Move on, Clegg tells voters

Wednesday, 12 January 2011 2:29 PM

Those criticising Liberal Democrat U-turns have a "crass" view of politics, Nick Clegg has told politics.co.uk.

By Alex Stevenson

Those criticising Liberal Democrat U-turns have a "crass" view of politics, Nick Clegg has told politics.co.uk.

Nick Clegg spoke out against accusations of "betrayal" in a visit to the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, where Lib Dem candidate Elwyn Watkins is hoping to beat Labour's Debbie Abrahams on Thursday.

He said a basic division existed between those who backed compromise in politics and those who did not.

"There are those people who think that every time there's a compromise between politicians who don't agree on everything they think it's a betrayal, a U-turn," Mr Clegg said.

"I just think people have just got to, dare I say it, move on. You can't have this very rigid, slightly crass view of politics - 'it's all about everyone either winning or losing'.

"The point of a coalition government is that you have two parties which are different, who come at things from a different perspectives, so of course we have to work hard to find agreement. I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

Asked whether he was getting the message of coalition government across, Mr Clegg replied: "Clearly I'm not."

He emphasised that the Liberal Democrats had come third in the general election and suggested he had chosen to back down on higher education because both Labour and the Conservatives disagreed with his party's outright opposition to tuition fees.

"What we've done is work very hard on the detail of the policy to make it much fairer," he added.

Yesterday Mr Clegg campaigned in the Grotton area of the Oldham constituency, which the Lib Dems fell just 103 votes short of winning in last year's general election.

He predicted that the result would be "close", but bookmakers have all but ruled out any other result than a Labour win - which would be a major blow for the deputy prime minister.

Aides to Conservative candidate Kashif Ali privately questioned whether Mr Clegg had made the right move in associating himself with the contest.

But the Lib Dem leader insisted on the campaign trail that he wanted to see Mr Watkins win the seat. "Of course I want to win, that's why I'm here," he told reporters.

In a speech to activists before beginning a brief canvassing session Mr Clegg praised Mr Watkins for having the "courage" to challenge disgraced Labour MP Phil Woolas alone.

"Elwyn Watkins stood up for what was right and entirely on his own said that's not good enough, people should be able to have a fair say," he said.

"The choice is simple: it's a choice between... a Labour party that created an unholy mess with this country and now has no apologies, no responsibility... and Elwyn Watkins, a tough, plain-speaking local candidate who'll be the most outstanding MP for this area, who's prepared to roll up his sleeve, just as Liberal Democrats are rolling up our sleeves to do the difficult jobs of sorting out the problems we've got."

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