The junior government partner, despite much speculation over its survival, seem intent on staying the course, writes MARK HENNESSY
POLITICIANS NEED love but seldom receive it. For a party in coalition that has delivered austerity and the promise of more of it, and whose economic strategy has failed to deliver on its core position that cuts would spur growth, the public’s love is as rare as hens’ teeth.
Shortly after 10am yesterday, dozens of members of UK Citizens – a grassroots group that has campaigned for an end to the detention of children in Home Office-run immigration centres – gathered on stage in Brighton to praise, not condemn, the Liberal Democrats.
“We are here to say thank you on behalf of the thousands of children and families who will never know what it is like to be locked up in a detention centre, and the tens of thousands in future who will never know that they benefited from this commitment,” said Jeff Sango.
“For our members, child detention was not an abstract policy – it was traumatic reality. We saw children plucked from classrooms and congregations and dumped in places like Yarl’s Wood [the centre that was closed shortly after the Tory-Liberal Democrats coalition was formed in May 2010],” he said.
Accepting a bunch of flowers, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who apologised last week for rowing back on a promise made before the 2010 election not to increase third-level tuition fees, said: “We’re not very accustomed to being thanked for pledges that we have kept.”
The prominence enjoyed by Citizens UK was hardly accidental, offering, as it did, an emotional opportunity to drive home the message to delegates and supporters that the last two years have had achievements, not just endless compromises with the party’s larger coalition partner.
Bubbling with enthusiasm, as he does, Lib Dem president Tim Farron urged members not to pine “for the easy life before everything became our fault”.
“Only two parties matter and neither of them is Labour,” the Cumbrian MP said.
Despite fevered speculation over Clegg’s survival, the mood in Brighton – despite grim weather on the English south coast – is better than one might have expected, even if signs of disunity, or disloyalty, are not far from the surface. However, they are minority occupations for now.
Nevertheless, the road ahead, despite one or two pallid signs of life in the UK economy, is hard. The Conservatives, fearful of being outflanked by the UK Independence Party on the EU and increasingly influenced by the “Thatcher’s children” generation of younger Tory MPs, will become ever more difficult bedfellows.
The Liberal Democrats’ options are few. For its own future, it must ensure the British public is convinced coalitions can work.
In a crowded fringe meeting, former Lib Dem leader Menzies Campbell rejected the chatter about Clegg’s leadership and cautioned those thinking of radical action.
“This speculation should be put to rest once and for all. If we are serious about the kinds of things that we are discussing, then the person best qualified to lead us is Nick Clegg,” said the veteran Scottish politician, prompting a strong round of applause.
Business secretary Vince Cable, who has been happy to acknowledge the depth of his contacts with Labour leader Ed Miliband, has been equally happy to fuel speculation about his own leadership ambitions, with supporters pointing to evidence that he may be the only one able to head off an election meltdown.
Halfway through their term, the Liberal Democrats have again begun to promise action against high earners, though they have only one chance – in next March’s budget – to put in place tax changes that will have come into effect before the voters go to the polls in May 2015.
Under the plan, taxpayers with £1 million in assets will face tougher inspection by Revenue and Customs – proof, said Clegg, that the rich will pay their share, though what this would raise in in hard cash is not known.
Two years on, the party – which would lose 40 of its 57 House of Commons seats in an election tomorrow, if opinion polls accurately reflect the public’s mood – seems unable to leave behind the brand damage caused by the tuition fees decision.
That decision was raised repeatedly by delegates during a question-and-answer session with Clegg yesterday afternoon.
“We were the party that did not break promises and the first thing we did was break that promise,” one middle-aged, lifelong party member told him firmly.
Clegg’s apology, much lampooned on social media, divided opinion, but he believes the decision and its timing were right. “I think there was so much emotion around at the time that I personally doubt very much that anyone would have wanted a politician popping up on TV saying ‘I’m sorry’, or that it would have got a hearing. It would have fallen on stony ground,” he said.
The question, however, is whether anyone is still listening.
On Saturday, just a few hundred people gathered outside the Brighton Centre to protest against spending cuts – a sign that the public has grudgingly accepted austerity, or, perhaps, a sign that they have made up their minds about the Lib Dems.