Clegg: No regrets

Briefly hailed as more popular than Churchill, Nick Clegg may well now be the most hated man in Britain. Effigies burnt in the street, dog mess through his letterbox, bike rides abandoned over fears for his safety. “I never imagined it would be any different,” he insists. Liberal Democrat leader; Deputy Prime Minister; architect of a new politics; and Judas to millions of students. The one-time political outsider sits forward on a plush, cream Whitehall sofa in defiant mood; belligerent even. “Not a week goes by without a commentator saying ‘next week the coalition will fall apart’, and not a week or day goes by without us confounding those views.” There must surely be times, though, when he has had second thoughts, regrets. “No. None at all. I’m absolutely convinced that almost any other course of action would have been a disaster for the country.” – The Independent

Once upon a time, long, long ago – well, six months ago – Nick Clegg gave a pre-election interview to the Observer in which he forecast “Greek-style” unrest on the streets of Britain if the next government tried to drive through policies for which it did not have a proper mandate. I thought at the time that this was over-the-top attention-seeking by a Lib Dem leader who was then struggling to make an impression on the consciousness of the nation. For this was before the leaders’ TV debate which briefly transformed him into the messiah of a new politics. I am now happy to admit that I was wrong and he was right. The government is facing street demonstrations with a Greek streak during which the protesters roar that they have been betrayed. What Nick Clegg didn’t anticipate – where his crystal ball let him down – was that he would be the focus of the fury. – The Observer

Will they, won’t they?

As students gathered for another angry demonstration on the streets of Westminster, Nick Clegg suddenly had a change of heart. He telephoned Vince Cable in a panic. “We’ve got to abstain,” he told the Business Secretary. Mr Cable was shocked at the apparent wobble. He told the Deputy Prime Minister he must hold his nerve on the approaching vote on the Coalition’s proposal to charge students up to £9,000 a year for their university fees. But Mr Clegg was adamant that he could not vote for it, according to insiders. Clearly shaken by the strength of the protests, he insisted that the party should abstain on the proposals when they go before the Commons on Thursday, despite his personally having defended them robustly in public for weeks. Mr Cable had also defended the proposals vociferously, and not just to the general public. It was the Business Secretary who was charged with writing to every Lib Dem member just before the policy was unveiled, urging them to accept the plan. Having nailed his colours to the mast so forcefully, Mr Cable was determined not to be seen performing a u-turn. He made clear they should not back out now. – The Telegraph

Nick Clegg tried last night to buy off protesting students with a pledge that the poorest ones would escape tuition fees for up to two years. The Deputy PM revealed the U-turn as chaos reigned among Lib Dems MPs ahead of a crunch vote on tuition fees on Thursday. Under his plan, about one in 20 of the 400,000 who go to university each year would be exempt from tuition fees for one year. About 80,000 students – who were eligible for free school meals in their secondary schools – a year would fight for just 18,000 places on the National Scholarship Programme. The move is aimed at easing students’ fury over the planned hike in tuition fees after violent protests across the country. But Lib Dem bosses last night refused to say whether they would vote to lift the cap in England from £3,375 to £9,000 a year – even though Lib Dem Vince Cable is the architect of the idea. – The Mirror

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Vince will vote…

Business Secretary Vince Cable will vote for a rise in university tuition fees, he revealed today. The Twickenham MP suggested earlier this week he may abstain in a House of Commons vote next Thursday if his Liberal Democrat colleagues wanted him to. But in an exclusive interview with the Richmond and Twickenham Times today, he said he had reconsidered his decision and had “no doubt” he should support the contoversial policy that will allow some universities to charge up to £9,000 in fees. – The Richmond & Twickenham Times

Vince Cable declared that he faced a “duty” to vote in favour of the rise in university tuition fees next week, guaranteeing a split in Liberal Democrat ranks when grandees oppose the policy. In a move which surprised senior party figures, who had thought Cable was prepared to abstain in the interests of party unity, the business secretary insisted that the rise in fees was the right policy. “Obviously I have a duty as a minister to vote for my own policy – and that is what will happen,” Cable told his local newspaper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times. Cable, who has the right under the coalition agreement as a Lib Dem MP to abstain in next week’s vote, has indicated to fellow ministers that he is minded to vote in favour of the rise on the grounds that he is the responsible minister. He also believes he has introduced fairness to the system by raising the salary level at which the fees are paid back from £15,000 to £21,000. – The Guardian

