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Danny Alexander speech to the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference
It’s good to be with you today as chief secretary to the Treasury.
My time as Scottish Secretary was all too brief. Afterwards, a friend observed that I had been the youngest, shortest serving, and most successful Scottish Secretary in history.
When asked to justify the latter he said ‘you didn’t have time to do any damage.’
Mike, as my successor, is doing a fantastic job, speaking up for Scotland in the cabinet. With Alistair Carmichael and Jim Wallace, Scottish Liberal Democrats are making their mark on this new government.
Jim’s wisdom and experience were invaluable when, in May this year our party faced the toughest decision of its life.
We rejected the ease of opposition, to govern this country in coalition with the Conservatives.
Taking responsibility for Britain’s future at one of the most difficult times in our economic history.
Conference, I have never been so proud to be a Liberal Democrat.
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And I am proud of the agreement we negotiated.
One party at war with itself has been replaced with two parties working together in the interests of our nation.
Of course we have disagreements – and we give as a good as we get.
But we get on a great deal better than the last lot did, and as a result we will achieve a great deal more.
We are delivering on our manifesto commitments.
We have increased capital gains tax.
We have introduced a substantial levy on the banks.
We have restored the earnings link to pensions.
And next year 900,000 low income workers won’t pay a penny of income tax.
A major step towards our manifesto pledge to make the first £10,000 you earn tax free.
These measures make our country substantially and permanently fairer.
We have scrapped ID cards, ended the detention of children at Dungavel, and next year our country will face its first ever referendum on electoral reform.
A fairer, freer, better Britain. Delivered in 5 months – by our government.
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Labour had 13 years to make these changes – they chose not to.
We made them in our first 13 weeks.
We will take no lectures on fairness from them.
Labour were irresponsible.
Vince Cable warned them that the bankers’ greed and the bubble it was fuelling, threatened our economy. They lived in denial.
They were reckless. They allowed Britain to build up the largest budget deficit in Europe with no plan for tackling it.
Shamefully, they made expensive promises to communities across the country, weeks before the election when they knew full well there was no money left.
Until Labour apologises for that cynical attempt to bribe the British people with bouncing cheques it will never be fit to govern this country again.
Until they apologise for their disastrous economic legacy…
… and until they set out, in detail, how they would tackle the deficit, the people of Britain will know that Labour cannot be trusted with the economy.
When casting their votes next May, the people of Scotland will know that Labour cannot be trusted in government.
The SNP are no better. They pledged the earth to the Scottish people in 2007. Every road in the Highlands was to be dualled. Every railway speeded up. They even pledged to extend the runway at Inverness airport!
Instead they have dithered, postured, centralised – and deeply disappointed.
The SNP broke their promises. Labour broke the economy. Some choice.
Scotland needs a party that delivers on its promises and is willing to take responsibility when times are tough. Scotland needs the Liberal Democrats.
And we are taking responsibility.
Taking responsibility for cleaning up Labour’s economic mess.
Last year alone Labour spent 150 billion pounds more than we paid in tax.
150 billion. That’s 5 times the Scottish budget.
For every £4 Labour spent, £1 had to be borrowed.
In our manifesto, we set out honestly the urgent need to stop the government spending money it doesn’t have.
We set out in detail some of the measures we would take.
And most importantly we made clear that economic evidence would drive our decision-making, not political dogma.
The eurozone crisis during the election campaign provided a sharp reminder of the consequences of failing to act.
Our country needed a firmer, faster and more credible plan to tackle the deficit.
The G20 said "those countries with serious fiscal challenges need to accelerate the pace of consolidation."
Who do you thinking they were talking to?
We inherited a country in the danger zone.
We have taken it to the safe zone.
We have to keep it there. That is what our spending review will do.
Labour would actually have imposed more cuts than we have to, because they lacked the political courage to get on with the job.
They would have us waste even more money on paying debt interest – and on the interest on the interest. Money that should be used to improve services.
More prolonged pain, for more people, and more debt that takes longer to pay off.
There is nothing fair about leaving the burden of paying the debt to our children.
That would be the least progressive choice of all.
Our plan is already supporting economic growth.
Since the election our long term interest rates have fallen - helping jobs and growth.
There is not a choice between balancing the books and economic growth. The two go together.
The IMF said that our strong and credible deficit reduction plan is essential and will support a sustainable recovery. The independent OBR forecasts sustainable economic growth as a result of our plans.
This action is unavoidable. And unless the nation’s deficit is dealt with and spending is reduced, as planned, we would put our economic recovery at risk.
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I didn’t come into politics to cut public spending.
But it has to be done.
I know we, Liberal Democrats, have the courage to see the task through.
