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Lib Dems to push 'proud story' of achievements | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Nick Clegg will use his speech at the Lib Dem conference later to highlight the party's "proud story" on jobs and the economy while in government. | |
On the opening night of the Glasgow conference, Mr Clegg will stress his party's role in economic recovery. | |
And the "party of jobs" will campaign for a million new ones, he will say. | |
The party believes not enough people know about what it considers its achievements in government, and plans a "relentless" promotion of them. | |
Mr Clegg is due to tell party activists they "can tell people how we took the right decisions in government to make sure interest rates were kept down and to protect people from the economic crises we have seen elsewhere in Europe". | |
The Lib Dems will argue that they have played a pivotal role in an economic recovery, while emphasising differences between their party and the Conservatives. | |
A source said they would "lift the veil about what goes on in government". However, the Lib Dems are not expected to announce previously unreported differences with their coalition partners, but outline disputes already made public. | |
As well as the party's campaign to create a million new jobs, there is also expected to be an emphasis on the importance of apprenticeships during the conference. | |
A video will show the party's MPs talking about their own first jobs. | |
Wages 'suppressed' | |
In the Guardian on Saturday, Business Secretary Vince Cable said the National Minimum Wage should be raised to help low-paid workers who have suffered a loss in real terms of between 10% and 12% since 2008. | |
He said that he would ask the Low Pay Commission to restore the minimum wage value as the UK could not "go on forever in a low-pay and low-productivity world in which all we can say to workers is 'you have got to take a wage cut to keep your job'." | |
He also wants to see the "abuse" of zero-hour contracts dealt with. | |
Mr Cable said: "We have got to enter into a different kind of workplace. For a very long time, five or six years, wages have been suppressed in low wage sectors. | |
"I am sending a signal that we are entering a very different environment." | |
'Share in success' | |
Another senior Lib Dem minister suggested easing pay restraints in the private sector to mirror the improved economy. | |
Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander told the Daily Telegraph: "It's not for me as a treasury minister to start telling employers what their pay policies should be, that's a matter for firms. | |
"But of course, as growth returns to our economy and we see businesses being successful, the workforce will want to and should share in that success." | |
Mr Alexander made it clear that public sector staff would face several more years of frozen wages. | |
He added: "We are going to have to continue controlling spending to ensure the country stays on the right track." | |
In another interview timed with the party conference, Home Office minister Jeremy Browne welcomed Britain's borders opening to workers from EU countries like Poland, saying it boosted the economy and transformed foreign relations. | |
In an interview with the New Statesman magazine, he said he was relaxed about any new influx when restrictions were lifted in January on workers from Bulgaria and Romania. | |
Mr Browne said: "They're only complying with the same rules as British people who live in Spain or have holiday houses in France, or who work in Germany." | |
Remaining quarter | |
Meanwhile, an unpublished internal party poll has suggested that three quarters of voters will not support the Liberal Democrat party whatever it does. | |
A senior Lib Dem source said the party believed Mr Clegg personally enjoyed strong support among the remaining quarter of voters. | |
The party would have a "clear focus" on that 25%, the source said, although in the long term it would like to grow its "market". | |
Insiders also argue that winning target seats is what matters. | |
The admission that they do not expect to command majority support follows recent comments by Mr Clegg on LBC Radio. | The admission that they do not expect to command majority support follows recent comments by Mr Clegg on LBC Radio. |
The deputy prime minister acknowledged it was "unlikely" his party would win a majority at the next general election. | The deputy prime minister acknowledged it was "unlikely" his party would win a majority at the next general election. |
The BBC's political correspondent Ross Hawkins said the party source rejected a journalist's suggestion that the Lib Dems were writing off voters, as Mitt Romney appeared to in the US presidential campaign when he said 47% of people would vote for Barack Obama "no matter what". | The BBC's political correspondent Ross Hawkins said the party source rejected a journalist's suggestion that the Lib Dems were writing off voters, as Mitt Romney appeared to in the US presidential campaign when he said 47% of people would vote for Barack Obama "no matter what". |
The Lib Dems won 23.6% of the vote at the 2010 general election. | The Lib Dems won 23.6% of the vote at the 2010 general election. |
The party's standing in the polls topped 30% during the brief surge of "Cleggmania" after the first prime ministerial debate. | |
By way of historical comparison, the high point for the SDP-Liberal Alliance was a monthly poll average of 33% in September 1985. | By way of historical comparison, the high point for the SDP-Liberal Alliance was a monthly poll average of 33% in September 1985. |
The Lib Dem leadership expects some dissent from activists - as is typical at conference - but believes it will win a key vote on economic policy on Monday. | The Lib Dem leadership expects some dissent from activists - as is typical at conference - but believes it will win a key vote on economic policy on Monday. |
The party was not afraid to have disagreements in open at conference, said the source, and it was united and resilient overall. |