Clegg tells party to 'keep its nerve' as protestors gather
Friday, 11 March 2011 10:18 AM
By Ian Dunt
Nick Clegg has told Lib Dems to keep their nerve, as he prepares to address the party's spring conference in Sheffield.
The speech is being marked by an unprecedented security operation, with police setting up extensive barriers between the Liberal Democrat leader and up to 10,000 people expected to protest against him.
"We are in this for the long haul. We are going to keep our nerve. We are not going to flinch," Mr Clegg told the Independent.
"We were right to go into government. We are doing the right things in government.
Speaking directly to his party, the deputy prime minister said: "Keep your head up high. Be proud of what we are doing. Don't be cowed by what people are saying about us. Stick to the course."
The Sheffield MP listed Liberal Democrat achievements in government and insisted that his party's decision to enter a coalition had altered policy in Downing Street.
"Without the Liberal Democrats, you would not have got a huge restoration of civil liberties; a balanced approach to Europe; a ferocious protection of human rights; a very heavy emphasis on more resources to our schools; the pupil premium; lifting thousands and thousands of people out of income tax; a £10 billion levy on the banks; a crackdown on tax loopholes, a referendum in May on the voting system," he said.
"These are early days - ten months into a five-year parliament. All the focus is on the immediate task of the deficit.
"People have to hold their nerve, not lurch from one thing to the next. You have to work at it day in, day out and deliver over time, so that people see the difference you make. That is what we do and we will continue to do."
Liberal Democrats are hoping that by the time they face voters in 2015 they will have a list of substantial achievements they can point to as evidence of their accomplishments in governments.
But even at spring conference, rank-and-file discomfort with the economic agenda of the government is likely to surface with a vote against Andrew Lansley's NHS reforms, which would encourage competition in the NHS and give a far greater role to private firms.
Mr Clegg's own personal popularity has been the most devastated by the public reaction to coalition, with many protestors and students focusing their anger at coalition policies almost exclusively on him.
"You shouldn't go into politics, and certainly not into government at a time of national economic difficulty and crisis, unless you are prepared to be thick-skinned enough," he commented.
"The argy-bargy of politics just comes with the territory," he said.
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