Liberal Democrats back coalition deal to rule with Conservatives

Published on Sunday 16 May 2010 21:37

THE Liberal Democrats have voted "overwhelmingly" in support of the coalition deal struck with the Conservatives in Westminster.

The meeting of delegates in Birmingham came after former leader Charles Kennedy admitted he did not support the move and abstained from the vote.

One activist tore up his membership live on television outside the meeting, as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg braced himself for a potentially hostile reaction.

Instead, speakers were given standing ovations as, according to Liberal Democrats, no more than a dozen of the 2,000 delegates opposed the deal in a show of hands.

Following the vote, Mr Clegg said: "The Liberal Democrats have taken a very important decision here in Birmingham to endorse a coalition agreement which is utterly new in modern British political history. It is a big step. There are lots of unknowns, there will be bumps and scrapes along the way.

"But what I have found so encouraging about the debate today is that people now want us to get on and govern with the Conservatives for the benefit of the country and introduce the many reforms to our broken political system, to our economy, to instilling more fairness in our everyday lives that this party, the Liberal Democrats, have always stood for."

The Liberal Democrats have had 30 manifesto pledges adopted by the new government and have five Cabinet posts.

Lib Dem priorities such as scrapping ID cards, cracking down on the banking bonus culture, targeting education funds at disadvantaged children and raising the tax threshold to 10,000, rather than giving tax cuts to millionaires, are among those taken up.

"Changes Liberal Democrats have spent months, years, campaigning for, are happening," Mr Clegg told delegates.

"Promises we were making to people on their doorsteps just a few weeks ago are becoming realities."

Polls suggest the Lib Dems have dropped three points to 21 per cent approval since joining the coalition, which is not as much as feared.

The coalition was delivering "new politics", Mr Clegg said. "Fixed-term parliaments – happening. The power of recall to get rid of corrupt MPs – happening. A clean-up of party funding, a clamp down on lobbying in Parliament, an elected House of Lords – all happening."

And he added: "Our Freedom Bill is going to come off our leaflets and go on to the statute book, ending gross state intrusion into people's lives.

"Patients, parents, communities are all going to have a much greater say over the decisions that affect them."

Mr Kennedy, MP for Ross, Skye, and Inverness West, yesterday wrote that the coalition deal drove "a strategic coach and horses" through the hopes held by all Lib Dem leaders since the 1950s – including himself – of a realignment of the centre-left in opposition to the Tories.

"It is hardly surprising that, for some of us at least, our political compass currently feels confused. That really encapsulates the reasons why I felt personally unable to vote for this outcome when it was presented to Liberal Democrat parliamentarians."