In his hardest-hitting attack yet on the Labour and Tory parties, Nick Clegg has used an interview for BBC News’s Hard Talk programme to denounce both parties for colluding in ‘corrupt politics’. You can watch a three-minute clip from the programme here, in which Nick discusses Afghanistan.
The Guardian reports Nick’s comments here:
Clegg uses an interview today on the BBC’s Hard Talk programme to publish a list of “progressive” policies Labour and the Tories have blocked. He says: “A vote for Labour or the Conservatives is a vote for corrupt politics. A vote for Labour or the Conservatives is a vote for tax dodgers in politics. A vote for letting guilty MPs off the hook. A vote for an unfair voting system.”
Here’s the party’s evidence for Nick’s verdict:
Labour Party
Labour promised to clean up politics and make it fair but they failed. They wouldn’t even push through reform after the expenses scandal. They went back on their promise to change the voting system. They failed to make the House of Lords elected and accountable to voters. They failed to clean up party funding because they rely on the unions. And they blocked attempts to give people the right to sack corrupt MPs. Labour will never change the political system.
Three specific examples:
What Labour did … No progress. There has been an agreed statement of government policy on this – with cross-party consensus – since July 2008. Ministers have promised draft clauses for scrutiny at least four times but published nothing.
What Labour did … No progress
What Labour did … No progress. Labour peers voted down an amendment that would do just that in the Political Parties and Elections Bill. And the government did not include it in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill.
Conservative Party
The Conservatives cannot be trusted to clean up the political system and make it fair. David Cameron talks about change, but none of the Conservative MPs who avoided Capital Gains Tax or made huge profits flipping their homes were forced to resign. He promised to give people the right to sack corrupt MPs but then the Conservatives voted against a law that would do just that. They have made it clear they will block attempts to make the voting system fair. They walked out on cross-party talks on party funding and refused to cap donations. They will not even say if top donor, Lord Ashcroft, pays tax in this country. The Conservative Party are not interested in real change. They are interested in protecting their own interests.
Three specific examples:
What the Tories did … No progress. Walked out of party funding negotiations under Hayden Philips. Allows top donor Lord Ashcroft to keep his tax status in the dark, refusing to say if he pays full British taxes. Supported top candidate Zac Goldsmith who avoided nearly £6m in tax by being a non-dom.
What the Tories did … No progress. Continues to oppose central measure that will change politics: electoral reform.
What the Tories did … No progress. Opposed Liberal Democrat proposals to introduce fixed term Parliaments in Political Parties and Elections Bill.
The full interview with Nick Clegg MP is broadcast on Wednesday, 6th January:
New post: Nick: Labour and Tories stand for ‘corrupt politics’ http://bit.ly/8KMAyr