You dont get to choose when you have the opportunity to govern. But you do choose how to respond to the challenges you face.
So I want to set out the principles – the Liberal Democrat principles - on which I will base our decisions in the spending review.
Investing in growth. Fairness. Radical reform so that our public services can deliver better outcomes for less money.
Failure to improve the welfare system was Labour’s most catastrophic mistake.
Under Labour welfare spending ballooned. To almost £200bn.
2.5 million people on incapacity benefit were simply left.
Millions more on out of work benefits, trapped in dependency.
We will deliver a welfare system that lifts people out of poverty, not one that traps them there.
And there are critics that may question our motives. They are wrong. But we must never allow the fear of those accusations to stop us doing the right thing.
We have already announced that higher rate taxpayers will no longer receive child benefit. That is a difficult choice, but it is a fair one in tough times.
We are looking hard at all benefits. And there are more difficult decisions to be made.
Support for those who need it, work for those who can.
From dependency to independence.
A welfare system fit for our times.
We are embarking on radical reforms to public services.
Some people say that at a time of spending cuts we cannot afford to reform our public services.
I say we cannot afford not to.
Radical reform is the only way to ensure better outcomes for people as resources are cut.
Through those reforms, we will do our best to protect the most vulnerable, to ensure every child has the chance to make the best of their lives.
There will be tough decisions.
But I can guarantee that fairness, our Liberal Democrat belief in fairness will be in my mind every step of the way.
Fairness is not just about people, but about places too.
Nick Clegg and I are ensuring that we put in place mechanisms to deal with the fact that public spending cuts will have different impacts in different parts of the country.
The Regional Growth Fund is a major part of the answer in England. A responsible Scottish government would do the same here.
And we have already started to put in place tax measures to support growth in some parts of the country.
Our national insurance cut for new businesses is already supporting entrepreneurs here in Scotland, who are now relieved of the burden of the jobs tax for their first 10 employees in their first year of operation.
As a party, we have long drawn attention to the high cost of fuel in remote communities.
The high costs of supplying and distributing fuel to our island communities have a major impact on families and businesses in those areas. It is a triple whammy: long distances, high costs, little or no alternative transport.
In areas which also have some of the lowest incomes in our country this has been a huge and persistent unfairness.
Every year in the last Parliament, I and my Highland colleagues attempted to amend the Finance Bill to introduce a scheme to reduce fuel duty to recognise and partially compensate for these extra costs.
Every year, Labour said no. On one occasion, the Labour minister told the people of the Highlands and Islands that their fuel costs were no more important than the inflated costs of a pint of beer in London.
A simple illustration of the arrogant dismissal and denial of economic problems that got our country into this mess.
We wrote our rural fuel discount policy into our election manifesto.
I won support for it in the coalition agreement.
And now I would like to report to you on this government’s progress.
First, I need to tell you that introducing this change will not be easy. These matters are tightly controlled under European law.
We will have to persuade the European Commission that our proposals are justified on the basis of evidence, and then secure the approval of every single one of our fellow member states to approve our plans.
I am a pro-European. I am sure we can, in time, persuade our European friends of the strength of our case.
I am a Highlander. So I will not give up until we succeed.
So I can announce to you today that with my approval, Treasury officials have started the process of engaging with the European Commission on our detailed plans.
We want to introduce a pilot scheme that will deliver up to a 5 pence duty discount on a litre of fuel in the inner and outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, and the Isles of Scilly.
It will take time to deliver, but this plan will make a real difference to people in remote island communities. It will not fully remove the price difference that exists, but it will relieve some of the extra costs.
Most importantly of all, it will send a clear message that we are governing for the entire United Kingdom.
The first government in generations to properly understand the problems of our most remote communities.
The first government with the will to do something about them.
The first government in decades to act to help these hard-pressed communities. Liberal Democrats, delivering in government.
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In less than two weeks, we will announce some of the most difficult decisions of our lives.
Forget the political impact, those decisions will have consequences for every single person in this country.
But we, Liberal Democrats, know it has to be done.
We will make the best decisions we can, guided by the values that we share as Liberal Democrats.
These are our decisions, our reforms, our new ideas, and – yes – our cuts too.
Whatever flak we take, in 5 years time people will see we did the right thing, for the right reasons. Next year, people in Scotland will know that a vote for Scottish Liberal Democrats is a vote for a party willing to take responsibility and act with fairness.
The whole country is playing its part to get us through the tough times.
The prosperity that results must be shared fairly too.
Our values, Liberal Democrat values, will be even more important as we approach the light at the end of the tunnel. And the country will be stronger, fairer and more prosperous as a result.
Together, we will make it happen.
Ends
Posted on: 09/10/2010
