Lib Dems Get Real and Personal (Surrey Heath Liberal Democrats

Surrey Heath Liberal Democrats - working for you, for a better future <info@surreyheathlibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems Get Real and Personal

May 25, 2010 11:17 PM

Alan Hilliar - Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Surrey Heath

The Lib Dems Special conference in Birmingham about the Lib Dems & Conservative coalition this afternoon was quite an event. Standing room only and a string of impassioned speeches from both ordinary members and MPs.

It was liberal democracy at its best. Some people warned about the danger of getting overwhelmed by the Tories. Others struggled with the idea of working together in Parliament with a party that we'd traditionally opposed.

The overwhelming view of the coalition was positive. No one thinks it's going to be an easy relationship, or an easy ride, particularly when Vince Cable described the budget deficit as "bloody awful".

There are risks of course, and everyone was very clear eyed about that. But the coalition agreement means that we can be confident about getting Liberal Democrat policies implemented in practise, rather than just talking about them.

There's a good Lib Dem team of ministers and they're focused on delivering what we promised to the public in our manifesto. We won't be able to deliver everything, but we will deliver a lot.

Fairer taxes, with no-one earning less than £10,000 paying income tax. Fairer education, with the pupil premium delivering more resources to disadvantaged children; a fairer and rebalanced economy with the dominance of the banks rained in and Fairer Politics with a referendum on voting reform for the commons, a House of Lords elected by proportional representation and the right to recall corrupt MPs.

The Lib Dems have a great future ahead of us. And for the rest of the country: "the future's bright; the future is pure gold."