This is no time to be rolling over says Charles Kennedy (Swindon Liberal Democrats)

Swindon Liberal Democrats <info@swindonlibdems.org>

This is no time to be rolling over says Charles Kennedy

December 20, 2005 3:03 PM
By Charles Kennedy MP in The Observer

The future of the Liberal Democrats has been on the lips of many journalists in the last week. We emerged from the general election stronger than for almost a century. We got a million extra votes - and took seats from Labour as well as the Conservatives. But the Westminster village can't get its head around having to deal with three main parties. And the media, as we know, prefer gossip to talking about issues or policies; so they've jumped on stories about my leadership.

So let me stamp on that speculation. This is not the time for the Liberal Democrats to roll over, just when politics in this country is getting interesting - and when opportunities are opening up before us. I shall be leading the party in that battle, and my parliamentary colleagues are supporting me.

"With more support in the country than ever, politics is just getting interesting for my party"

Britain needs our distinctive voice. The Conservatives have spent the last six months navel-gazing while choosing a new leader. The Liberal Democrats have been taking the fight to the government over 90 days detention without trial and winning. We have forced the Prime Minister to admit that the Child Support Agency is in chaos and may need to be scrapped; we have harried him on the issue of 'extraordinary rendition', where prisoners are being flown around the world apparently to be tortured; and we are the only party to set out our stall on fair pensions reform.

Our Tax Commission has been examining taxation to make it fairer and simpler, and I have already signalled an important policy shift. We fought the last three elections supporting an increase in tax to pay for better public services. We won that argument. The task now is to ensure the money gets down to the front-line - to the hospitals and schools. We will no longer argue for higher taxes - but for fairer taxes, and different spending priorities.

Politics is at its most fluid for a generation. Three-party politics is now confirmed. Labour is looking beyond Tony Blair, while an untested Conservative leader says he will change the ways of his party.

But the fact is that already, David Cameron has endorsed a policy that would allow the continuation of the hated 11-plus, more road-building, a euro-sceptic policy appalling even to those who dislike Europe in his own party. He, meanwhile, claims to have come round to Lib Dem thinking on localism, the environment - and even Iraq! Is it credible? Of course not.

Being a liberal is not about spin and presentation, as the Conservatives seem to believe. It's not about just taking off your tie. It's about taking the tough decisions on climate change - not talking the talk. It's about policies to tackle unfairness at the heart of our tax system, where poor people pay proportionately more than the rich. It's about tackling inequalities in education and the NHS - not setting up an escape route for the wealthy. It's about standing up for international law and rebuilding Britain's reputation after the horror of Iraq - not voting with Labour, as David Cameron did, for a war that has been the worst foreign-policy mistake since Suez.

Under my leadership, the Liberal Democrats have grown from a party of protest to a party of power. Our focus is on a fairer, more tolerant, outward-looking, greener society which embraces all different voices and groups. People know this in Scotland, where Liberal Democrats are in government. The same is true in cities like Newcastle and Liverpool. My task over the next few years is to take that message to all the British people.