CONFERENCE NEWS
Click
here to read part one of the speech
[Click
here to watch reactions to Ming Campbell's
speech.]
Now let me say a word about two important issues that
have faced our country in recent times.
Right now, British farmers are in crisis over foot and mouth.
The necessary restrictions imposed following the outbreak have come at the worst possible time.
We will continue to back necessary action to eradicate this disease.
But we will also urge the government to get the balance right.
We must get Britain’s farmers back in business as soon as possible.
Because there’s no point killing off foot and mouth if we kill off our farming industry in the process.
And I also want to mention Northern Rock.
One of the most alarming features of the last week has been the complete collapse of trust in a leading bank - and perhaps the banking system in general.
There have been people queuing in the streets, panicked by worries about their savings.
In the short-term that panic has been stopped.
But the underlying problem of excessive debt and reckless lending has not been addressed.
And, for this, responsibility must rest with Gordon Brown, who has minimised the problem despite repeated warnings – not least from our Shadow Chancellor, and Deputy Leader, Vince Cable.
The fact that David Cameron inflamed the situation with rash words is further evidence of what we already knew:
The Conservatives are not fit to govern.
Look at their record.
They criticise the government’s handling of the war in Iraq.
But it was their votes that made that war possible.
They protest against a “broken society”.
But it was their policies - under Margaret Thatcher - that widened inequalities and shattered social cohesion.
They talk about the environment.
But they have not made one single policy commitment.
The Tories have had a bucketful of proposals put to them in recent months.
We’ve had the Clarke Commission, the Duncan Smith Commission, the Dorrell Commission, the Gummer Commission, and – of course – the Redwood Commission.
Would you believe it?
Advice from the Vulcan First Officer.
Ideas straight from the bridge of the Starship Free Enterprise.
Policies, Dave – but not as we know them.
But for all the working groups, leaked reports, and photo opportunities, the Tories still don’t know what their policies would be.
They shy away from making the hard choices that are necessary for government.
Because they are suffering from an identity crisis.
You know there’s really a very good case for the Tories having identity cards.
How else will they know who they are?
When they meet a hoodie, they don’t know whether to hug ‘em –
Or hang ‘em.
What our country needs is a political party that’s prepared to take the lead and speak the truth.
Because Britain needs a competition of ideas, not the stifling of debate and the undermining of accountability.
But on so many of the major political issues there is a two-party consensus – comfortable, cosy and complacent.
On the environment, taxes, pensions, nuclear power, tuition fees, Iraq.
And that’s a consensus that we alone can break:
That we must break.
That doesn’t mean parties should never cooperate with each other.
In Scotland the Liberal Democrats have campaigned consistently for more powers for the Scottish Parliament.
Just yesterday, Nicol Stephen met the Labour and Conservative leaders in Scotland to discuss how devolution might be strengthened.
But how those powers would be used would – I can tell you – be a matter for vigorous debate between the parties.
That’s the difference between the constructive cooperation we support and the cosy consensus that we oppose.
And you know, we’ve always been at our best when we have opposed that consensus.
When David Steel spoke out against apartheid in the House of Commons, they shouted him down.
When Paddy Ashdown argued for intervention in Bosnia, they shouted him down.
And when Charles Kennedy argued against the war in Iraq, they shouted him down too.
But Steel, Ashdown and Kennedy were right.
So when they tried to shout me down –
On extradition, on rendition – on the scandal of Guantanamo Bay –
I would not be silenced.
I will not be silenced.
The Liberal Democrats will never be silenced.
And I don’t intend to be silenced on the issue of Europe either.
The Government will not show leadership on Europe and the Conservatives wilfully distort the public debate.
So it falls to us to make the overwhelming case for the European Union.
A Union that has provided peace and prosperity.
A Union that promotes human rights and democratic values.
A Union that is needed today to tackle the threats of climate change and international terrorism.
I will lead the public debate in defence of the European Union.
David Cameron and his Europhobe allies wish to restrict the British people to a choice on a narrow question about the draft European Treaty.
But if there is to be a referendum it shouldn’t be restricted to that question.
It must be a decision about the EU as a whole.
Let’s have an honest debate on the European Union followed by a real choice for the British people.
That means a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
We would ask the British people the real question – whether they wish to remain in the European Union or not.
I will proudly lead the Liberal Democrats at the forefront of that debate.
So I will not be silenced on Europe and I will not be silenced in defence of our liberal values - or silent when others seek to undermine them.
Liberalism requires tolerance.
But that does not mean indifference in the face of intolerance from others.
Because freedom is indivisible and absolute - .
That’s why I speak out against intolerance and extremism wherever and whenever they threaten our freedom.
If a woman is forced into a marriage that she does not want –
If a sportsman is barracked because of the colour of his skin -
If a person is bullied because they’re gay -
Then I stand with them.
I have spent my whole life speaking out against bigotry.
You can’t be a part-time liberal.
Discrimination and intimidation have no place in a liberal society.
And on the matter of faith, let’s be clear.
A truly liberal society guarantees the freedom of all religions, but it accepts the tyranny of none.
People must be free to live without threat or fear.
To say the things, write the words and live the lives they choose.
Does that offend some people?
Yes, of course.
But the price of freedom is the risk of offence –
And, for me, that price is always worth paying.
What does that mean for us?
