Clegg criticises Cameron over AV

24 April 2011 Last updated at 06:33 GMT Nick Clegg said he hoped the No campaign was the death-rattle of a right-wing elite Nick Clegg has launched a harsh attack on David Cameron over his opposition to changing the voting system.

In an interview with the Independent on Sunday, he accused the prime minister of "defending the indefensible".

The deputy prime minister described those pressing for a "No" vote in the referendum on the alternative vote system as a "right-wing clique".

Meanwhile, former Tory leader Lord Howard has said the Yes campaign is getting "desperate".

'Lashing out'

In his most outspoken language yet, Mr Clegg said the No campaign was built on "lies, misinformation and deceit".

"This nasty No campaign, I hope, will prove to be the death rattle of a right-wing elite, a right-wing clique who want to keep things the way they are. That's why they are lashing out."

Asked if he was referring to the prime minister, Mr Clegg responded: "Look, I include all those, and of course it includes the Conservative Party, who like this nice little racket: they get a job for life and they waft into power and they don't even need to bother try to get a majority of people on side."

Mr Clegg contrasted the supporters of AV - including the leaders of the Labour Party, Green Party, Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and UK Independence Party - with its opponents.

'Reactionary interests'

He said: "The other side, you'd have David Cameron, [British National Party leader] Nick Griffin and whoever leads the Communist Party.

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At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.

On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the Alternative Vote system.

Under the Alternative Vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.

Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.

If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers' second choices allocated to those remaining.

This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.

"Now that tells you volumes about the very reactionary interests that are defending the indefensible".

Mr Clegg also referred to Mr Cameron's sharing of a campaign platform with Labour former home secretary Lord Reid.

"When Conservatives team up with a man as reactionary and backward-looking as John Reid, you know that the old establishment, the old elite, are just thrashing around," he said.

Disputed claims

A source close to Mr Clegg said he was not accusing Mr Cameron himself of lying.

But Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has written to George Osborne accusing him of untruths.

Mr Huhne called on the chancellor to withdraw claims that a change to the voting system would make elections more expensive, which he described as a "completely unfounded charge".

"I explicitly warned you the manner of the AV campaign would be as important as the result in the effects on the coalition. Robust debate is normal in British politics. Persistent resort to falsehoods is not," his letter to the chancellor states.

Lord Howard said the Liberal Democrats, arguing for a new system, were "realising they are losing the main arguments".

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, he said: "I do think it is remarkable and disappointing that, as the campaign enters its final stages, the Yes group is spending all its time talking about the internal politics of the campaign.

"They are desperate. I don't take anything for granted and it is important we get our vote out, but every opinion poll now seems to show a bigger margin in favour of No than the last one."

A referendum on 5 May will ask British voters whether they want to switch to the alternative vote, where voters rank candidates in order of preference.

Westminster MPs are currently elected through the first-past-the-post system.

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Clegg critic quits in fraud probe

18 April 2011 Last updated at 12:39 GMT Warren Bradley is the former leader of Liverpool City Council A senior Lib Dem councillor who urged Nick Clegg to end the coalition has stepped down as the party's leader on Liverpool City Council over fraud allegations.

Warren Bradley denies a claim he put his teenage son forward for nomination as a candidate without his knowledge.

It is understood a Labour councillor reported the matter to police. The Lib Dems have launched an internal probe.

Mr Bradley last week warned the Lib Dems face electoral oblivion.

He said the party could "disappear into the annals of history" in 5 May's English local elections if Mr Clegg did not pull out of the party's coalition with the Conservatives at Westminster.

'Not political'

Mr Bradley's resignation comes amid controversy over whether his 18-year-old son Daniel was properly nominated to stand as a candidate in Liverpool's Central Ward.

The allegation is that Warren Bradley falsely witnessed the nomination papers which were not in fact signed by his son.