The party promised in its manifesto to abolish tuition fees, and senior figures including their leader, Nick Clegg, signed a pledge to vote against any increase. The party was yesterday forced to call off its London conference which was due to take place this weekend after students threatened to protest outside. In interviews earlier this week, Mr Cable said his “personal instinct” was to back the fees package in the Commons. But he said he was “happy to go along with” a mass Lib Dem abstention if all the party’s MPs agreed to it. On Friday, he told the Richmond and Twickenham Times he made this offer as an “olive branch” for colleagues who were “finding this difficult”. Mr Cable added: “There is a dilemma.”I’m very clear I regard the policy as right and as a member of the Cabinet I am collectively responsible for the policy. “There is no doubt that is what I should do.” – The Telegraph

Chaytor pleads guilty

David Chaytor became the first former MP to be convicted over the expenses scandal after pleading guilty today to three charges of false accounting, days before he was due to stand trial. The former Labour MP for Bury North had previously denied fraudulently claiming parliamentary expenses. His eleventh-hour change of plea at London’s Old Bailey came as he exhausted legal avenues to stop his case, due to reach trial on Monday, being heard in the criminal courts. The 61-year-old stood in the glass-panelled dock of court 11 as the three charges were read aloud, answering “guilty” to each of them. Afterwards, he was mobbed by photographers as he left court in a black taxi with his legal team, making no comment. – The Guardian (more…)

World Cup heart break

For the last five days in Zurich, Jack Warner’s chauffeur-driven Fifa limousine has nosed its way through the city’s traffic to take the 67-year-old former school teacher to meetings with Prince William, David Cameron and David Beckham, who have treated Warner like a friend and ally. Yesterday, Warner delivered a lesson to Britain’s young Prime Minister and its even fresher-faced heir to the throne that there are no politics in international sport more brutal than those of Fifa – where men will say one thing to your face and do quite another when they approach the ballot box in the boardroom at Fifa House. Cameron was fortunate that he was out of Zurich and away from the television cameras when Warner delivered his stitch-up of the English bid in which neither he nor his Concacaf colleagues, representing North and Central America and the Caribbean, voted for England. In Cameron’s gilded political career it would be difficult to remember a more blatant humiliation than the one dealt him by Warner. – The Independent

The result, worse even than the failed 2006 bid that made it into the second round before being ejected, exposed the confidence engendered by the work of England’s ‘Three Lions’ and an outstanding final presentation as illusory. There was resentment too that the strong technical merits of England’s bid – it was the most highly-rated on technical and economic grounds – had apparently been ignored. Cameron, who spent three days pressing England’s case in Zurich, said Fifa had ignored the bids merits: “According to Fifa we had the best technical bid and the strongest commercial bid and the country is passionate about football. But it turns out that is not enough.” – The Telegraph

Frank Field report published

The biggest transformation of anti-poverty programmes since the war – which will “require a testing of some of the 1940s welfare state’s sacred cows” – is today proposed by Frank Field in a report commissioned by David Cameron. Field, a Labour MP and a long-term anti-poverty campaigner, proposes the government switches focus from Labour’s anti-poverty measure, based on material income, to a set of life chance indicators. He writes: “Poverty is a much more subtle enemy than purely lack of money,” adding he does not believe poverty is the dominant reason why disadvantage is handed down from one generation to another. Parenting was more important than income or schooling to a child’s life chances. The findings will be strongly supported by the Liberal Democrat policy team, as well as by Oliver Letwin, the Conservatives’s chief policy thinker. Cameron and Nick Clegg, in a joint letter to Field, praised the report as “a vital moment in the history of our efforts to tackle poverty and disadvantage”. – The Guardian

Child benefit and child tax credits would be frozen and the money switched to improving the life chances of disadvantaged children before they start school, under plans being considered by the Government. In a report today, Frank Field, the Labour MP and the Government’s anti-poverty tsar, recommends a change away from boosting the incomes of poor families. Instead, his inquiry proposes improving public services and breaking the cycle to “prevent poor children from becoming poor adults”. – The Independent (more…)

Tuition fees vote

MPs are to vote on controversial plans to raise tuition fees in England on 9 December, ministers have confirmed. The vote will be a critical test for the coalition, which has faced mass protests over its plan to nearly double fees to £6,000 and allow charges of up to £9,000 for some courses. The Lib Dems have come under heavy pressure after pledging before the election not to support any fee rise. Ministers insist the proposals are fairer than the current system. But student leaders say the proposals – which followed the independent Browne review of student finance – will deter people from poorer backgrounds from applying to university. – BBC

