Nick Clegg: I am not the kingmaker
Nick Clegg: I am not the kingmaker
Sunday, 14, Mar 2010 11:26
By Richard James.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has denied he is the so-called "kingmaker" in the coming general election in an address to his party's spring conference in Birmingham.
Speculation has intensified over the last weeks that Britain is heading for a hung parliament and Mr Clegg has come under pressure to announce whether he would be willing to work with Labour or the Conservatives.
However, the Lib Dem leader told party delegates on Sunday the election, expected in May, will be "a time for voters to choose, not a time for politicians to play footsie with each other".
Mr Clegg said: "Some days I read we're planning a deal with Labour, some days that we're planning a deal with the Conservatives, other days that we'll refuse to talk to anyone at all.
"I am not the kingmaker. The 45 million voters of Britain are the kingmakers.
"The party with the strongest mandate from voters will have the moral authority to be the first to seek to govern, and voters are entitled to know what Liberal Democrats will do - in whatever situation we find ourselves in."
Read Nick Clegg's speech in full
In his speech Mr Clegg will instead attempt to focus voters' minds on the four demands the Lib Dems are putting at the heart of their election campaign.
He declared: "We will give you fairer taxes, we will make sure your child gets the fair start in life they deserve, we will create a new, fair economy where we are no longer held hostage by the greed of bankers in the City of London, and we will give you a fair, open and transparent politics after the gross betrayal of the expenses scandal."
Mr Clegg warned Lib Dem supporters they will face a series of "nonsensical claims" from Labour and the Tories in the coming weeks designed to scare people into "voting against their best interests".
He added: "The Conservatives will say: vote Lib Dem... get Brown. Labour will say: vote Lib Dem... get Cameron. Don't believe it for a second. They are wrong.
"Vote Lib Dem. get change. Vote Lib Dem. get fairness. A vote for the Liberal Democrats is not a vote for anyone else."
Mr Clegg said the 'change' offered by his party in its election slogan was significantly different to the Labour and Conservative promises.
"For Gordon Brown, change is what you promise when you want everything to stay the same. For David Cameron, change stops on May 7th. It's change for him, not change for you. We are different," he said.
On Saturday, Mr Clegg also warned the other main parties he would not be willing work with anyone in government who planned to cut public spending too early.
Clegg announces Lib Dems will not back early public spending cuts
In his speech to the conference on the same day Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, also criticised the government and the Tories for engaging in a "phoney war over cuts" weeks before the election.
The two parties have offered differing policies on how to cut Britain's enormous deficit, with the Tories calling for immediate cuts, while Labour claim cutbacks should wait until the economy is suitably recovered.