline. But right now, we are fighting recession. And the need is
:09:20. > :09:26.for a demand stimulus. But the central point is this. The country
:09:26. > :09:31.must not get stuck in a downward escalator Breslow or no growth
:09:31. > :09:41.means bigger deficits, leading to more cuts and even slower growth.
:09:41. > :09:43.
:09:43. > :09:48.That is the way to economic disaster and political oblivion.
:09:48. > :09:57.Now, most of our MPs will face Conservatives at the next general
:09:57. > :10:04.election. They face the enticing prospect of a Tory split up. I
:10:04. > :10:07.don't know what Boris and they've got up to at Eton -- I don't know
:10:07. > :10:12.what Boris and they've got up to Eton. Perhaps a pillow fight got
:10:12. > :10:17.out of control in the dormitory. I have been told, however, that jokes
:10:17. > :10:27.about social class are not good for the unity of the coalition. But as
:10:27. > :10:30.
:10:30. > :10:36.a mere pleb, I couldn't resist. Over two years in government, we
:10:36. > :10:42.are battle-hardened, but certainly not war-weary. None of us know
:10:42. > :10:46.exactly how it will all end. But we do know we must fight the next
:10:46. > :10:56.general election her as a totally independent National, credible
:10:56. > :11:01.
:11:01. > :11:06.I don't believe, actually, that the British people will want to entrust
:11:06. > :11:14.their future to any one party next time. And if Britain wants
:11:14. > :11:19.sustainable growth, competence with compassion, fairness with freedom
:11:19. > :11:29.and more equality, not ever greater division, then that government must
:11:29. > :11:30.
:11:30. > :11:34.have Liberal Democrats at its heart. Thank you. Vince Cable, speaking
:11:34. > :11:38.earlier this afternoon. Straight after the speech, Andrew Neil spoke
:11:38. > :11:43.to the Liberal Democrat deputy leader, Simon Hughes, on the Daily
:11:43. > :11:46.Politics. The government is only put in �1 billion into this state
:11:46. > :11:51.bank. We don't know where that money is coming from her. And it
:11:51. > :11:55.will not even start for 18 months. It will do nothing for small
:11:55. > :11:59.businesses in the recession at the moment, correct? You are correct
:12:00. > :12:09.that it will be a �1 billion government down-payment, matched by
:12:09. > :12:13.private finance. The idea is that it will produce about �10 billion.
:12:13. > :12:16.In this Parliament, the problem that has bedevilled small and
:12:16. > :12:20.medium-size businesses, getting money from the banks to help expand
:12:20. > :12:23.and help through hard times, will be dealt with. It is the second
:12:23. > :12:29.initiative, because we have already started the green investment bank
:12:29. > :12:35.for green projects, and that is up and running. There you are going to
:12:35. > :12:39.ask the taxpayer to guarantee funds that are going to go into small
:12:39. > :12:44.businesses that have already been turned down by the commercial banks.
:12:44. > :12:48.What collateral will we get in return for these loans? The bank
:12:48. > :12:52.will work out a way of doing it at that satisfies them, from a
:12:52. > :12:56.government perspective, that it is a viable proposition. But it will
:12:56. > :13:01.be more risky by definition. How can we be sure you will not lose
:13:01. > :13:06.our money? You can never be absolutely sure. When any bank
:13:06. > :13:10.lends money, you can't be absolutely sure. The state needs to
:13:10. > :13:14.take action to protect the taxpayer. But when we were left with banks
:13:14. > :13:18.going under and the state had to rescue them, the plea was,
:13:18. > :13:22.shouldn't the state have some influence on what they do, or
:13:22. > :13:26.should we leave them to make their decisions? My experience is no
:13:26. > :13:30.different from any other part of the country. Small businesses with
:13:30. > :13:35.reasonable propositions which have a good record struggle to get
:13:35. > :13:38.lending. Most people don't work for big businesses, they work on their
:13:38. > :13:44.own or for small businesses. We need to make sure that sector
:13:44. > :13:51.continues to grow. It has already created 900,000 jobs since the
:13:51. > :13:55.recession began. In the public sector, jobs are going down. So we
:13:55. > :14:00.have now got the Vince Cable Bang, but we will not have that for 18
:14:00. > :14:07.months. We have got the green bank. How much has the green bank loaned
:14:07. > :14:14.to people so far? I don't know. He the answer is nothing, because it
:14:14. > :14:21.is only now up and running. Of how much has the Big Society bank
:14:21. > :14:27.loaned to people? Go this is like a quiz programme, Andrew. There my
:14:27. > :14:31.point is that you keep creating banks that don't do anything.