In an interview with the Liverpool Daily Post, Daniel Bradley said: "I went in to see who signed for me. I did not put my name down. But I was told it was too late [to withdraw]. I went to have a look at the nomination paper and it was not my signature. I am not political at all."

But in an e-mail to Lib Dem councillors in Liverpool, Mr Bradley responded: "I have today been accused by the media of putting my son's name forward to stand for election, without his knowledge, and then to underline my intention I spoke to the press as if to reaffirm the fraud...

"I cannot say too much at this stage for obvious reasons, but to inform you I totally deny this allegation and am seeking legal advice to that end."

'Indefensible'

A Lib Dem spokesman said: "We can confirm that Warren Bradley 's resignation has been accepted with immediate effect.

"The party takes allegations of this nature extremely seriously and has launched an internal inquiry. We are also cooperating with all other relevant authorities.

"Flo Clucas will take up the role of acting leader until a leadership election can take place."

Mr Bradley's resignation comes ahead of local elections across much of England on 5 May.

In comments to Mr Clegg, leaked to the BBC last week, Mr Bradley warned that possible defeats could set the party back 40 years in Liverpool and said local councillors were "tired of defending the indefensible".

"The boil is about to come to a head and burst (probably on election night) when we lose some very well respected and experienced colleagues from Liverpool City Council."

The Lib Dems lost control of Liverpool City Council to Labour last year.

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Attacks on AV 'nonsense' - Clegg

9 April 2011 Last updated at 13:13 GMT Nick Clegg says the voting system is one of the reasons for "disillusionment" with politics Changing the electoral system to the Alternative Vote will make MPs work harder and end the scandal of safe seats for life, Nick Clegg has said.

The Lib Dem leader said AV was "a very British reform" and said arguments against it will look "nonsensical" in the future.

But ex-Labour minister Caroline Flint said the current first-past-the-post system had "stood the test of time" and was unpopular abroad.

The referendum will be held on 5 May.

Voters will be asked whether to retain first-past-the-post or switch to the alternative vote - where voters can rank candidates in order of preference - in the UK-wide poll.

'Conservative doomsayers'

Putting the case for AV in a speech in London, Mr Clegg argued that it was a "very British reform" and represented an "evolution" of the existing system, rather than a "revolution".

Throughout history, voting reform had been opposed by "small-C conservatives", while the No campaign for the referendum is backed by "fascists and extremists" like the British National Party, he said.

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The suffragettes fought for One Person, One Vote, not a political stitch-up like AV, which has been rejected by almost every country that has used it”

End Quote Caroline Flint Shadow local government secretary Referring to the series of legislative steps which extended the voting franchise in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, the deputy prime minister said a switch to AV would fit into a pattern of constitutional change "by instalments".

In each case, the battle was not between left and right or between particular parties, but between reformers proposing "a reasonable step towards greater representation or fairness" and conservative warnings of "disaster if another step is taken".

"Time and time again, the conservative doomsayers were proved wrong," he said. "The same will be true of AV. The world will not stop turning on its axis when voters write 1, 2, 3 rather than an X on their ballot papers.

"I am certain that in years to come, the arguments being deployed against AV will seem as nonsensical as the ones that were used against allowing women to vote nearly 100 years ago and 18-year-olds the vote 42 years ago.

"It simply brings our system up to date."

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At the moment MPs are elected by the first-past-the-post system, where the candidate getting the most votes in a constituency is elected.

On 5 May all registered UK voters will be able to vote Yes or No on whether to change the way MPs are elected to the Alternative Vote system.

Under the Alternative Vote system, voters rank candidates in their constituency in order of preference.

Anyone getting more than 50% of first-preference votes is elected.

If no-one gets 50% of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their backers' second choices allocated to those remaining.

This process continues until one candidate has at least 50% of all votes in that round.

But Ms Flint, the shadow local government secretary who is supporting the No campaign, mocked Mr Clegg's "dodgy grasp of history" and his support for AV, which he described as a "miserable little compromise" before entering government.

