I voted for Nick Clegg: I’m sure many of you did. Recently I’ve been feeling very disappointed with his input over the last few months. I’m sure many of you have been feeling the same. Last week I sat down with around 250 people, mainly students, and gave his an opportunity to recover my faith in him and his party.
So 60 minutes later, had Mr. Clegg changed my attitude towards him?
Much of my disappointment arises from the key policy pillars upon which my vote for the Liberal Democrats was based, but which were removed from the party’s manifesto once the coalition formed, electoral reform and the abolition of tuition fees.
Although running late, the deputy premier arrived with an energy that took me back to the election TV debates upon which the Lib Dem’s gained so much of their new found support. The Liberal Democrat leader handles a charisma foreign to many politicians and a skill in public speaking which far surpasses the monotony of Gordon Brown or the textbook style of David Cameron. Lets call it the ‘human touch’. The last time British politics had a leader who had policies and natural charisma was Tony Blair; the American equivalent is Barack Obama. Interestingly, the latter is facing similar problems with popularity that the Liberal leader is. But this ‘human touch’ is what transforms what could be a mundane 60 minute Q&A into a very personal experience.
Nick Clegg opened with a monologue to deal with the elephant in the room: the deficit. It was an impassioned call to arms that “we’re not gonna repeat the mistakes of the 1980’s” but at the same time we can no longer live in what Mr. Clegg called the “never-never-land economy”. And that we don’t want our children to have to pick up the tab for the mistakes we made, like the last generation did.
A fair comment, but unsurprisingly once the floor opened for questions Nick Clegg still faced scrutiny regarding the cuts expected to come on 20th October. Many people seemed concerned that Wales, having been hit by cuts in the ‘80s, would once again face substantial job losses. To this Mr. Clegg affirmed his belief that people are being over-reliant on public sector work, and that the Liberal-Conservative coalition was not about to repeat the mistakes of the Thatcherite government and have the “rug pulled out from under the feet of industry”.
Further delving into the issue of the deficit a question was asked regarding front-line services, and whether they might be hit by the attempts to cut the deficit. To this, Nick Clegg stated his belief that local communities should be able to allocate finances where they see fit, albeit with a smaller budgets for allocation, but a move he described as “quite radical”.
On the subject of defence Nick Clegg, in an especially passionate call whilst speaking to someone from a military family, argued that “we’re not gonna pull [financial] support from them, its simply not going to happen.” Stating that money is never well spent on big budget defence projects, he promised that the whole nation would be kept aware of how the money is being spent. Maybe have a word with Mr. Cameron about that big budget defence project, you know, Trident?
Although there were surprisingly few questions regarding students and student life, thankfully a few people sought answers to important issues. In response to a question regarding student debt, Mr. Clegg answered that the coalition was working to prevent students from being discouraged from going to university because of the levels of debt involved. Dropping hints as to the plans for some form of graduate tax imposed on students upon them leaving university, he refused to offer any details instead stating that details would be made available in coming weeks.
And what about the electoral reform promised by the Lib Dems at the election? Well for now we’ll have to be content with the recently passed bill on constitutional reform, which Nick Clegg seemed positive would calm our concerns with an equalling of constituency sizes and a commitment to a referendum on the alternate vote (a referendum with ever-diminishing chances of success). The deputy Prime Minister argued that these moves would destabilise the so-called MP’s ‘jobs for life’ and offer more turnover in constituencies, something which would bring about a more accountable Parliament.
Then came the question that I would have asked had I not been hurriedly writing down everything which Nick Clegg was saying. The gist of it “I voted Liberal, and I’m disappointed, was my vote wasted?” and his reply, “Judge us by what we do, not what the tabloids say we do.” To that he added that the wider picture was often obscured by those same media outlets. He then listed what he sees as the Liberal-Conservatives successes over the past four months. Legislation to reform the House of Lords; legislation to bring about electoral reform; bringing 900,000 people out of poverty by raising the tax thresholds for the poorest; introducing the Pupil Premium; linking pensions back with earnings and inflation (something scrapped by the last Tory government); introducing a levy on banks, and improving the protection of civil liberties. Quite a laundry-list of achievements, and something that the Liberal leader seemed openly proud of.
Nick Clegg’s replies were obviously short of actual figures, those being reserved for the announcement in mid-October. It will be interesting to compare the (mostly) vague answers given to the actual policy which emerges from Westminster. But one comment that suck with me was his belief that this wasn’t the ideal time for a party to come to power, and more so, to come to power as a coalition. But what the Liberal-Conservative coalition are bringing around is what Mr. Clegg describes as “plural diverse politics”.
So what do I think of Nick Clegg having seen him in action? Have I been converted back to ‘Cleggmania’? Well its quite amazing to hear how much he has done in only a short few months in government, and even more amazing to think that he is still being given such a bad name from his once loyal supporters. In my opinion Nick Clegg has made the decisions that just about anyone would have made in his position, the best decisions. Would we instead have preferred him to form a coalition with Labour? Or refuse to form a coalition at all, and open up another round of election campaigning? I think that sometimes his energy gives him the impression of being out of control, but after seeing him speak it reminds me of the quote “If you want a job done, get a busy person to do it”.
