New Year Message from Phil Hutty (Central Devon Liberal Democrats)

Central Devon Liberal Democrats <info@centraldevon-libdems.org.uk>

New Year Message from Phil Hutty

January 4, 2012 10:50 AM

Phil Hutty in Westminster First of all may I wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year.

In Nick Clegg's new years message he outlined our parties successes. We have taken nearly a million of the poorest workers out of paying tax altogether and given a £200 tax cut, not to the rich but to 23million working people. We gave children extra support to stop them falling behind in school and pensioners the first meaningful rise in the state pension since Thatcher abolished the earnings link.

He also reflected on our failures. How we couldn't convince enough of you to change our voting system, how you have struggled to see the difference we are making in Government and how you have punished us in the ballot box. He told supporters to hold their nerve and that it would continue to be tough as we fight our way out of this recession. But we were also doing the right thing and it was in the nation's best interest for us to remain in the coalition.

Sometimes I am told by Labour supporters that we are all washed up, that no one will ever vote for us again. Of course actual by-elections don't reflect this but the perception that somehow this difficult year has been all our fault does persist. At this point I guess that I am supposed to blame the last Labour government and those awful bankers, adding if I can, some clever remark about how dreadful those Tories are and isn't it good we are there to stop them.

But I am not going to. Not because it's not true, but because I think it's not the whole truth.

To quote the wartime Tommie's version of Auld Lang Syne "We are here because we are here".

We shouldn't forget that it was us, as a society, that said it was okay to be greedy, we as a nation voted for the Tories in the eighties when they promoted that, and, when Labour got in, we said things can only get better, but did we really push Labour to ensure that they did?

It was us that brought the British Gas, water and electricity shares, us that talked about how much our homes are worth and it was us that asked for more and more credit.

Of course some individuals did try to hold back the flood of the "me" society - they campaigned, signed petitions, took conscious decisions about their own personal lives but many others were simply left behind unable to get on because of poor life chances, poor education opportunities or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nevertheless, collectively we have to shoulder some of the blame, but bankers, spectators and politicians still should hold their heads in shame, and we too should look sheepishly at the state of the economy.

This year will undoubtedly be tough, I wish it wasn't but we all know it will be. If I was to have a New Year wish, it wouldn't be just a leap in our electoral fortunes but also that this will be the year when we moved towards a more caring people-centered society and told our employed staff (that's our politicians) to make sure we never get in this mess again.