Are two Eds better than one? I’m not sure – but the two Eds said something very interesting over the weekend: apparently they don’t have a ‘Plan B’ for the economy after all.

You’ll have heard Simon Hughes and I over the weekend rightly calling on the two Eds to apologise. We want them to apologise to the British public for deceiving them for 18 months. However, there is one apology we didn’t call for publicly, but which they still should make – that’s an apology to you.

Last May across the country, from Lancaster to Sheffield and Manchester to Newcastle, many of you lost your council seats to undeserving Labour candidates who were fighting their elections on a false platform with dishonest messages. They stood on a platform that the Eds now admit was wrong. Shame on them – but I’m proud of you.

In addition, Nick Clegg deserves an apology. Nick has been berated and abused by the Labour leadership for having the guts to stand up and work as part of the Coalition in the best interest of the country. Now Labour have admitted that their attacks were inaccurate – but there’s no hint of apology. They have gone from being in the wrong place, to all over the place.

That leaves the Liberal Democrats as the only political party with the backbone to tackle the country’s problems, but with the heart to do everything to ensure that fairness, compassion and justice are written through everything we do.

As this article from The Times recognises, the Liberal Democrats are a progressive force in Government. We are the Party delivering tax cuts for working people, we are the party investing in the poorest school pupils, we are the party delivering the largest ever state pension rise and importantly, we are the party prepared to take the tough decisions needed to get this country back on track.

So don’t hold your breath waiting for an apology from Labour – but rest assured you are most definitely owed one!

I have written more about this on Lib Dem Voice, and you can see my full article here.

Best wishes,

Tim Farron
President of the Liberal Democrats

A labour supporter said about the LibDems:
“why would we want to be in a Coalition with a party who have been more than happy to ditch their principles just to get cabinet jobs.”

I’ll tell you why … its because you are simply wrong my friend.

The libdems went into coalition to implement libdem policy, and in this parliament they are implementing over 75% of their manifesto commitments (according to the BBC and University College London).

Taking millions of low earners out of income tax, and ensuring that all workers pay £700 less tax on the first £10,000 they earn.

Making sure that kids in school who need extra help can actually get it from the £2.5 billion in the pupil premium.

Ensuring that EVERY 18-24 year old can learn or earn with the Youth Contract starting this April.

Creating hundreds of thousands of apprenticeship places for the 55% of our 16-18 year olds that don’t go on to further education.

Creating the Green Investment Bank to create sustainable jobs for those youngsters when they finish their apprenticeships.

Triple locking pensions for the elderly to put an end to 75p increases that labour gave our elderly. It gave pensioners an extra £4.50 last year and another £5.50 this April.

Implementing a new team at HMRC to stop tax avoidance and evasion by the 350,000 wealthiest people in the nation…. not just the 5,000 that labour focussed on.

Clamping down on big business to make sure they pay taxes due in the UK… not letting them off £25 billion like Labour did with Goldman Sachs and Vodafone etc.

Breaking up the banks to ensure that if they want to gambling at the investment bank casino, they do it with their own money and not the taxpayers.

I could go on, but you get the point.

Have we done everything we wanted? No, of course not, we don’t have a majority government, we came third in GE2010 and have just 8.7% of seats in parliament.

Have we been able to stop the Tories doing everything we don’t like? No, we havnt, we are outnumbered 5 Tories to each LibDem in the coalition.

Have we influenced positive policies far beyond our expected ability? Definitely.

Have LibDem policies influenced the economy? Darn tootin they have.

Was borrowing lower last year than in 2010? Yes it was.

Have we been in recession in the last 20 months? No, we havnt. We have had consecutive growth figures every quarter.

In 2011 was the tax collected a record breaking year? Yes, it was.

When interest rates are going up around the world, ours has come down from the 4%+ that Labour left to just over 2% today, one of the lowest of all our peers.

Do we still have our triple A credit rating when those around us are losing theirs? Yes we do.

Labour say its not working, but with times around the world far worse now than during Labours governance, we are keeping our heads above water….. labour took us into two consecutive periods of recession in better times than this.

Is everything rosy? No, of course not, but are the libdems punching above their weight? Oh yeah baby, they sure are.”

This is worrying. If young people are out of work, the consequences of that will be felt for decades afterwards. We need to ensure that the young people of today do not have a false start and help us build the new economy of the future.

That’s why Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg has unveiled the Youth Contract, worth £1bn. Starting next April, the Youth Contract will provide at least 410,000 new work places over the next three years for 18 to 24-year olds to help them into work, including 160,000 wage subsidies and 250,000 new work experience placements.

They will also receive extra support from the JobCentre Plus after they have been on JSA for 3 months. This will range from help with CV and applications to a careers interview from the National Careers Service.

Not only that, but the Coalition Government is also making 20,000 more incentive payments available to encourage employers to take on young apprentices.

Lastly, it will also help those most in need of support, those 16 and 17-year olds who are persistently not in employment, education or training (NEETs). This new £50m programme will focus on the most disengaged of the 26,000 in the North West of England to get them learning, on an apprenticeship or in a job with training.

As a Liberal Democrat, I’m proud that while we’re clearing up the economic mess that Labour left behind, the Coalition Government is ensuring that our children do not bear the consequences of Labour’s mistakes. This is the right thing to do to prevent another lost generation.