"The suffragettes fought for One Person, One Vote, not a political stitch-up like AV, which has been rejected by almost every country that has used it," she said.

"One Person, One Vote - the bedrock of our current system - has stood the test of time and remains the only way to ensure elections are fair."

In his speech, Mr Clegg argued that those backing change - who include his party, Labour leader Ed Miliband, the Green Party, UKIP, Plaid Cymru and the SNP - represent a broader cross-section of the population than those supporting the status quo.

And he accused his coalition partners - who support first-past-the-post along with a number of prominent Labour MPs - of double standards, saying the Conservatives use a form of AV in elections for their leadership and to choose certain party candidates.

"It is common knowledge that David Cameron and I disagree about this," he said. "I find it astonishing that the Conservatives say AV is good enough for them but it is not good enough for the rest of the country."

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We don't relish cuts, says Clegg

8 April 2011 Last updated at 12:55 GMT Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is hitting the campaign trail in south, mid and north Wales Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has said his party does not relish cutting spending, as he hits the election trail in Wales.

The deputy prime minister has joined his party's campaign for May's Welsh assembly election.

He said his party wanted to get young people into work and ensure a "fair deal" for school children.

Labour announced the defection of a former Lib Dem parliamentary candidate ahead of Mr Clegg's visit on Friday.

Mr Clegg is the second UK party leader to campaign in the assembly election. David Cameron visited Swansea last week.

At a care home near Newport - the first in a series of stops across Wales - Mr Clegg was asked if he would be an asset to the Welsh Lib Dem campaign, given the cuts in public spending imposed by the coalition UK government.

"I think people have to make up their own minds. I've always been very open and candid that this government in London is doing some very, very difficult things which of course is controversial," he said.

"I didn't come into politics to announce cuts. It's not something I take any pleasure in. The Liberal Democrats don't relish this."

Failing to sort out the country's finances would saddle future generations with more debt, he said.

Mr Clegg has been attacked by opponents this week over plans to reform internships. The Lib Dems say they will push their MPs to give more help to unpaid staff.

Asked about four posts for unpaid interns which were advertised by the Welsh Lib Dems in February, he said that "all political parties have been relying on the kind of free labour, if you like, of young people for a very long time and we need to change that".

The Welsh Lib Dems have said they will fight the campaign on the economy, promising to tackle low skills and create jobs.

Mr Clegg said he was a "passionate supporter" of a Welsh Lib Dem pledge to offer £2,000 grants to train the staff of companies that hire unemployed young people.

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The Welsh economy does need to be strengthened and we've got ideas in this election about how to do that”

End Quote Ieaun Wyn Jones Plaid Cymru leader On Friday Labour announced former Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Paul Penlington, who stood for the Vale of Clwyd constituency last year, had defected.

Labour Cardiff Central candidate Jenny Rathbone said: "I think Nick Clegg is no longer an electoral asset for the Liberal Democrats and the fact he's going to Newport and he's not even going to talk to the passport office workers tells you a great deal about how he's trying to avoid any of the hard decisions that he might want to be questioned about."

Elsewhere, the Tories and Plaid Cymru were campaigning on the economy.

Conservative candidates visited a greengrocers in Fairwater, Cardiff, whose business rates would be wiped out by a Conservative assembly government.

The Tories would abolish rates for businesses with a rateable value up to £12,000, with tapered rates from £12,001 to £15,000.

Nick Bourne, leader of the Conservatives in the assembly, said a "more competitive" business rate regime would encourage start-ups.

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones, whose party was opening a new campaign headquarters in Cardiff, said: "We say there are no excuses here.

"We understand that the economy needs to be strengthened and I acknowledged that when the economic renewal programme was written.

"The Welsh economy does need to be strengthened and we've got ideas in this election about how to do that."