I can safely say that Nick Clegg has been very busy over the last few months and I’m looking forward to his achievements in the next few. Yea, he won me over...
Much of my disappointment arises from the key policy pillars upon which my vote for the Liberal Democrats was based, but which were removed from the party’s manifesto once the coalition formed, electoral reform and the abolition of tuition fees.
Although running late, the deputy premier arrived with an energy that took me back to the election TV debates upon which the Lib Dem’s gained so much of their new found support. The Liberal Democrat leader handles a charisma foreign to many politicians and a skill in public speaking which far surpasses the monotony of Gordon Brown or the textbook style of David Cameron. Lets call it the ‘human touch’. The last time British politics had a leader who had policies and natural charisma was Tony Blair; the American equivalent is Barack Obama. Interestingly, the latter is facing similar problems with popularity that the Liberal leader is. But this ‘human touch’ is what transforms what could be a mundane 60 minute Q&A into a very personal experience.
Nick Clegg opened with a monologue to deal with the elephant in the room: the deficit. It was an impassioned call to arms that “we’re not gonna repeat the mistakes of the 1980’s” but at the same time we can no longer live in what Mr. Clegg called the “never-never-land economy”. And that we don’t want our children to have to pick up the tab for the mistakes we made, like the last generation did.
A fair comment, but unsurprisingly once the floor opened for questions Nick Clegg still faced scrutiny regarding the cuts expected to come on 20th October. Many people seemed concerned that Wales, having been hit by cuts in the ‘80s, would once again face substantial job losses. To this Mr. Clegg affirmed his belief that people are being over-reliant on public sector work, and that the Liberal-Conservative coalition was not about to repeat the mistakes of the Thatcherite government and have the “rug pulled out from under the feet of industry”.
Further delving into the issue of the deficit a question was asked regarding front-line services, and whether they might be hit by the attempts to cut the deficit. To this, Nick Clegg stated his belief that local communities should be able to allocate finances where they see fit, albeit with a smaller budgets for allocation, but a move he described as “quite radical”.
On the subject of defence Nick Clegg, in an especially passionate call whilst speaking to someone from a military family, argued that “we’re not gonna pull [financial] support from them, its simply not going to happen.” Stating that money is never well spent on big budget defence projects, he promised that the whole nation would be kept aware of how the money is being spent. Maybe have a word with Mr. Cameron about that big budget defence project, you know, Trident?
Although there were surprisingly few questions regarding students and student life, thankfully a few people sought answers to important issues. In response to a question regarding student debt, Mr. Clegg answered that the coalition was working to prevent students from being discouraged from going to university because of the levels of debt involved. Dropping hints as to the plans for some form of graduate tax imposed on students upon them leaving university, he refused to offer any details instead stating that details would be made available in coming weeks.
And what about the electoral reform promised by the Lib Dems at the election? Well for now we’ll have to be content with the recently passed bill on constitutional reform, which Nick Clegg seemed positive would calm our concerns with an equalling of constituency sizes and a commitment to a referendum on the alternate vote (a referendum with ever-diminishing chances of success). The deputy Prime Minister argued that these moves would destabilise the so-called MP’s ‘jobs for life’ and offer more turnover in constituencies, something which would bring about a more accountable Parliament.
Then came the question that I would have asked had I not been hurriedly writing down everything which Nick Clegg was saying. The gist of it “I voted Liberal, and I’m disappointed, was my vote wasted?” and his reply, “Judge us by what we do, not what the tabloids say we do.” To that he added that the wider picture was often obscured by those same media outlets. He then listed what he sees as the Liberal-Conservatives successes over the past four months. Legislation to reform the House of Lords; legislation to bring about electoral reform; bringing 900,000 people out of poverty by raising the tax thresholds for the poorest; introducing the Pupil Premium; linking pensions back with earnings and inflation (something scrapped by the last Tory government); introducing a levy on banks, and improving the protection of civil liberties. Quite a laundry-list of achievements, and something that the Liberal leader seemed openly proud of.
Nick Clegg’s replies were obviously short of actual figures, those being reserved for the announcement in mid-October. It will be interesting to compare the (mostly) vague answers given to the actual policy which emerges from Westminster. But one comment that suck with me was his belief that this wasn’t the ideal time for a party to come to power, and more so, to come to power as a coalition. But what the Liberal-Conservative coalition are bringing around is what Mr. Clegg describes as “plural diverse politics”.
So what do I think of Nick Clegg having seen him in action? Have I been converted back to ‘Cleggmania’? Well its quite amazing to hear how much he has done in only a short few months in government, and even more amazing to think that he is still being given such a bad name from his once loyal supporters. In my opinion Nick Clegg has made the decisions that just about anyone would have made in his position, the best decisions. Would we instead have preferred him to form a coalition with Labour? Or refuse to form a coalition at all, and open up another round of election campaigning? I think that sometimes his energy gives him the impression of being out of control, but after seeing him speak it reminds me of the quote “If you want a job done, get a busy person to do it”.
I can safely say that Nick Clegg has been very busy over the last few months and I’m looking forward to his achievements in the next few. Yea, he won me over...
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