The National Union of Students has announced plans for further mass student protests on the eve of a crucial Commons vote on university tuition fees. The union has called for students across the country to begin demonstrations on 8 December. A further rally by students and union officials is planned on the day of the vote before the group lobbies MPs inside Westminster in an effort to persuade them against voting for a rise in fees. NUS president Aaron Porter said: “MPs can be left in no doubt as to the widespread public opposition to these plans or of the consequences of steamrollering them through parliament.  “For the third time in less than a month thousands of students have taken to the streets to protest against the government’s attacks on further and higher education. He added: “Despite repeated dismissals by Nick Clegg that these are uninformed protesters, students are intelligent, articulate people who are not being listened to by those in whom they placed their hope for a different politics.” – The Guardian

Cameron U-turn on school sports

David Cameron was in retreat last night over the Government’s plans to cut funding for school sports following protests from top athletes. Ministers were facing a backlash against moves to scrap the £162m fund targeted on boosting sports standards in English schools. Critics warned that the move would threaten after-school clubs and cost the jobs of sport coaches and PE teachers – just as London staged the 2012 Olympics. Mr Cameron signalled a rethink over the plans yesterday, saying he was looking “very carefully” at the issue and planned to make an announcement soon. Downing Street acknowledged that there had been concern “at local level” about the move and said that Mr Cameron had asked the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, to look again at the decision. – The Independent

Calls for King’s head

There were calls last night for Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, to give evidence to a parliamentary inquiry after the Conservatives claimed he sided with them during the talks leading to the formation of the coalition government. Tristam Hunt, a Labour member of the political and constitutional reform select committee, said he had written to Graham Allen, its chairman, to ask King to give evidence. Allen said he would take soundings from committee members tomorrow. Hunt said today: “In light of the revelations in WikiLeaks and the Guardian, I believe King should give evidence to the committtee to clarify what role he believes a governor should play in the formation of coalitions, as well as what specific role he did play in May. This is not a small matter and does deserve some serious analysis by a committee like ours.” Hunt added: “There is a danger that Mervyn King has compromised the independence of the bank in his role in the coalition talks. The whole ideological rationale behind this government is the necessity of cutting the deficit faster than the Labour government. King seems to have encouraged that view and so raised serious questions as to what his role should be as head of the bank”. – The Guardian (more…)

Wikileaks: Cameron and Osborne lack experience and are “light weight”

The head of the Bank of England privately criticised David Cameron and George Osborne for their lack of experience, the lack of depth in their inner circle and their tendency to think about issues only in terms of their electoral impact, according to leaked US embassy cables. Mervyn King told the US ambassador, Louis Susman, he had held private meetings with the two Conservative politicians before the election to urge them to draw up a detailed plan to reduce the deficit. He said the pair operated too much within a narrow circle and “had a tendency to think about issues only in terms of politics, and how they might affect Tory electorability”. He also predicted that economic recovery would be “a long drawn-out process”, since Britain had not been through an economic restructuring. – The Guardian

The disclosures could test the relationship between Mr King and the Prime Minister and his Chancellor. Labour is sure to exploit the embarrassment at Prime Minister’s Questions later today. Mr King’s fears, made in a meeting on Feb 16, were sent in a cable to the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and disclosed last night by the WikiLeaks website. The Governor complained that the future Prime Minister and Chancellor relied too heavily on a narrow circle of advisers. They also “had a tendency to think about issues only in terms of politics, and how they might affect Tory electorability [sic]”. Mr King also said he had held private meetings with the Tory leader and Mr Osborne before the election to urge them to draw up a detailed plan to reduce the deficit. – The Telegraph

The rightwing Conservative MP for Sevenoaks and now Conservative deputy chairman, Michael Fallon, also confided his doubts to US diplomats. His remarks were detailed in a cable sent in October 2008 titled: “Conservative party caught flat-footed by Brown’s quick manoeuvres on financial crisis, says senior Tory MP”. It stated: “The Tories’ response to the crisis has been regrettably tepid … The Conservative party felt the absence of a strong shadow chancellor and the party’s counter-proposals to Labour’s plans have been ‘all over the place’. Fallon particularly criticised Osborne’s op-ed piece in the October 28 Daily Telegraph as a ‘weak’, almost laughable, response to the economic crisis.” Mark Tokola, the embassy’s economic minister at the time, concluded: “Fallon’s comments to us reflected Conservative frustration – and some grudging admiration – for prime minister Brown’s skill in seizing the high ground during the economic crisis”. – The Guardian

Will they, won’t they?

