Charles Kennedy's message to Hove Lib Dem Conference

2.41.47pm GMT Sat 6th Nov 2004

Party Leader, Charles Kennedy, writes for today's (6 November 2004), Argus, outlining the Liberal Democrat position as the General Election approaches.

The next general election will centre on three key issues; freedom, fairness and trust.  

Trust in this government has been shattered by the Prime Minister's decision to go to war in Iraqand this permeates every government department and every decision this government makes.

Liberal Democrats opposed that war and have opposed the current 'mission creep' over the role of our troops who are still there.  But we recognise that the cynicism which the activities of this Government is breeding, requires all politicians to work to re-build trust.

We believe that the way to achieve this is partly through straight talking, not spin. It's about realistic pledges and not over-inflated hyperbole.

Here at home we believe the way to earn public trust and respect is to put forward sensible and costed policies.  Economic credibility is vital.

At the last election we said that taxes would have to go up to pay for better public services.  Our Labour and Conservative opponents mocked us. But Labour promptly raised taxes as soon as they were re-elected. 

We now believe that the level of Government spending is about right;  though we do say that at the next election we will argue for the introduction of one small tax increase which would apply to only the top 1% of tax payers.  They would pay 50p on every pound earned over £100,000 which would raise £4.7 billion.  That money would be used to fund three key policies:  higher education, free personal care for the elderly and subsidies for those who cannot afford to pay their council tax before moving to a fairer local income tax.  

In higher education, we would scrap the £1125 tuition fee imposed on students and we would abolish top-up fees. This will take the burden away from students and their families' and restore higher education to its proper place - as a right, and not a privilege. Under Government proposals students will be faced with debts of up to £30,000. We are the only party with a real alternative agenda to the unfair top-up fees that are putting some poorer students off going to university.

Free personal care for the elderly is a guarantee of security for those who suffer from degenerative diseases such as dementia in old age. Currently 100,000 elderly people across Englandand Walesare paying for their own nursing and residential care. The experience of going into care can be very distressing. So the Liberal Democrats would scrap it, just as we have successfully done in Scotland.

We would get rid of the loathed council tax and replace it with a much fairer, local income tax, which would be directly related to the ability to pay. If you are on a low income, you would pay less - and in some cases a lot less - than your council tax.  Pensioners, in particular, would benefit from this policy.

But this isn't the limit of our ambitions for a better Britain.  As part of our aim to establish our economic credentials, we Liberal Democrats have also taken a long hard look at how Government uses our taxes and we think they could be spent more efficiently and better. A lot better.

Our aim is to find £5 billion a year in savings which would be redirected to high priority areas.  So, for example, we would move civil service jobs and unelected government advisers out of Londonto places where costs are much cheaper. We would get rid of the Department for Trade and Industry. We would scrap the Government's baby bonds system which locks taxpayer's money up for 18 years, and instead, invest it in Early Years Centres.  These are not the paper-clips and waste proposals much favoured by the Conservatives, they are simple, effective strategies to get more money to frontline services like education and health.  

Tackling crime is another top priority for the Liberal Democrats. We wouldn't introduce the Government's misguided identity card scheme - at an estimated cost of £3 billion pounds. Instead we would put 10,000 more police on our streets and invest in better police intelligence. We would ensure that police are not consumed with form filling and we would provide them with new technology to help them fight crime. Liberal Democrats are committed to local solutions to local problems. That's why we would introduce Community Justice Panels to give local people a real say in the way that local crime problems are dealt with as well as offering offenders a way to pay back the harm they have done to their communities.

Liberal Democrats are also committed to putting the environment at the heart of public policy-making. In 1997 Tony Blair promised the British people he would push the green agenda forward. He has failed - miserably. Britainlanguishes at the bottom of the European league table - recycling just 9% of household waste; domestic energy consumption has increased and Britainsources just 2.5% of its energy from renewable sources - Italymanages 20%. This is not evidence of a Government that cares about our environment. This Labour Government just isn't doing enough.  

A fairer, greener costed agenda for Britain.  That's what the Liberal Democrats stand for and that's what we shall be arguing for at the next election - whenever it comes.  

For more information see our website at www.libdems.org.uk.