Kennedy to champion trust and fairness
Charles Kennedy will tell 1,000 delegates at his party’s annual conference in Southport at noon today that the Liberal Democrats are the only mainstream force in British politics to have increased its power base in the past year.
He will say the Lib Dems are a modern party underpinned by the principles of “trust and fairness.”
But the conference has been hit this weekend with rumours that Mr Kennedy has failing health.
The leader put a brave face on it, insisting the rumours were merely “conference bar talk.”
But, Mr Kennedy failed to turn up in the Commons on Wednesday to hear Gordon Brown’s Budget statement.
Mr Kennedy said he had been hit by a “dreadful” stomach bug.
The Scot today will attack the Tories’ “disgraceful” policies and accuse Tory leader Michael Howard of “opportunism.”
He will reiterate his view that the party was right to oppose the US-led Iraq war and highlight the resultant electoral gain for the Lib Dems.
He will say: “When we stand up for what we believe in as we did over the war on Iraq, we get respect – we must build on that.
“We made the right decisions about Iraq, top up fees, Butler and the rest.
“We’re neck and neck with the Tories,” at the local level, Mr Kennedy will say.
He will pledge his resolve to abolish the “grossly unfair” council tax and student tuition fees.
The Lib Dems yesterday voted to campaign at local and national elections to scrap council tax, replacing it with a local, progressive, income tax.
During the debate yesterday, local government spokesman Ed Davey told delegates: “Council tax is unfair – you know it’s unfair and I know it’s unfair.”