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Clegg attacks £9,000 fees plans

9 February 2011 Last updated at 18:22 GMT Nick Clegg: "I actually think we will make the university system fairer"

Nick Clegg has warned Oxford and Cambridge universities that it is "not up to them" to decide whether they can charge fees of up to £9,000 a year.

The deputy prime minister said they had to "dramatically increase" access for poorer students, after Cambridge said it could demand this amount.

From 2012, English university fees will be between £6,000 and £9,000 a year.

Mr Clegg made the comments to BBC News as he faced an audience of students who accused him of "selling out".

Before the general election, his Liberal Democrats pledged to fight to end tuition fees.

But, since forming a coalition with the Conservatives, this policy has been dropped, amid protests by many students.

'Compromise'

Cambridge University's working group on fees has recommended charging £9,000 for all its courses, while leading figures at Oxford have met to discuss the possibility.

During the BBC debate, hosted by political editor Nick Robinson, Mr Clegg said: "The truth is, for Oxford and Cambridge, and for those universities who've said over the last few years that they want to charge £9,000, it's not up to them.

"They can say what they like. They can't charge £9,000 unless they're given permission to do so.

"And they're only going to be given permission to do so if they can prove that they can dramatically increase the number of people from poorer and disadvantaged backgrounds who presently aren't going to Oxford and Cambridge."

Mr Clegg promised that stronger powers for the Office for Fair Access, which monitors entry to higher education, would be announced on Thursday.

The current maximum tuition charge is £3,290 a year, following an increase made by Labour, which first introduced fees in the 1990s.

'Compromise'

During his question-and-answer session Mr Clegg was accused by students of having "sold out your principles" and was told by one audience member: "You are either stupid, or you are mad, or you are malicious."

But the deputy prime minister described the coalition's changed fees as a "compromise", adding that many graduates would pay less, and those earning less than £25,000 a year would repay nothing.

He added that, for the first time, those on part-time university courses, like their full-time colleagues, would pay no up-front fees.

Mr Clegg also said: "We think 60% of graduates will never have to pay off the full value of their loans... They will be paying out much less. After a certain period of time they won't have to pay it off at all."

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It is clear that ministers have all but abandoned their plans to promise two full years free for students on free school meals ”

End Quote Nick Robinson BBC Political Editor He was accused of failing to understand, as a former pupil at a top public school, what it was like for students from more humble backgrounds - and one student said they feared the creation of a "two tier" education system.

Mr Clegg replied that there was already a "two tier" system, with a gap between the top universities the rest, telling the student: "I am absolutely determined to try to prove to you in the coming years, is that using the leverage that we have got over universities in terms of not giving them permission to charge over £6,000 unless they give greater access to their universities to people like you, I actually think will make the university system fairer."

He refused to apologise for his U-turn over tuition fees, telling the students: "Look, I of course, of course I regret the sheer controversy, the anger and the frustration; I'm not going to apologise for, in these very difficult circumstances creating and helping to create a system which over the years I think will be shown to be a much fairer one than the one we inherited."

'No money'

He also said he accepted that "the controversy around these policies, some of the lurid headlines, will of course have had an intimidating effect on some young people who are thinking of going to university in the future".

But he added: "There's no money, There's just simply no money... I totally accept that we need to do lots of explaining."

Full details of the requirements on any university charging more than £6,000 will be set out by Business Secretary Vince Cable in a letter to the director of the Office for Fair Access on Thursday.

The letter will say that universities may make greater use of so-called "contextual data", which recognises the achievement of pupils who have had to overcome disadvantage.

Paul Marshall, executive director of the 1994 Group, which represents research universities, said: "Nick Clegg needs to recognise that simply getting people from poorer backgrounds into university is not the only measure of social mobility.

"You need to look at the efforts universities make to avoid high drop-out rates and the value of the experience students enjoy while they are studying.

"Each university needs the freedom to set the fees necessary to deliver the very best for their students. Holding them to ransom over admissions targets alone would be a big mistake. We look forward to seeing some clarity on this tomorrow."

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