22.09.11
Clegg pledges to ‘anchor’ Government to centre ground
Nick Clegg promised to be an anchor to keep the Coalition on track in his closing speech to the Liberal Democrat Conference in Birmingham.
He promised that he would ensure that the Conservatives stayed on centre ground, and affirmed that the Liberal Democrats decision to enter into government with them as the ‘right thing to do’.
Clegg said: “In a coalition, we have two kinds of power – the power to hold our coalition partners back and the power to move the Government forwards, so we can keep the Government to a liberal path, anchor the Government in the centre ground.”
He also promised to protect civil liberties, reform party funding, give the young and dispossessed a chance to prosper, build a new balanced economy and “fight for greater fairness, even in the headwinds of an economic slowdown”.
Clegg asserted that although they can and will do more to help the worsening economy, the Government was still committed to eliminating the structural deficit by the end of the Parliament. He said: “It is clearer now than ever that deficit reduction was essential to protect the economy, to protect homes and jobs.
“Deficit reduction lays the foundations for growth. Handing control of the economy to the bond traders: that's not progressive. Burying your head in the sand: that's not liberal. Saddling our children with the nation's debt: that's not fair.”
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