Last night we had, at the House of Commons, what will effectively be the last full formal meeting of our existing parliamentary party before the forthcoming general election.
In 6 weeks time, looking around this room, this is the scale of increase, at least, that we should be aiming for in the size of our parliamentary party after the forthcoming general election.
If anything encapsulates the position that we hold in the politics of our country and this forthcoming contest it’s encapsulated, for me, by the events of the last 24 hours. The row over the legal advice given to Tony Blair by the Attorney General on the eve of war in Iraq.
We have consistently, for a long time now, argued for the publication in full of the Attorney General’s legal advice upon which the Cabinet commended, in the name of the Government to the House of Commons and to the country, the war in Iraq.
“What is missing? What was missing was an excised paragraph from the letter of resignation from Elizabeth Wilmshurst – the Foreign Office legal adviser - who described that act of war as a ‘crime of aggression’.
And what’s also missing are the ten days between March the 7th – when the Attorney General was regarded as being equivocal in a 13 page legal opinion – and the 17th of March; his 9 paragraph parliamentary answer making the case for war and confirming its legality.
We know from the reports of the last few months the Cabinet did not get to see the full legal advice.
We know also today that the All Party Defense Select Committee have published a unanimous report on the post-war planning in which they describe it being marred by a series of mistakes and misjudgments.
Before and after the event, this Government has huge questions to answer.
The sooner they answer them– and if necessary be damned – the better for Britain and the better for the quality of debate in the forthcoming general election.
It is our consistency of principle and our consistency of purpose in a united way that has stood us – the Liberal Democrats – in such good stead throughout the course of the this turbulent and at time tumultuous parliament now coming to a close.
And look, as we enter this election, what the others are offering.
We’ve seen what Labour is up to by the events of these past few hours.
The events of the past few weeks show us what the Conservatives feel makes for an effective campaign. Picking up on issues designed to shore up their core vote – immigration, asylum, now gypsies.
And their new campaign chief refers to these, apparently, as ‘dog whistle issues’. I don’t call them that. I call them playing and pandering to the politics of fear.
And we will have none of it as Liberal Democrats.
Now what we’re going to do over coming weeks is to address with real solutions the problems that people in our country – in our constituencies – face every day of the week.
And today I set out this challenge to the Labour and Conservative parties alike: start giving some realistic answers to the questions that people really are asking.
Take, for example, the issue of our students. I was, 25 years ago, fortunate – from a modest income background – to get the opportunity of a full student grant; to emerge from university with a degree; without debt round my neck.
And that university opportunity led to every other opportunity that has come my way.
We don’t just oppose top up and student tuition fees because we disagree with the policy.
I personally oppose them because I think there is no more nauseating sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them. And we’re not going to.
What will the others do about the council tax?
It’s unfair, it’s regressive, it hits the poorest the hardest – especially the vulnerable pensioners.
Well, we’ve got an answer all right: we’ll replace it.
We’ll scrap the council tax and we’ll bring in a fair local income tax based on peoples’ ability to pay.
6 million pensioners would end up paying no local tax at all.
Your typical household would be £450 better off.
It’s a permanent solution to the problem – not the one-off quick fix being offered by Labour.
What will the others do about pensions?
What will they do to address the scandalous discrimination against women in the operation of our pensions system?
Why is it that so many people are being made to retire on poverty levels of pension then made to jump through means-tested hoops to claim the money they are entitled to?
Well, as Liberal Democrats, we’ll introduce a citizen’s pension starting with the over 75s.
We’ll base it on residency, not on contributions, so that for the first time ever in British society, women will have an automatic entitlement to a full state pension in their own right.
And it means an extra £100 each and every month for who pensioner who qualifies under our proposals.
In the NHS we’re going to put patients first – scrap the targets that interfere with the hospitals being cleaned.
And put an end to the hidden waiting lists, so that when you have an illness you can find out as quickly as possible what’s wrong so the treatment can start as soon as possible.
We’ll also ensure a better start in life for our children by reducing the class sizes in infant schools.
And instead of the expensive compulsory identity cards we are going to be arguing out there for 10,000 more police on the streets.
That the people’s priority and that’s the Liberal Democrat policy at the same time.
We’re also going to introduce free personal care for the elderly as we’ve done where we’ve got Liberal Democrat ministers in Scotland so that those suffering the long term diseases like Alzheimer’s – they would at last get help with their dressing, their washing, their feeding.
And all of these policies – they’re credible, they’re costed. And as a society they’re affordable because unlike the other two we’ve put specific price tags on those policies and we’ve said outright how we would fund them.
Be straight with people like this in coming weeks.
We will raise the top rate of tax for the top 1% of earners.
A 50p rate on every pound earned over £100,000 does mean an end to student tuition fees, the introduction of free personal care for the elderly and holding down local taxes.
And remember where we’ve costed all that we’ve kept a margin still built in.
All our other tax proposals are revenue neutral – an important point when we come under attack from our opponents.
And with existing government spending we’re going to do things differently as well.
We’re going to switch £5bn a year from current spending on to our priorities – and we believe those are the voters’ priorities:
No compulsory ID cards,
None of these ineffective baby bonds;
Fewer government departments.
And the benefits are there for all to see –
better pensions,
lower class sizes,
lower health service charges,
more police.
It all adds up. The Liberal Democrat balance sheet is, indeed, balanced.
And on Iraq - beyond the events of this week - remind people at every opportunity that we are the party arguing now for a phased withdrawal of British troops when the UN mandate runs out at the end of this calendar year.
So in this parliament as we look back we can claim rightly to have been the real opposition to the Labour government;
over Iraq, over top-up fees, ID cards, the council tax.
And the Conservatives on each and every one of these issues have lined up with Labour or flip-flopped on the issue under dispute.
Perhaps most proudly of all – in the Commons and in the Lords – the last major parliamentary legislative engagement as we got to the end of this parliament, our peers and our MPs stood up against Labour’s authoritarian instincts and in defense of British fundamental civil liberties.
Be proud of it and proclaim that fact as well.
That is why there are no limits to our ambition and there are no no-go areas for the Liberal Democrats.
I believe we will take seats from both Labour and Conservative in each and every region and nation of the country.
And as Liberal Democrat MPs in a few weeks time after this historic general election, I’ll be expecting you then to live up to the hopes of your constituents and to help us together to build the fairer Britain that is so long overdue.
Good luck.
See you on the campaign trail.
ENDS
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