Cameron defends Clegg from ‘sell-out’ claims

By Ian Dunt David Cameron has defended Nick Clegg from claims he ‘sold out’ when he entered into a coalition with the Conservatives. The prime minister made the comments after a week which saw intense hostility towards the Lib Dems in the Commons and several opinion polls showing the party was losing support. “This is […]

More poll misery for Lib Dems

By politics.co.uk staff A third of those who backed the Liberal Democrats at the general election would not do so now, according to a ComRes poll for the Independent. The latest bad polling news for Britain’s third party came after two polls at the weekend put the Lib Dems on 16%, seven points worse than […]

Lib Dems rebel against Budget

By politics.co.uk staff Two Liberal Democrat MPs have rebelled against plans to increase VAT in the Budget. Mike Hancock, MP for Portsmouth South, and Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, sided with Labour to vote against the increase and became the first Lib Dems to vote against the coalition government. “Most of the Budget is unfortunately […]

Comment: Clegg and Capello – both leading losers?

The Liberal Democrats’ current jitters go much further than their concerns about the emergency Budget. The coalition may be less than two months old, but the cracks are already starting to widen. By Alex Stevenson Lib Dem supporters should be feeling as miserable as England fans. After all, for Fabio Capello and Nick Clegg’s teams […]

Lib Dems squirm over VAT opposition

By Alex Stevenson Liberal Democrat opposition to an increase in value added tax was political point-scoring, business secretary Vince Cable has claimed. The former deputy leader of the party, who resigned his post to enter the coalition government, made the suggestion as he defended the emergency Budget’s planned hike in VAT from 17.5% to 20%. […]

Polls show collapsing Lib Dem support

By politics.co.uk staff Two polls released today showed the Liberal Democrats slipping back to just 16%, seven points worse than their general election result. Research by ICM for the Sunday Telegraph and YouGov for the Sunday Times saw the junior partners in the coalition government pushed into a firm third place, as Conservative support improved. […]

Lib Dems limit the damage of Hughes statement

By politics.co.uk staff The Lib Dems have moved to limit the damage of a Commons statement from deputy leader Simon Hughes yesterday in which he suggested the party might lay down amendments to the coalition Budget. Speaking in the Commons debate on the policies, Mr Hughes said if there were measures to the finance bill […]

Coalition ‘jars’ with Lib Dem Farron

By politics.co.uk staff Liberal Democrat deputy leadership loser Tim Farron has hit out at the coalition. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Farron, who lost out to Simon Hughes for the deputy leadership post earlier this month, said that the Conservatives and Lib Dems were “ideologically a poor fit”. He said that while he […]

Comment: Clegg needs to ride the storm

The pressure on the Lib Dems is considerable, but Clegg is playing the long game. By Ian Dunt The hatred towards Clegg is magnificent. His deputy PMQs raised more anger than the Budget. Labour MPs despise him. His every word is greeted by a wall of abuse from the opposition benches. And you don’t exactly […]

Clegg faces first deputy PMQs

By politics.co.uk staff Nick Clegg faced his first Commons questions today, as the hastily created deputy prime minister’s questions takes place. The boisterous session saw Mr Clegg come under pressure from all sides of the House, but he succeded in uniting the government benches by repeatedly questioning Labour’s failure to act during their 13 years […]