The Lib Dems' turn to convince?
Peter Hoskin 9:04am
So now it's the Lib Dems' turn to present their prospectus for the country. And,
in some respects, I expect they'll want a fairly uneventful day. They have, after all, endured the most topsy-turvy campaign of the three main parties so far. Brown has given us no
more, and no less, than what we expected. The Tories have been riding the crest of a national insurance wave. But the Lib Dems have bounced around from the highs of Nick Clegg's
performance on Newsnight to the lows of their misleading VAT poster, from their continuing Labservative attacks to Ed Balls describing their schools policy as "creditable" on Sky this morning.
Make no mistake: much of this topsy-turviness is down to the Lib Dems' own confusions on policy and ideology – confusions which have been exposed as the campaign has worn on. But they also have some of the most instantly attractive doorstep policies in British politics today – including their pledge to make the first £10,000 of income tax-free, and new measures to increase the pay of the armed forces. Their task today will be to make those cut through to the public, while also convincing us that they've got their background sums right. Much easier said, of course, than done.
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Greenslime
April 14th, 2010 9:17am Report this commentIf nothing else, the past two weeks have highlighted that Cleggover and TodayIamsayingthis Cable have been shown to be a couple of complete chancers. They see the possibility of achieving power by the back door and the surface paint has been quickly rubbed away! Any colour but Brown or Yellow, is my conclusion.
Neil
April 14th, 2010 9:28am Report this commentThere is a huge black hole in the funding for the £10k personal allowance. See below:
http://deathandtaxesuk.blogspot.com
Any Colour but Brown
April 14th, 2010 9:34am Report this commentPlease do not take my name in vain, sir!
Don
April 14th, 2010 9:59am Report this commentWhat the Lib Dem's say is of little interest. They will never have to follow through on any of their fantasy policies.
They can quite happily make up things as they go along because they will never be called on them.
Lib Dem = total irrelevance.
Ghengis
April 14th, 2010 10:10am Report this commentWell, what can you expect from a member of a club of three when they all are programmed into maintaining a parliamentary system which is soiled beyond redemption.
Nick
April 14th, 2010 10:19am Report this commentCable appears to be back-tracking from his claim to want to cut the deficit in half to only wanting to cut the "structural deficit" in half. By his reckoning the structural deficit is £70bn and he has identified £20bn of savings or so and "needs to go further". But what about the other £100bn of the annual deficit ?
Richard of York
April 14th, 2010 10:43am Report this commentThe Liberals are a real threat to Shameron...Nick Clegg and Cable are amost as popular as Ant and Dec.
Expect lots of younger voters will buy into the time for a change but not to Tories!
Pink conservatives v Pink socialists just cancel each other out.....sunny Yellow looks quite attractive to people who have never voted before and those fed up of the other two.
Alexander
April 14th, 2010 3:24pm Report this commentVince is an unreconstructed Socialist who should be in a Socialist Party.
Nevertheless it is a shame the Conservative manifesto just did not just have four promises:
(1) English votes for English issues
(2) No tax on first £12,000 and 30% thereafter
(3) VAT raised to 20% on same items as at present.
(4) Remove tax loopholes
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