:14:31. > :14:35.De Big Society bank was an initiative that David Cameron
:14:35. > :14:41.wanted to make sure go there was something for volunteering and the
:14:41. > :14:46.charitable sector. There we have only just passed the legislation
:14:46. > :14:52.for the green bank. The idea is to make sure that places like the
:14:52. > :14:59.north-east get the support for the renewable energy industries.
:14:59. > :15:03.know what it is meant to do, Mr Hughes. We are committing to making
:15:03. > :15:07.sure that there is public investment without penalising the
:15:07. > :15:11.taxpayer in ways that grow the economy. Our best example of that
:15:11. > :15:15.was the announcement made yesterday that there will be an ability for
:15:15. > :15:18.people to use their pension pot to help their children and
:15:18. > :15:28.grandchildren have the investment and security to get the housing
:15:28. > :15:29.
:15:29. > :15:34.Mr Cable says he wants the Bank of Cable we may call it to concentrate
:15:34. > :15:40.on lending people noun make things K I give you examples. British Lee
:15:40. > :15:44.land, British ship builders, DeLorean, Phoenix, these were great
:15:44. > :15:48.successes, weren't they? I remember those as you do. You also know the
:15:48. > :15:51.great debate last year was why we didn't support our own companies to
:15:51. > :15:55.get contracts for the railway industry when it was self-evident
:15:55. > :15:58.that other countries within the European Union under the rules were
:15:58. > :16:01.managing to do that. We are having a different and more robust
:16:01. > :16:06.attitude on these matters within the European Union. You are not
:16:06. > :16:09.allowed to unfairly state subsidise to distort competition but you are
:16:09. > :16:13.allowed to assist if you apply the rules.
:16:13. > :16:16.Simon Hughes talking to Andrew Neil earlier. Today, like every day I
:16:16. > :16:20.suppose, was about how to grow the economy. During the morning session
:16:21. > :16:25.the conference debated a motion about generating jobs and growth at
:16:25. > :16:29.a time of austerity. Not all of them share Nick Clegg or Vince
:16:29. > :16:36.Cable's support for bearing down so hard on the deficit. They want an
:16:36. > :16:40.end to plan A which they see as hurting ordinary people. The UK
:16:40. > :16:46.economy isn't a soulless auction room, a mechanism. It is a seething
:16:46. > :16:52.mass of hopes and fears, where Government decisions shape the
:16:52. > :16:57.behaviour of millions of workers and savers and consumers.
:16:58. > :17:01.Government needs a dynamic, not a book-keeper's model of our economy.
:17:01. > :17:08.Even Mervyn, the governor, is telling Mr Osbourne, don't be
:17:08. > :17:11.obsessed with the simple aErith met tick. Mervyn is right. We need
:17:11. > :17:16.intelligent policy-makers, not blind watch-makers. And there's so
:17:16. > :17:21.much that a humane and intelligent Government can do. Our Government
:17:21. > :17:26.has had no problem finding cash for irresponsible bankers. And it can
:17:26. > :17:29.do more for those who need its help most. Alongside these investments
:17:29. > :17:35.which have been announced there is always the caveat from our leaders
:17:35. > :17:40.and from the rest of the coalition, but of course we are still making
:17:40. > :17:46.deficit reduction our top priority. So the Government is giving out
:17:46. > :17:52.what is seen as a very mixed message. On the one hand, more
:17:52. > :17:57.investment. On the other hand, more cuts. And the private sector
:17:57. > :18:03.continues to withhold its investment until it sees which hand
:18:03. > :18:08.wins out. So we have to change the message. No longer can deficit
:18:08. > :18:12.reduction by means of cuts in public spending be our top priority.
