Lib Dems gather for party conference

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 04 Oktober 2014 | 15.36

4 October 2014 Last updated at 02:44

Liberal Democrat supporters are gathering in Glasgow for their final autumn conference before the general election.

Party leaders will seek to galvanise activists with the Lib Dems trailing behind UKIP in opinion polls and battling to claim credit for coalition government policies.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will address a rally on Saturday evening.

Members will also consider a proposal to commit £1bn in extra NHS funding.

The Lib Dems are traditionally the first of the three main Westminster parties to hold their party conference, but this year's event was rescheduled because of the Scottish independence referendum on 18 September.

'Our mission'

Mr Clegg will take part in a question and answer session with members on Monday, and give his main conference speech on Wednesday.

The NHS funding commitment, which will feature in the Lib Dem manifesto if approved by members on Sunday, would apply over a two-year period.

Lib Dem Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the money - to be delivered between 2016 and 2018 - would be in addition to a commitment to protect NHS spending over the lifetime of the next Parliament.

Lib Dem deputy leader Sir Malcolm Bruce told the BBC's Daily Politics the "fundamental problem" facing the party was that "people in Britain do not actually know what difference Liberal Democrats have made, and therefore are prepared to give the Tories the credit for things they never would have done".

He added: "That is our mission, and a conference is our opportunity to set that stall out."

Continue reading the main story

People in Britain do not actually know what difference Liberal Democrats have made"

End Quote Sir Malcolm Bruce Liberal Democrat deputy leader

When Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled plans to raise the personal income tax threshold at the Conservative Party conference this week, Mr Alexander said the move was "a shameless attempt to copy Liberal Democrat tax policy".

The Lib Dems have previously pledged to raise the personal allowance to at least £12,500 by the end of the next Parliament.

'Potential partners'

Tensions between the two coalition parties have been exacerbated recently with Mr Clegg demanding an apology from Home Secretary Theresa May after she used her conference speech to criticise the Lib Dems for blocking new data monitoring powers.

The deputy prime minister said her comments marked a "new low point in coalition relations".

Malcolm Bruce

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Sir Malcolm Bruce lists policies which show why the Lib Dems are an "important party of the British political scene"

However, in an interview with The House magazine, Education Minister David Laws said there was a "big gap" on economic strategy between the Lib Dems and Labour, despite the two parties adopting some similar policies.

'Grand committee'

He said: "The Labour Party has converged towards us on things like the mansion tax. But on some of the other really big issues there's still a big gap, and the biggest one of all is on the critical issue of deficit reduction."

Mr Laws said he believed that in the event of a hung Parliament, it would take longer to reach agreement on a new coalition than it did after the 2010 general election.

He added: "We have a lot of scrutiny in the Lib Dems, but I suspect in any other potential coalition partners, the backbench MPs won't be as compliant as they were last time where they were just essentially letting all their leaders make the decisions."

Meanwhile, in an article for The Guardian, Mr Laws also called for constitutional changes to settle the debate over MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland voting on laws that only affect England.

He said a new "grand committee" of English MPs should be set up to debate such laws, and that it should be put together on the basis of proportional representation.


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