NICK Clegg and Vince Cable yesterday hinted they may not vote on tuition fees – leaving their party in disarray. The Deputy Prime Minister refused to say if he’d back the Coalition’s plans to hike the fees to up to £9,000 a year. And Business Secretary Mr Cable – the minister in charge of the controversial plans – admitted he may ABSTAIN in the face of protests from Lib Dem MPs. Party sources also admitted they were listening to the views of student protesters, who held demonstrations against the plans yesterday. One senior Lib Dem said the party’s MPs were not “tone deaf” to the criticisms of the policy. – The Sun (more…)

Opposition debate tempts Lib Dems

Ructions in the government over plans to raise university fees will be forced into the open today when Labour triggers a vote in the House of Commons that could bring about the first rebellion of the coalition. MPs will debate the plan to raise tuition fees to £9,000 a year asstudents stage their third and largest national demonstration against the plans. Last night the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, wrote to the head of the National Union of Students appealing to students not to distort the debate over fees, saying that many believe wrongly that they will have to pay fees immediately instead of when they graduate. Clegg warned of potentially “tragic” consequences whereby the poorest would be put off applying at all. Coalition MPs are under a three-line whip to attend the opposition day debate on a Labour-authored motion that falls short of opposing higher fees, but calls for the white paper on the future of universities to properly explain the plans before the Commons votes on the fee cap. – The Guardian

Nick Clegg has urged students to reflect on the “true picture” about government plans to raise tuition fees. Ahead of further expected protests on Tuesday, the deputy prime minister said graduates in England on lower incomes would be better off than they are now. It was “crucial” people realised there will be no upfront fees and repayments will begin at £21,000, he told the National Union of Students. Meanwhile, fellow Lib Dem Jenny Willott said she would vote against the plans. Ms Willott, MP for Cardiff Central, said she could not support plans to allow English universities to charge £6,000, almost double the current £3,290 cap, and up to £9,000 under certain conditions. – BBC

Mr Clegg appealed to the NUS to help ensure that those taking part in protests understood “the true picture” of the proposed reforms, which he insisted were fairer than the current system. “All of us involved in this debate have a greater responsibility to ensure that we do not let our genuinely-held disagreements over policy mean that we sabotage an aim that we all share – to encourage people from poorer backgrounds to go to university,” said the Liberal Democrat leader. The NUS has launched a “right to recall” campaign to force by-elections in seats held by Liberal Democrat MPs – including Mr Clegg – who signed a pledge to oppose increases in fees before the general election. Liberal Democrats secured a provision in the agreement forming the coalition Government that their MPs can abstain in the vote to increase fees, though it remains unclear whether the party’s ministers will do so. But Lib Dems are expected to vote against a Labour motion in the Commons on Tuesday which calls on ministers to delay legislation on the fees hike until after they have published a White Paper spelling out their vision of the future of higher education. – PA (more…)

Wikileaks release US cables

Britain’s politicians and diplomats are waiting to discover what their US counterparts really think of the special relationship. Over 250,000 classified cables from US embassies are to be released by the whistleblowing website Wikileaks over the next fortnight. They are already sending diplomatic shockwaves around the world. Pressure from Arab states urging military action against Iran and instructions for US officials to spy on UN leaders are among the most significant revelations.Concerns about the stability of the coalition government and criticisms of David Cameron’s premiership could be among the revelations which prove most significant in Westminster. – Politics.co.uk

The “revelations” in the latest download from WikiLeaks strike me as surprisingly dull. You would have thought that, in 250,000 pages of diplomatic cables, there would be insights that were a bit more startling than the suggestions that Angela Merkel is cautious, Silvio Berlusconi is vain, Nicolas Sarkozy is thin-skinned and David Cameron is a bit of a lightweight. Tell me something, I didn’t know. – The FT

Is it justified? Should a newspaper disclose virtually all a nation’s secret diplomatic communication, illegally downloaded by one of its citizens? The reporting in the Guardian of the first of a selection of 250,000 US state department cables marks a recasting of modern diplomacy. Clearly, there is no longer such a thing as a safe electronic archive, whatever computing’s snake-oil salesmen claim. No organisation can treat digitised communication as confidential. An electronic secret is a contradiction in terms.