:18:12. > :18:16.Instead, the priority has to be boosting the economy and reducing
:18:16. > :18:23.our cuts or at least spreading them over a longer period.
:18:23. > :18:28.I think the point of this debate is about saying what are we for as
:18:28. > :18:36.Liberal Democrats? Well, I know what I am for as a Liberal Democrat.
:18:36. > :18:40.I am for fairness. I am for social justice and I am for a war on
:18:40. > :18:46.poverty. Danny Alexander doesn't want to us be timid. Colleagues,
:18:46. > :18:48.neither do I. If you support amendment one, we begin to send a
:18:48. > :18:53.significant signal that says Liberal Democrats are for people,
:18:53. > :19:00.we are for fairness, we are for justice in this country and plan A
:19:00. > :19:03.clearly is not working. We have the power, if we have the courage, to
:19:03. > :19:08.stand up and argue for a better approach.
:19:08. > :19:12.I come from a generation who saved before they spent and the country
:19:12. > :19:18.has done the reverse. We cannot pretend we have no financial
:19:18. > :19:22.problems. We cannot spend, spend, spend. Because we have not saved,
:19:22. > :19:26.saved and saved. Conference, I am a dedicated
:19:26. > :19:30.follower of John Maynard Kings, I believe in a demand-led recovery. I
:19:30. > :19:34.want to see more investment in social housing and in ambitious
:19:34. > :19:37.green projects and putting more money back in pockets of of low
:19:37. > :19:41.paid people who will spend it. Scrapping the fiscal mandate will
:19:41. > :19:45.be crackers. It's the credible deficit reduction strategy stands
:19:45. > :19:49.between us and market chaos, interest rate hikes, that means
:19:49. > :19:52.businesses going to the walls, house repossessions and mass
:19:52. > :19:56.unemployment. I am in politics to work to avoid human misery.
:19:56. > :20:00.Scrapping the fiscal mandate would create avoidable human misery.
:20:01. > :20:07.Please oppose amendment one, support the motion in amendment two.
:20:07. > :20:12.Thank you. Conference, this is such an important debate and it is an
:20:12. > :20:16.argument about philosophy and the philosophy of our party. Let's
:20:16. > :20:22.remember the starting point. The starting point is this: When we
:20:22. > :20:28.came in to this coalition Government we were spending �4 for
:20:28. > :20:31.every �3 that was brought in, in tax aches, that's simply --
:20:31. > :20:35.taxation. That's simply an unsustainable position. If we
:20:35. > :20:40.accept amendment one, then that is exactly where this party says that
:20:40. > :20:43.we should remain. We voted together, overwhelmingly
:20:43. > :20:48.in Birmingham two and a half years ago, for this coalition which was
:20:48. > :20:52.built on this fiscal mandate and we voted for a five-year deal. It
:20:52. > :20:57.would be wrong to give up now. Conference, I know that when the
:20:57. > :21:02.going gets tough, Liberal Democrats are not ones to lose our nerve. We
:21:02. > :21:10.need to stick to what we agreed. Conference, support the motion and
:21:10. > :21:13.reject amendment one. The party leadership saw off that
:21:13. > :21:17.challenge to the coalition's deficit reduction plan
:21:17. > :21:23.Conservativably. Later this -- comfortably. Later that afternoon
:21:23. > :21:27.the Chancellor's Lib Dem Lieutenant at the Treasury, Danny Alexander,
:21:27. > :21:29.took questions and did his bit to make the Lib Dems feel better about
:21:29. > :21:33.themselves and life in their coalition marriage of convenience
:21:33. > :21:37.with the Conservatives. activists when we are talking to
:21:37. > :21:40.people we as Lib Dems are now perceived to be the same as the
:21:40. > :21:43.Tories and we desperately need to be able to show that we are
:21:43. > :21:46.different and we need to be able to show that that we are moderating
:21:46. > :21:51.the Tories and that we are making things less awful than they might
:21:51. > :21:59.have been. We do need to be able to demonstrate that a vote for a Lib
:21:59. > :22:04.Dem is not a vote for a Conservative. APPLAUSE. Well, that
:22:04. > :22:08.is a point I 100% agree with. We are an independent party. We have
:22:08. > :22:12.our own ideas, our own beliefs our own values, our own policies. I
:22:12. > :22:16.think that it is - you are setting your ambition too low. I don't
:22:16. > :22:21.think our aim should be to demonstrate the things are not as
