Lib Dems outline their plans for the next government: 'we need liberalism'

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/16/lib-dems-manifesto-clegg

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Nick Clegg will promise that his party's election manifesto will be written solely to highlight the big changes Britain still needs, and not with an eye to setting out plans that either Labour or the Conservatives might accept in a post election coalition negotiation.

He will also promise that the manifesto being prepared by a team led by the schools minister David Laws will not contain a raft of policy "red lines" ahead of such coalition negotiations, but instead include the party's priorities for the next parliament.

He will argue: "If this Parliament was about repairing the British economy, the next one must be about rewiring it. If the last parliament was about rescue, the next must be about renewal: rescue to renewal".

The Clegg promise at a press briefing came as his aides continued to differentiate themselves from the Conservatives, saying Liberal Democrat secretaries of state will not be following their Conservative counterparts in "vindictively blocking" trade union fees from being automatically checked off a civil servant's salary.

The plan to end so-called check off has been championed by the Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: "This is petty party political point-scoring of the lowest kind from the Tories. Their plans won't save any money at all – in fact they might cost the government money in legal fees. This is classic pandering to Conservative Party's anti-union right.

A party spokesman said departments led by the Lib Dems - including the Department of Energy and the Business Department – will not countenance check off being ended for their staff.

In his remarks today, Clegg will argue that "more, not less change, is what Britain needs now" as he states that "our manifesto will be about the future not the past" because "Britain doesn't want or need simply 'more of the same.'"

He will add: "I want to put one thing beyond doubt once and for all: this will be an independent, liberal manifesto from an independent, liberal party. It will not be written with an eye to what Labour or the Conservatives think or might sign up to.

"It will be written with an eye for what Britain needs. It will be written as an answer to one, simple question: how can we build opportunity for all?"

He will say: "The Conservative party will tell you: everything's fine, let's just carry on down the tramlines of permanent austerity.

"But once the books are balanced – as they must be, and will be if Liberal Democrats are in government – in my view it would be wrong to carry on with austerity-as-usual. Britain doesn't need more of the same: it needs a new wave of energy, optimism and, put simply, liberalism".