Clegg urges voters to take a 'leap of faith' and support Lib Dems

Published on Sunday 8 March 2009 20:47

NICK Clegg yesterday urged voters to take a "leap of faith" with the Liberal Democrats as he claimed neither Labour nor the Tories could haul Britain out of recession.

The Lib Dem leader acknowledged the public's doubts about his party, but appealed for people to "take a chance on change". In his keynote speech to the party's spring conference in Harrogate, Mr Clegg said it was going to be a "long, slow climb" out of the economic crisis.

But he added: "I promise you this – we can help today, and we can give hope for the future as long as we do things differently.

"We have an opportunity if we are brave enough to seize it. There is a better life if we take a chance on change."

He admitted people had concerns about the Lib Dems being "too young" and "too idealistic", but added: "I've heard these doubts and I say: 'Take a leap of faith.'"

Mr Clegg sought to portray Labour and the Tories as jointly responsible for the financial crisis that has rocked the economy. He suggested the seeds of the present difficulties were sown by Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s, while Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had failed to challenge her legacy.

"Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown – it isn't hard to see the connections in the chain," he said.

Mr Clegg told delegates at the Harrogate International Centre that there was a choice now between patching up the mistakes of Labour and the Tories on the one hand, or starting afresh with the Lib Dems on the other.

"We will not promise just to rebuild what we had before," he said. "We will promise to build it anew and build it better."

Promising tax cuts, he quoted Barack Obama on the need for taxes to be kept low for ordinary families through the economic turmoil. He called for the failed banks, part-owned by the taxpayer, to be taken into full public control on a temporary basis.