:22:21. > :22:27.batted as they might have been. -- as bad as they might have been. I
:22:27. > :22:30.hope I have shown you ways in which the income tax people pay is less
:22:30. > :22:32.because of the Liberal Democrats, that's making a real difference to
:22:32. > :22:35.millions of people across the country. The support that young
:22:35. > :22:38.people from disadvantaged backgrounds have in schools is
:22:38. > :22:44.better because of the Liberal Democrats. I won't go on and repeat
:22:44. > :22:46.the whole list. I reu this will I would go further in than you did in
:22:46. > :22:49.your ambition for showing people the difference we are making in
:22:49. > :22:53.Government. APPLAUSE.
:22:53. > :22:55.I am sure day in, day out, you have conversations with Conservative
:22:55. > :22:58.Ministerial colleagues and sometimes you agree wholeheartedly
:22:58. > :23:02.with them and sometimes you don't. People might be interested to know
:23:02. > :23:06.anybody you particularly find often that you are arguing with? Or any
:23:06. > :23:10.particular good Conservatives from your point of view? I am not going
:23:10. > :23:15.to do a sort of score card of my Conservative colleagues. I can see
:23:15. > :23:19.why that would be interesting. But maybe I am old-fashioned in this
:23:19. > :23:24.respect, it's not my way of doing things. I would say more there are
:23:24. > :23:28.certain issues which are particularly challenging and
:23:28. > :23:32.difficult. I have highlighted this week that I think the real risks
:23:32. > :23:35.for our economy if we can't resolve in the right way the differences of
:23:35. > :23:38.opinion that exist, particularly between back bench Conservatives
:23:38. > :23:41.and Liberal Democrats, on the environment, for example,. That's a
:23:41. > :23:44.major issue that we have to get sorted out because it's something
:23:44. > :23:48.that can make a huge, huge difference to our economy right now
:23:48. > :23:51.and this sort of sense that's political uncertainty around that
:23:52. > :23:55.is very damaging. That's an issue, rather than a personality, if you
:23:55. > :24:01.like. Isn't it not now time as we
:24:01. > :24:06.approach the 2015 election for you and Nick Clegg, in particular, to
:24:06. > :24:11.be saying more this fact that it is not full Liberal Democrats policy,
:24:11. > :24:14.we want more, it's a pragmatic compromise? Of course it's not full
:24:14. > :24:17.policy, we didn't win the election. I would love it if we had a
:24:17. > :24:20.majority Government, we could deliver all the things that we
:24:20. > :24:24.promised. We got 23% of the vote. The Conservatives didn't win the
:24:24. > :24:27.election, either. Some of them thraoeubg forget that fact. -- like
:24:27. > :24:30.to forget that fact. That's why we have a coalition which does involve
:24:30. > :24:34.compromises t involves delivering a lot of what we promised. It
:24:34. > :24:39.involves delivering a lot of what they promised, too. You know, going
:24:39. > :24:42.back to what I said earlier, as a party we have - we are already
:24:42. > :24:45.delivering a great deal of what we promised. We have a great deal to
:24:45. > :24:48.gain from that process, not least in terms of demonstrating for the
:24:48. > :24:51.first time for many decades that we are a party that can be trusted
:24:52. > :24:55.with the country's money, a party that has credibility on the economy,
:24:55. > :24:59.we are a party that has the right ideas in terms of fairness and
:24:59. > :25:02.that'sy used the expression at the end of my presentation, we can
:25:02. > :25:04.demonstrate other the the only economically credible and
:25:04. > :25:09.progressive party in British politics. That's very good ground
:25:09. > :25:12.to fight the next election on. Danny Alexander there. We heard
:25:12. > :25:17.what what Liberal Democrats think of coalition. What do they make of
:25:17. > :25:21.Nick Clegg's famous apology now for promising to try to hold down
:25:21. > :25:24.tuition fees? Not for breaking the promise, for making it in the first
:25:24. > :25:28.place. Adam Fleming took out his conference mood box for its first
:25:28. > :25:33.outing to find out. All the talk here is about Nick
:25:33. > :25:37.Clegg saying sorry over tuition fees. Are delegates here ready to
:25:37. > :25:43.forgive him? Yes or no? Nick Clegg saying sorry over tuition fees, do
:25:43. > :25:46.you forgive him? Yes. Why is he deserving of forgiveness?