Anything said or done in the name of a democracy is, prima facie, of public interest. When that democracy purports to be “world policeman” – an assumption that runs ghostlike through these cables – that interest is global. Nonetheless, the Guardian had to consider two things in abetting disclosure, irrespective of what is anyway published by WikiLeaks. It could not be party to putting the lives of individuals or sources at risk, nor reveal material that might compromise ongoing military operations or the location of special forces. – The Guardian

Vince “personally committed” to fees increase

Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable is “personally committed” to plans to raise university tuition fees, a Tory colleague has said. Higher education minister David Willetts said he was “confident” Mr Cable would back the measure in a Commons vote next month. Before the election the Lib Dems signed a pledge not to support any rise in fees, currently set at £3,290 a year. But Mr Cable’s department is overseeing an increase to as much as £9,000. Students at several universities are continuing sit-in protests against the plans. Twelve occupations reportedly on-going on Sunday included those at Plymouth, Leeds, Cambridge, Newcastle, Edinburgh and University College London. – BBC (more…)

Ed sets out programme of review

Ed Miliband vowed yesterday to give everyone a say in drawing up Labour’s policies – and even the chance to choose his successor. He made the pledge as he urged the party to move beyond New Labour and reconnect with the public after “losing its way”. In his first major event since returning from paternity leave, Mr Miliband warned that Labour could not wait for David Cameron’s coalition to “screw up” if it wanted to snatch power back. He said: “We shouldn’t mistake the anger at what the coalition is doing to the country for a sense that it isn’t as much about us as it is about them. The strategy that says ‘wait for them to screw it up, simply be a strong opposition’ is not a strategy that is going to work.”- The Mirror

Labour, stressed Miliband, could not survive as a “party of declining membership” but had to relaunch itself as a “genuine community organisation” that embraced non-members. Miliband, who has been criticised privately by some Labour MPs for not making his mark on the leadership rapidly or firmly enough, insisted that union members would remain a vital part of decision-making. But aides said he was keen to see the public involved in future as well. One idea could be to give non-Labour members a share of the vote in future leadership contests – a move that could anger the grassroots. One senior Labour MP said: “If members of the public are to have a say in all these things, what is the point of being a Labour member?” The moves will be seen as Miliband hitting back at critics who say he is in the grip of the unions.  – The Observer

On first sight it would seem ridiculous to claim that a young Opposition leader, whose party is up to five points ahead in the polls and who faces a Coalition Government driving through a harsh programme of spending cuts, could be on the edge of a crisis just two months after being elected. However, Mr Miliband’s speech to Labour’s National Policy Forum in Gillingham on Saturday was inevitably branded a relaunch as he sought to re-establish his authority on a party still bearing the scars both of its general election defeat in May and the subsequent leadership battle, which saw Mr Miliband win the crown narrowly and controversially from his brother David, owing his success to union members’ votes. Labour, two months on, is still suffering from damaging infighting and junior Labour MPs have begun dividing shadow cabinet ministers into those who have “stepped up to the plate” to take the fight to the coalition and those who haven’t. Ominously for Mr Miliband, growing numbers on his own side appear to think he is falling into the second category. – The Telegraph

ED MILIBAND yesterday told party members to leave New Labour behind if they want to return to power. The new leader wants to distance himself from the policies drawn up in the 1990s that put Tony Blair and Gordon Brown into office. In a keynote speech, he vowed to transform Labour by reaching out to the people of Britain and again becoming the party of their “hopes and aspirations”. Addressing Labour’s national policy forum in Gillingham, Kent, Miliband said there had to be a move “beyond New Labour” following the party’s election defeat in May. – The Daily Record

The right-wing papers are eagerly writing off Ed Miliband. They are a bit premature. Although he has only had the job for a couple of months, he has Labour ahead in the polls and his own rating is better than David Cameron’s was at this stage of his leadership.Mr Miliband has a lot to do and he knows it. But he has the great advantages of an imploding LibDem vote and the effects of the brutal cuts that will be felt next year. There is everything to play for. Mr Miliband and his Shadow Cabinet team have to remember that, stay focussed and all pull together. – The Mirror (more…)

Beyond New Labour

Labour leader Ed Miliband will warn tomorrow that the same old stance from Labour will not restore trust in the party, as he unveils 22 policy inquiries and promises the party will engage in a million conversations to reconnect with a disillusioned public. Miliband is due to address his first national policy forum as leader, where he will describe the party as beyond New Labour, and say it needs to start with a blank page on policy. His plans arguably represent the biggest policy review undertaken by the party since “Meet the challenge, Make the change”, the two-year overhaul overseen by Neil Kinnock that failed to win the party the 1992 election. – The Guardian

