Disappointment with tired Labour - little enthusiasm for the Tories

January 2008

May I start my column by wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. 2007 saw Brown finally becoming PM, claiming to be bringing in a new form of politics. And he does seem to have actually done that but perhaps not quite the way he wanted! Ending the year, as Vince Cable said, looking more and more like an accident-prone “Mr Bean” than a Prime Minister in charge of running the country.

The end of the year also saw Nick Clegg elected as the new leader of the Lib Dems. Nick represents part of a traditional industrial city, Sheffield, as an MP and he is I believe in touch with ordinary people. He has vowed as leader to listen to people - holding “town hall meetings”, listening on a regular basis to families who are not members of any political party and opening up politics beyond Westminster.

As I go around, I find, as Nick says, there is disappointment with a tired Labour government but little enthusiasm for the Tories. They don’t think the Tories have the answers to Britain’s problems. They proclaim to be “green” but without any real substance behind it and to be in favour of social justice but without backing it with any money. For Lib Dems though, green issues are not just an add-on, they must be at the heart of everything we do. Pensioners are now some £2,000 worse a year off thanks to the Tories breaking the link with earnings. So the Lib Dems say we must increase the state pension and restore the earnings link.

Above all, the Lib Dems say we must free nurses, doctors and teachers from centrally imposed dictats by London bureaucrats and enable them to put their patients and pupils first. I was very pleased that 2007 saw a successful conclusion to the campaign to save the naval base. That was crucial for the Portsmouth future and I hope 2008 will see progress on the exciting plans for the city centre shopping area and I welcome the plans for a “London Eye” type wheel at the seafront. And let’s hope Pompey will get into Europe and make progress on their plans for a new football stadium.