:25:46. > :25:51.Because he's basically said it from the heart. It's like an admission
:25:51. > :25:56.of how he feels and that's how I feel about it. Let's look at the
:25:56. > :26:00.last couple of years. We had no apology on Iraq. We have had no
:26:00. > :26:04.apology on the mess that the last Government left us financially.
:26:04. > :26:07.They were huge. Over the fees, I do forgive him but the fact they made
:26:07. > :26:12.a promise and went against it I can't forgive him for that. That's
:26:12. > :26:15.number one error of politician can make. Who else should be asking for
:26:15. > :26:18.forgiveness? Well, the press should be asking for forgiveness of all
:26:18. > :26:22.the students that put off actually going to university by
:26:22. > :26:26.misrepresenting what the policy is. I still think he was right to
:26:26. > :26:31.apologise but should have done it two years ago. Am I ready to
:26:31. > :26:41.forgive him? On one hand, yes. On the other hand, no. Too little, too
:26:41. > :26:41.
:26:41. > :26:47.Someone's come up to me and said a lot of people actually quit the
:26:47. > :26:55.party over tuition fees so they're not even here to vote no.
:26:55. > :27:01.I am sorry, I am sorry, I am so, so, sorry! It's very hard to say that I
:27:01. > :27:06.am sorry! Wow, you saved me 79p, thank you very much. The answer is
:27:06. > :27:10.yes. Do you think it's done damage? The apology? Breaking the pledge?
:27:10. > :27:15.Definitely, no question. That's why the apology was needed and was
:27:15. > :27:19.welcomed. I think all of us have learned things from this episode. I
:27:19. > :27:24.said the other day it's - we are a party that prides itself on its
:27:24. > :27:31.integrity. Nick said sorry about tuition fees, do you forgive him?
:27:31. > :27:34.Yes! Can you think of anything you want to apologise for? I would echo
:27:34. > :27:38.his apology on the pledge that we made, but sadly couldn't keep.
:27:38. > :27:41.Thank you. I think actually Wye have forgiven
:27:41. > :27:45.him if his apology had been accompanied by his letter of
:27:45. > :27:50.resignation. What do you say to people who don't want to forgive
:27:50. > :27:54.Nick? We are not in North Korea. We are a liberal party in one of the
:27:54. > :27:58.most liberal-minded countries in the world. Not everyone is required
:27:58. > :28:01.to agree with the leader on every issue. The people ready to forgive
:28:01. > :28:06.and forget have come out on top. Have a look at what I have been
:28:06. > :28:09.handed from the Lib Dem shop, a Nick Clegg "I am sorry" badge.
:28:09. > :28:12.That's it for today. Here in Brighton as the Liberal Democrats
:28:12. > :28:15.wash down Vince Cable's speech the bookies have cut the odds on the
:28:15. > :28:20.Business Secretary becoming the next leader. Not that he is after
:28:20. > :28:29.the job, you understand, and after all, there's no powerful appetite
:28:30. > :28:33.here to to dump Nick Clegg. Not yet it's nice to be thought of, I
:28:33. > :28:37.suppose. Some we will hear from Michael Moore and Danny Alexander.