Clegg: Proud coalitions can work

Deputy PM Nick Clegg has said he is "proud" that both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have demonstrated that Coalition governments can work and refused to rule out entering another powersharing government at the next election.

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Clegg refuses to rule out prospect of another Coalition

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has refused to rule out entering another Coalition with the Conservatives at the next election.

Mr Clegg said he would be "comfortable" with the idea of another Coalition if the British people decided that it was the only outcome that can provide a "stable and legitimate government".

Clegg: 'I'm proud we have shown Coalition can work'

Nick Clegg has said he is "proud" that both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have demonstrated that Coalition governments can work.

Mr Clegg admitted that he and David Cameron sometimes experienced "stark differences" in opinion, but insisted both worked in a "grown up way" to ensure the Government delivered on issues like social care.

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Lib Dems have 'guaranteed greater fairness' in Coalition

Nick Clegg has praised the Liberal Democrats for acting as a "guarantee of greater fairness" within the Coalition.

The Deputy Prime Minister revealed that the Liberal Democrats had blocked some Conservative policies that he described as "unacceptable to me and unacceptable to many people in Britain".

Mr Clegg added said the Liberal Democrats had "held their nerve" and were now beginning to see the start of an economic recovery.

Ukip leader branded 'Nigel Mirage' by Lib Dem MEP

Ukip leader Nigel Farage spends most of his working time as an MEP in the pub, according to a senior Liberal Democrat.

Fiona Hall MEP, leader of the Liberal Democrats' European Parliamentary Party said the Ukip leader spent so much of his working time away from the European Parliament he was now known as "Mr Mirage".

Ukip leader Nigel Farage spends most of his working time as an MEP in the pub, according to a senior Liberal Democrat..
Ukip leader Nigel Farage spends most of his working time as an MEP in the pub, according to a senior Liberal Democrat.. Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Speaking at the Lib Dems conference, she said:

"Of course there are things we want to change at a European level. We'd like to get rid of Nigel Farage for a start. Actually I think we've succeeded on that one already. He is so rarely seen in the European Parliament that people now call him Nigel Mirage.

"While Lib Dem MEPs are working to get the best deal for their constituents, Mr Mirage is down the pub."

Danny Alexander warns of 'nutty' Tory backbenchers

Danny Alexander warned that the trade unions were pulling Labour to the left and "nutty" Conservative MPs were dragging their party to the right.

Danny Alexander has warned that the 'nutty' Conservatives are pulling the party to the right.
Danny Alexander has warned that the 'nutty' Conservatives are pulling the party to the right.

The chief secretary to the treasury said: "We think it's really important we don't have a government of one party in the next parliament. The Conservatives, increasingly lurching off to the right, they would give you the wrong sort of recovery, Labour can't be trusted to keep the economy strong.

"I think that for a lot of people in this country, who want politics to be located in the centre ground, not dragged off to the left by trade unions or dragged off to the right by some of the more nutty backbenchers in the Conservative Party."

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Danny Alexander: £50,000 tax band is 'nonsense'

Danny Alexander told BBC Radio 5 Live an email suggesting a £50,000 tax band was "total nonsense and I don't know quite where that came from or how it happened".

Asked whether the mansion tax plan would form a "red line" in any negotiations for a coalition after 2015 Mr Alexander said:

Fairer taxes and asking the wealthy to continue to make a contribution to dealing with the deficit, that is something that Lib Dems believe in very strongly.

I'm not going to get into setting out red lines for negotiations at this stage, what I'm saying is that one of the big differences between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives is we recognise that as we get into the final stages of deficit reduction in the next parliament, that we need to continue through these sorts of tax increases to ask the wealthy to make a contribution.

Liberal Democrats go after 'very wealthy'

Taxes on the "very wealthy" will be one of the Lib Dems' primary targets over the next parliament, a leading figure within the party will announce.

Danny Alexander will also take a pop at the Conservative policy of tax breaks for married couples.

Setting out measures to deal with the cost of living in his speech to the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow, he will say:

We have introduced 15 hours of free childcare for all three and four year-olds, and this month introduced it for the poorest two-year-olds too.

Next year we will legislate for tax free childcare, worth £1,200 for every eligible child.

Unlike tax breaks for marriage, that's a fair way to help families.

– Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander

Better economic future 'only' because of Lib Dems

The Lib Dems should take more credit for the economic recovery and stick to measures which are designed to "eliminate" the structural deficit "by the middle of next Parliament", Danny Alexander will say later today.

He will tell delegates at the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow:

Anyone who says the better economic news is all to the credit of the Conservatives is wrong.

The decisions we have implemented in Government, the brighter future that lies ahead is only there because of us. And we should shout it from the rooftops.

Our plan means that by the middle of the next Parliament we will have eliminated the structural deficit. But that doesn't mean that the country can then go right back to the old bad habits.

Our nation's debt will need to be reduced, it wouldn't be fair to pass it on to future generations.

– Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander
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