CHRISTMAS MESSAGE (South Dorset Liberal Democrats)

South Dorset Liberal Democrats <info@southdorsetlibdems.org.uk>

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

December 13, 2010 1:17 PM

Ros Kayes, Lib Dem Parliamentary Spokesman for South Dorset

This is going to be a difficult Christmas for many of us.

It's difficult a time of austerity not to fall victim to the politics of hatred and to read between the lines of what the media throws out for sensationalist headlines. To analyse the facts rather than to automatically believe the very negative response that's coming from some quarters.

The fact is we have a national debt equal to £22,400 for every man, woman, and child in Britain. Failure to take action would leave us with an interest bill of £70 billion a year on the debt - more than we spend on our police and schools put together. And I still remember how we all felt in May about wanting to get rid of Gordon Brown..

I remember also that Alistair Darling was planning to raise VAT to 19%, . That he planned cuts of 19% when in power - but wouldn't say where.

It's much easier to sling mud when you are in opposition, but mud slinging is something that I really hate about politics, and I know many voters do too.

I'm cross because I think there are ways that in government we could be being tougher with the Conservatives - but in the Coalition, two parties are trying to work together constructively in the national interest while the third party, out of nothing more than spite, is attacking all the savings they'd have had to make too but not providing any alternative solutions on how to clean up the mess. That's negative politics at its worst and something I find unforgivable.

Trying to be fair about where cuts fall, in the wake of massive overspending, is like trying to fight with one hand tied behind your back. No government could be completely fair to all people in these circumstances. It's got to be about damage limitation.

Many of you said in the election campaign that you just wished the parties could work together to solve the crisis. We are trying to do that. We are only 6 months in - it needs 18 before we can evaluate !

Finally a word about tuition fees . Many of us, including myself, think that because we signed the NUS pledge we should be voting against the current proposals. I would have voted against them for that reason.

But of course that won't do any good - the outgoing government proposed the changes, and the Conservatives support them.

My feeling is that the whole system of higher education needs reviewing - with more apprenticeships and technical qualifications that will be of use in the real world rather than a push for 50% of all 18 year olds going to university, which is what has made the cost so hard to meet - and a national consultation on who should pay for higher education: tax payers (many of whom are on low incomes) , students, business or the government ? Let us know what you think.

I always have respect for those who vote according to their consciences & wish that more MPs in the last Parliament had done so on, for example, the war in Iraq, detention without trial and ID cards. The media like to make ethical questioning into a source of ridicule and weakness - don't believe it ! It's a healthy sign that MPs are willing to challenge the leadership & ask the difficult questions rather than slavishly following the party line. Every government since the 1940s has needed more of that !