We, the Liberal Democrats, must be the voice of those who are not heard -
Of those who are marginalised
And of those who are rejected –
Over the past few months I have travelled throughout this country.
I have had the privilege to meet – in private visits - some of the most extraordinary and courageous people:
People from all walks of life.
I met Jamal - a young musician who wants to go to university but is frustrated and angry at the prospect of being deep in debt.
I learned from him and his friends of the terrible waste of talent and the alienation of so many young people.
I met Anne, a 20 year old woman in prison for drug offences.
She’s had little formal education.
Yet she’s studying to take GCSEs and wants to enrol with the Open University.
I learned from her that if prisoners get proper education and training it will help them to find work on their release.
That’s the way to cut reoffending.
I met Jane – a 26 year old former addict, in a shelter for the homeless.
She has beaten her addiction.
She now hopes to get custody of her four young children.
I learned from her how important it is for the homeless to regain their self-respect and to feel that they are in control of their own lives.
I met Michael, a 29 year old British soldier who had suffered terrible injuries in a mortar attack in Iraq.
He was determined to get fit again and rejoin his unit.
I learned from him at first hand what our young men and women are going through in Iraq.
He told me he was lucky – two days before he was hit, one of his best friends had been killed by a single small piece of shrapnel.
That’s the price being paid for a war that should never have been.
These are inspiring people:
People with the spirit and determination to beat the odds.
But for every success there are too many stories of shattered dreams and frustrated ambitions.
There are too many forgotten people in Brown’s Britain.
People who don’t make the headlines.
People whose opinions no-one ever seeks.
You know, facts and figures about social exclusion are okay for studies and reports.
But it’s in the reality of peoples’ lives that the pain of their stories is written.
These people don’t just feel shut out, discounted, cast aside.
They are shut out, they are discounted – they are cast aside.
Well, I tell you it’s not good enough.
So when people ask me what I feel about the state of Britain today, I say I’m angry:
Deeply angry.
Things have to change if we want our country to be one truly united Britain.
Whether you are black or white, male or female, rich or poor, gay or straight, sick or healthy, young or old.
Government must stand for the interests of all, but the vested interests of none.
People will have confidence in Westminster when it provides open, honest and transparent government.
And you know, that’s not just about listening to people:
We’ve had that already.
Labour’s Big Conversation.
The Tories’ “Stand up, Speak up”.
But there’s no point talking to people when they’re just not listening.
Well, we Liberal Democrats offer something different.
Our mission is to change the British political landscape, once and for all:
To throw open the doors of government and let the people in.
No more sleazy patronage, no more dodgy dossiers, no more abandoned investigations into secret arms deals – in fact, no more secret arms deals, full stop!
And on the constitution, not piecemeal change or pick and mix proposals.
But a commitment to fair votes, and an end to the lottery of first past the post.
Real freedom of information, and an end to government efforts to undermine it.
A wholly elected House of Lords, and an end to politics based on the power of patronage.
And at the foundation of it all a Bill of Rights –
A Bill of Rights to reclaim the civil liberties stolen from us by this Labour government.
A Bill of Rights to anchor freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of association within our law.
And I am prepared to go further still.
Climate change is the greatest challenge facing the world today.
So I want a Bill of Rights that puts the protection of the environment at the very heart of Britain’s constitution:
We should guarantee the right of every citizen to clean water, pure air and unpolluted land.
You know, I joined this party because I believe in freedom.
Not just the intellectual freedom of politicians and academics, but freedom in its most practical sense.
The freedom we get from good health, decent education and a clean environment.
And the Liberal Democrat challenge is to show how we can extend that freedom to every citizen in this country.
Some people have the good fortune to be born into opportunity.
But for millions of others life is a great deal tougher.
In London - the capital of one of the richest nations in the world - just six miles separate Hampstead from Hackney.
But they might as well be in different countries.
If you live in Hackney you are four times as likely to suffer from long-term unemployment as your neighbour in Hampstead.
If you live in Hackney you are twice as likely to be permanently sick or disabled.
And if you live in Hackney you are four times as likely to have no qualifications at all.
Who’d have thought it, that after a decade of Labour government - a Labour government - the gap between rich and poor in this country would be wider than it was when Labour came to office?
Who’d have thought that after a decade of Labour government social mobility would be in decline?
And who’d have thought that our country would languish - shamefully - at the bottom of the UNICEF league table for the well-being of children.
That’s the record of Gordon Brown and the Labour government.
And you know what:
The people out there know it.
The one and half million families across this country who are waiting for social housing: they know it.
The millions of older people who struggle to get by on inadequate pensions: they know it.
The parents who worry that their background determines the quality of their childrens’ education and their future prospects: they know it too.
You know we’ve had a decade hearing from Labour about education, education, education.
But let me educate them.
After ten years these are the facts:
Fewer than one in five of the most disadvantaged children get five good GCSEs;
Less than one in five of the most disadvantaged children go onto higher education;
And in this country today, 1.2 million young people are not in education or employment or training.
This is unacceptable in 21st century Britain.
Under the Liberal Democrat pupil premium - the money follows the pupil.
Extra money for the most disadvantaged children.
Our schools given incentives - our children given chances.
The pupil premium will help to ensure that educational opportunity extends throughout our society.
Because the state of the country is a reflection on us all.
And where opportunity is denied freedom is denied too.
Click here to read part three of the speech