Mr Miliband will announce details of Labour’s root-and-branch policy review. He will insist that it will be an outward-looking process in which local parties and trade unions will hold “one million conversations” with members of the public. Working groups will be chaired by Shadow Cabinet members but will include outside experts such as businessmen and academics. Think tanks and charities will be invited to submit ideas. A Labour spokesman said: “We want this process to be rooted in real people’s lives. We want it to lead to real change in our movement. Ed is determined that Labour mustn’t retreat into a discussion with itself. He wants Labour to reach out in a way it was never able to do while in government, and draw on the best ideas from across the political landscape.” – The Independent

He will announce a series of policy-making initiatives and a widespread review of Labour’s internal workings. This may include a look at how leaders are elected in future. A ticklish topic given the controversy over Mr Miliband’s own union-weighted victory. One thing is sure. Ed Miliband will set out his stall as a leader with the humility to listen to his party, which in turn must have the humility to listen to the electorate. Particularly its squeezed middle. – Sky

It’s not difficult John

On the Today programme this morning an incredulousJohn Humprhys could not believe Ed Miliband’s suggestion that the “squeezed middle” consisted of people earning a bit above or a bit below £26,000. The Institute of Fiscal Studies might have told Humprhys that this was indeed the band in the middle of British society, and that only the richest 15 per cent or so of people pay the 40 percent tax rate. When I last spoke to the IFS, it told me that it makes as much sense to look household income as individual salaries. By this measure, families bringing in £30-£50,000 a year make up the broad middle class, which fills so much of Britain. Exactly the people Miliband was talking about, in other words. The financial crisis is hammering them. – The Spectator (more…)

AV campaign heats up

The 5 May referendum will ask voters whether they want to keep the first-past-the-post system for electing MPs or to replace it with the alternative vote (AV), under which candidates are ranked in order of preference. The president of the “no” campaign was named last night as Margaret Beckett, the former Foreign Secretary. She will be joined by four other Labour veterans – Lord Prescott, Lord Reid, Lord Falconer, and David Blunkett. Three Tory Cabinet ministers will be campaign patrons – William Hague, Kenneth Clarke, and Baroness Warsi. The heavyweight line-up – described by No to AV as “titans of the British political system” – is evidence the campaign to retain the status quo will be highly-organised. Supporters of a yes vote intend to portray themselves as the “people against the political establishment”. – The Independent

The depth of division within Labour over voting reform was exposed tonight when it was announced that Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary, is to lead a group of the party’s big beasts in a campaign to reject the reform in a referendum on 5 May. Beckett will chair the campaign against the alternative vote system, with the help of figures including two former Labour home secretaries, David Blunkett and Lord Reid, former lord chancellor Lord Falconer, and the former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott. Labour’s manifesto committed the party to the referendum, and several shadow cabinet members, including Alan Johnson, John Denham and Peter Hain, will campaign for a yes vote. – The Guardian

The No to AV campaign has unveiled its list of patrons, and a fascinating picture emerges of cross-party co-operation between some of the biggest hitters (Prescott’s on the list) from the Labour and Tory sides. It starts to look like a pincer movement by the establishments of the two big parties, designed to squeeze a Lib Dem orientated Yes campaign in the middle. And, yes, yes, I know there are Labour people in the pro-AV team but unless they can pull a rabbit out of the hat soon then they risk the widespread perception being that their campaign is broadly Clegg’s creature. Considering recent developments, such as the emergence of considerable opposition to the Lib Dems on student fees, having Nick Clegg out front isn’t likely to be a campaigning advantage. – Wall Street Journal

Ed sets out his stall

Thirteen years in government led to many lasting achievements, but also to a party remote from many people’s hopes and aspirations. In government we lost the humility to listen and learn. In opposition we must find it again. We must understand why, despite all that was achieved over the last decade, so many people who work hard and want to get on came to feel squeezed. Why did too many families feel that the gap between their lives and their dreams became larger and harder to bridge? It is a gap that I fear this Coalition will widen dramatically. The prospects for millions of families under Mr Cameron’s government look bleak. Slashing funding for universities and tripling student fees risks making the burden of personal debt far worse. The slogan “we are all in it together” is being used as rhetorical cover to push millions of families outside of the basic social deal, that if you work hard and do the right things, you will be helped to get on. It’s not just Child Benefit. Scaling back support for child care through tax credits and support for young people in education will hit the aspirations of millions. – Ed Miliband, The Telegraph (more…)