John Pugh MP writes:
Nick Clegg has said that we must and indeed should get the credit for the economic recovery and the economic competence it implies. I agree but even if successful, it’s still not enough.
Voters by and large don’t vote in gratitude. Ask the 1,700 or so Lib Dem councillors who have lost since 2011! If the nation didn’t vote for Winston Churchill for winning the war, they won’t vote for Nick Clegg just because they think he saved the economy. Those who voted UKIP last week didn’t do so because UKIP had done something for them.
My belief is that we need to fill out the anodyne “Strong Economy and Fairer Society” and start talking more about long-term, growing social inequality and declining social cohesion. Social inequality of course implies inequality in power as well as in wealth. I share the current concern over this with such obvious lefties as the Governor of the Bank of England, the Pope and my good friend Norman Lamb - all of whom have spoken out recently about it. The coalition story in addressing social inequality is much better than people currently credit.
Whether or no Nick Clegg remains as party leader - and the signs are that the party on the whole feels that now is not the time for a potentially divisive leadership contest - Liberal Democrat ministers must surely bend their minds to the "fairness" aspect of the slogan quoted by John Pugh.
1 comment:
Liberal England has picked up on a different section of John Pugh's piece.
There is some support for Nick Clegg in an unlikely place: the letters page of the Neath Ferret - "Don't knock Clegg".
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