Nick Clegg: election manifesto will set out priorities for coalition talks
31 Jul 2013:
Lib Dem leader says manifesto for 2015 election will make clear
which policies 'we will bust a gut to deliver in all circumstances'
Lib
Dem leader says manifesto for 2015 election will make clear which
policies 'we will bust a gut to deliver in all circumstances'
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP
Nick Clegg
has said he wants to amplify in his election manifesto those policies
that are likely to be the top Liberal Democrat priorities in any
coalition negotiations after the next election.
He said in 2015 the party would be "open with voters and say these are the things which we will absolutely bust a gut to deliver in all circumstances". He said other policies would be contingent on circumstances.
Clegg said: "I suspect it is an approach the other two parties might need to consider themselves," rather than presenting a manifesto as an unalterable tablet of stone.
He said he hoped to see the tax-free allowance lifted from £10,000 next April to the level of the minimum wage, at around £12,500 per year. He admitted such a move would be very expensive, but added: "I would love to have a tax system in which no one pays any income tax up to the national minimum wage – that would benefit millions and millions of people."
The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives agreed to deliver on their commitment to a £10,000 tax-free allowance in this parliament a year early, from next April. They claim the allowance represents a £700 tax cut for 24.5 million people, and means 2.7 million low-paid people will pay no extra tax.
He admitted that his £1bn youth contract designed to reduce youth unemployment had got off to "an initial slow start". It was revealed last week that fewer than 5,000 employers had been paid the full offer of £2,275 wage subsidy for taking on a young unemployed worker for 26 weeks, although as many as 50,000 employers had applied for a wage contract.
Speaking about the apparent failure of the scheme he launched in 2011, Clegg said it had been "a mistake not to use the full muscle of the Jobcentre Plus network earlier enough to get the message of the wage subsidy out".
He conceded that the biggest reason for the scheme's difficulties was that "the large corporates are not really going to change their employment practices for the prospect of the payment of £2,275 by government".
He said the offer might still work with smaller and medium-sized employers if the message reached firms. "The one thing we all desperately want to avoid is young people sitting at home sending out CVs, not getting any answers, feeling demoralised, and lost at the one time in their life when they should feel full of hope about the future," he said.
In the face of criticism by the business secretary, Vince Cable, of the help-to-buy scheme's impact on inflation in the housing market, Clegg defended the scheme, saying it was "a temporary one-off attempt to lift confidence and activity in the housing market".
He said it was focused on both supply and demand, but said the Treasury was acutely aware of the need to prevent a house price bubble.
COPIADO http://www.theguardian.com
He said in 2015 the party would be "open with voters and say these are the things which we will absolutely bust a gut to deliver in all circumstances". He said other policies would be contingent on circumstances.
Clegg said: "I suspect it is an approach the other two parties might need to consider themselves," rather than presenting a manifesto as an unalterable tablet of stone.
He said he hoped to see the tax-free allowance lifted from £10,000 next April to the level of the minimum wage, at around £12,500 per year. He admitted such a move would be very expensive, but added: "I would love to have a tax system in which no one pays any income tax up to the national minimum wage – that would benefit millions and millions of people."
The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives agreed to deliver on their commitment to a £10,000 tax-free allowance in this parliament a year early, from next April. They claim the allowance represents a £700 tax cut for 24.5 million people, and means 2.7 million low-paid people will pay no extra tax.
He admitted that his £1bn youth contract designed to reduce youth unemployment had got off to "an initial slow start". It was revealed last week that fewer than 5,000 employers had been paid the full offer of £2,275 wage subsidy for taking on a young unemployed worker for 26 weeks, although as many as 50,000 employers had applied for a wage contract.
Speaking about the apparent failure of the scheme he launched in 2011, Clegg said it had been "a mistake not to use the full muscle of the Jobcentre Plus network earlier enough to get the message of the wage subsidy out".
He conceded that the biggest reason for the scheme's difficulties was that "the large corporates are not really going to change their employment practices for the prospect of the payment of £2,275 by government".
He said the offer might still work with smaller and medium-sized employers if the message reached firms. "The one thing we all desperately want to avoid is young people sitting at home sending out CVs, not getting any answers, feeling demoralised, and lost at the one time in their life when they should feel full of hope about the future," he said.
In the face of criticism by the business secretary, Vince Cable, of the help-to-buy scheme's impact on inflation in the housing market, Clegg defended the scheme, saying it was "a temporary one-off attempt to lift confidence and activity in the housing market".
He said it was focused on both supply and demand, but said the Treasury was acutely aware of the need to prevent a house price bubble.
COPIADO http://www.theguardian.com
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