Date published: 2007/03/04
The BBC says:
Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell has paved the way for a potential deal with Labour as he set out five "tests" for a Gordon Brown-led government.
And in an apparent shift, proportional representation for general elections was not included in the list he gave at the party's spring conference.
There has been speculation the Lib Dems will seek a coalition in the event of a hung parliament.
...
Opinion polls point strongly towards a hung parliament at the next election, with the Liberal Democrats potentially holding the balance of power.In his closing speech to his party's spring conference in Harrogate, Sir Menzies gave his first public hint that the party would turn to Labour rather than the Tories in such an event.
He challenged Gordon Brown, the man expected to take over from Tony Blair as the next prime minister, to have the "courage" to embrace liberal democratic values, and to prove he could change direction.
Sir Menzies said: "Britain needs a government that is prepared to reduce inequality and provide quality public services throughout the whole of Britain.
"To uphold the rule of law and to preserve our traditional freedoms, to take on the challenge of climate change and to restore Britain's international reputation.
"The question is - can Gordon Brown meet that challenge? Does he have the courage to take Britain in a new direction?"
He announced that he had devised five tests for the chancellor.
He called on Mr Brown to "end Labour's authoritarian attack on civil liberties" by scrapping ID cards.
He urged him to "grasp the challenge posed by climate change" and, thirdly, "break open the poverty trap".
His fourth test was to "trust the people" by devolving power to local people and the fifth was that "Britain's foreign policy should not be set in Washington".
If Mr Brown met these tests, "he will have changed direction and embraced liberal democracy," Sir Menzies told delegates.
If there is anything worse than the thought of the Tories having a landslide at the next election it is the thought of the Lib Dems holding the balance of power. Their main taxation proposals consist of vindictive taxes against minorities and a shift of even more money from the workers to the non-workers (and presumably this is what Campbell is referring to when he wants to "break open the poverty trap"). In fact they sound a lot like David Cameron and the Tories.
And one would hardly want Gordon Brown to "embrace liberal democratic values" but rather instead "labour values". Britain's foreign policy should indeed not be set in Washington (one of the reasons Blair will go down in infamy). On the other hand, the Lib Dems seem to have no real foreign policy.
And the people of Britain do not really need more power to be devolved to "local people". For one thing it would mean that we have a bigger postcode lottery when it comes to things like health and education. And for another thing, what Campbell means when he says "local people" is "Lib Dem councillors", like the ones who lord over Cambridge. The real local people (who do not live in one of the rich areas of town like Millington Road with its three Lib Dem councillors) have no power or influence. And although national government is incompetent, local government is super-incompetent.
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