Urging people to vote Liberal Democrat in the 2007 May elections, Ming Campbell focused on crime and the environment, the key themes that the Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on:
“Labour has presided over a failing criminal justice system. Less than one in 100 crimes are now punished in court, violent crime has risen, and reoffending rates are now at record levels. Mr Cameron is not prepared to speak plainly about what needs to be done either. But I am.
“We need a new approach to crime. We need to make prison work by rehabilitating prisoners and cutting reoffending. We need more police on the streets. We need to take back our town centres by allowing communities to close the pubs and clubs that cause trouble. We need compulsory work and training to give prisoners the skills and opportunities that make reoffending less likely. We need a Victim Compensation Fund, paid for by prison work. And, to increase public faith in the system, we need honesty in sentencing: sentences should mean what they say.
“On the environment, Labour’s record is wanting too. When Britain most needed a green chancellor, Tony Blair gave them a Brown one. The Chancellor’s record on tackling climate change is one of inaction and delay. He could have raised green taxes but he chose not to.
“But for us concern for the environment is not a passing fashion but a central and longstanding principle.
“That is what our politics is about. An adherence to principles even when the prevailing fashion is ranged against them. That’s why we voted against the Iraq war when the fashion in Parliament and the media was to be for it.
“It’s why nearly two decades ago we adopted radical policy proposals to cut emissions and curb climate change. We didn’t need to wait for a focus group to tell us what to do. The other parties may favour fashion over principle. But we won’t.”
You can read in detail about the Liberal Democrat policies for cutting crime at www.wecancutcrime.com and for improving the environment at www.libdems.org.uk/environment
If you need to contact your local council about the elections (e.g. to request a replacement postal ballot paper) you can find details at www.aboutmyvote.co.uk or you can contact the Liberal Democrats on 020 7222 7999.
As a londoner I feel a bit ‘out’ of the current election rounds and far more of an observer than a particant. However, I would like to say that I hope the party appreciates that Ming has performed outstandingly over the past couple of months – his media profile has noticeably developed and he has skilfully taken all sort of opportunities, original settings and platforms to raise the Party’s game. Some polls put us a high as 29%, point to strategic control gains in completely different areas such as Hull, Sefton, Woking, Redcar, Maverns etc, over 100 new council seats, and with the distinct possibility of pushing Labour into third place in local government. Not bad for a sixty-something lawyer who people keep trying to write off – I say lets have much more of Ming, not less!!!
(..one caveat though, Nicol Stephen may find that he has seriously misjudged the scottish political mood if he tries to prop up a minority labour adminstration – why as lib dems are we so afraid to let scotland have an ‘options’ type referenda on their constitutional future..??)
If Nicol Stephen tries to prop up the washout administration of Jack McConnell the Lib Dems will never be forgiven in Scotland. If Alex Salmond does not manage to forge an alliance within 28 days of the election, another election could be the result. We will be wiped out as the SNP sweep the boards. Stephen is making an arse of this.
Agreed. If the Greens are prepared to talk seriously with the SNP, why not us?
As for eating words about the local elections, I still think they’re entirely respectable – 26%, some strategic gains and labour in 3rd place – yes we had big numerical losses, but some of these are accounted for by being wipe out wholesale in some councils where lib-dem administrations were making fools of themselves like Torbay and Bournemouth.