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Labour like bad bank, says Cable Name and shame high paid - Cable
(about 23 hours later)
Labour is like a bad bank with "toxic policies and failed management", Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable will say in a speech. Vince Cable has called for highly paid executives in the private and public sectors to be named and shamed.
Mr Cable will use his keynote address to the party's spring conference in Harrogate to mount a fierce attack on Gordon Brown's economic record. In his speech to the Lib Dem spring conference, the party's deputy leader demanded full disclosure of salaries more than £194,000 - what the PM earns.
And he will accuse New Labour of losing the "moral authority" to govern. The move would ensure "fat cats have nowhere to hide", he told delegates.
He will claim that only the Lib Dems - the "good bank" - have the ideas and drive to rescue the economy. Publicly listed firms publish board members' pay but Mr Cable claimed some of the highest earners do not join boards to avoid full disclosure.
'Idealism' The Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, who has been one of the leading critics of excessive City salaries, criticised what he called "extreme, obscene, inequalities of reward".
Mr Cable, who began his political career in the Labour Party in the 1970s, will tell delegates: "Labour has dominated the progressive side of British politics for 80 years. But no more. But he extended criticism to public sector employees who expect bonuses whether they succeed or fail.
"Labour has lost its moral authority. And economic failure has killed the New Labour brand. Just as good banks are being separated from bad banks there is a separation in progressive politics. "Civil servants now expect big bonuses if they meet their targets and, if they don't, bonuses to encourage them to try harder," he said.
"The scale of greed is less but the self-serving instincts of the public sector aristocracy are fundamentally no different from the bankers'."
Labour attacked
He said rank-and-file workers at failed banks should be thankful that they still have a job at all rather than appealing for bonuses.
"The bonus culture has become all-pervasive.
"I get plaintive letters from bank employees - not well off but not poor - demanding to be paid their bonus even though their banks have collapsed and survive only on public money," he will say.
"I understand the annoyance of people who do not get the pay they were expecting. But without the taxpayer, they would not have a job, let alone a bonus.
"Many in other industries have not been so lucky."
Mr Cable also launched a stinging attack on Gordon Brown's economic record, comparing New Labour to a "bad bank".
He told delegates in Harrogate: "Labour has dominated the progressive side of British politics for 80 years. But no more.
"Labour has lost its moral authority.
"And economic failure has killed the New Labour brand.
"Just as good banks are being separated from bad banks there is a separation in progressive politics.
"Labour is the bad bank with a legacy of toxic policies and failed management. We are the good bank."Labour is the bad bank with a legacy of toxic policies and failed management. We are the good bank.
"In these difficult and uncertain times the Liberal Democrats have the ideas, the idealism and the values to meet the national need.""In these difficult and uncertain times the Liberal Democrats have the ideas, the idealism and the values to meet the national need."
The party will use its two-day conference to stress that it has a distinctive message on the economy - such as tax cuts for low and middle income workers - and that it can lead Britain out of recession. 'Get-rich-quick'
Birthday The Lib Dems are using their two-day conference to highlight their message on the economy - such as tax cuts for low and middle income workers - and show that the party can lead Britain out of recession.
Despite positive media coverage of Mr Cable's response to the economic crisis, the Lib Dems still trail behind the two larger parties when it comes to the public's confidence in their ability to steer the economy out of recession, a poll this week suggests. Despite positive media coverage of Mr Cable's response to the economic crisis, the Lib Dems still trail behind the two larger parties when it comes to the public's confidence in their ability to steer the economy out of recession, a ComRes poll for The Independent newspaper this week suggests.
The ComRes poll for The Independent newspaper showed that Tory leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne have overtaken Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling on the economy. Tory leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne have overtaken Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling as confidence leaders in the poll.
It found 35% now trusted the Conservative duo to steer the country through the recession, with 28% putting their faith in Mr Brown and Mr Darling and 9% opting for the Liberal Democrat pairing of Mr Cable and his leader, Nick Clegg. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg opened the conference with a rally for delegates on Friday evening at Harrogate's Royal Hall, in which he attacked the "get-rich-quick" philosophy of the Thatcherite 1980s.
Mr Clegg will use his set piece speech to conference on Sunday to reach out to families struggling with the recession. He also paid tribute to previous Lib Dem leaders, as the party celebrates its 21st birthday.
He will also call for the directors who were running the banks that have been bailed-out by taxpayers to be disqualified from sitting on company boards, something the party says could be achieved without passing new legislation. It was formed in 1988 following a merger between the Liberal Party and the SDP.
The conference marks a return to frontline politics for Mr Clegg, who has been on paternity leave for the past two weeks following the birth of his child, Miguel.
He opened the conference with a rally for delegates on Friday evening at Harrogate's Royal Hall in which he attacked the "get-rich-quick" philosophy of the Thatcherite 1980s and paid tribute to his predecessors as Lib Dem leader, as the party celebrates its 21st birthday.
The party was formed in 1988 following a merger between the Liberal Party and the SDP.