Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesman Nick Clegg MP has told a debate sponsored by public affairs firm Sovereign Strategy that the government is using the “politics of fear” to push voters towards accepting greater state control.
Clegg said that the Labour Party’s “doomed strategy” risked turning the electorate against both the government and political parties as a whole.
“The resurgence of the politics of fear can in part be explained as an attempt by the Government to rediscover legitimacy by corralling the electorate towards the strong, protective arms of the state. The new threat of terrorism has made this easier,” he said.
“The public has become deeply sceptical of both Government rhetoric and the value of top-down governance. They will come to resent parties and Governments who play with their fears, and who fail to match the unrealistic expectations of what Governments can do.”
“The public is not stupid. They understand that the nature of the new terror threat is more deadly, and more protracted, than anything we have faced before. They are rightly entitled to expect that the Government will act in a decisive, rational and steadfast manner in dealing with the new threat. What they will not tolerate is an erratic approach shaped by political expediency rather than the national interest.”
Clegg went on to set out the party’s “progressive belief that trust, not fear – nor, for that matter, a content free Cameronesque appeal to ‘hope’ – is the only sustainable basis upon which a new relationship between the state and the individual citizen can be founded.”
Clegg was speaking at a ‘Sovereign Debate’ chaired by Gaby Hinsliff, Chief Political Correspondent at the Observer, which was held at the LGA Conference Centre, Dean Bradley Street, London.
An audience of 60 comprising peers of the realm, journalists and party members watched Clegg deliver his speech, which was followed by an extensive question and answer session.
The event followed the success of the inaugural ‘Sovereign Debate’, which was held on 14th September 2006 at 116 Pall Mall, London, and saw former Health Secretary Rt Hon Alan Milburn MP outline his vision for the future of the Labour Party.
Each ‘Sovereign Debate’, one focussing on Labour, one on the Liberal Democrats and one on the Conservative Party, features a senior party figure discussing issues of critical importance to the fortunes of their respective parties.
