Lib Dem leader: "Council elections are key"

8:11am Friday 18th January 2008

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NEW Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is hoping success at this year's council elections will pave the way for more joy at the next General Election.

Mr Clegg, who took over from Menzies Campbell last month, gave a talk about Liberal Democrat policies and answered questions from members of the public at a meeting at Dr Challoner's High School, Little Chalfont, last night.

At the meeting, he spoke about his vision to change politics and his hope for this year's elections at Buckinghamshire County Council.

"Prime Minister's Question Time is absurd," he said. "The whole thing is designed to flatter the Prime Minister and the leader of the Conservatives.

"I much prefer meetings like these. The House of Commons has a certain rude logic to it but it's a pathetic way to run a democracy, with grown men and women shouting at each other.

"I have said right from the beginning I would do as many of these meetings as I can. It's much more rewarding. I hear from real people about their real everyday concerns."

Mr Clegg, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, was born in Amersham and spent the first thirteen years of his life living in south Bucks.

Now he is hoping to have more Liberal Democrat MPs in the area of his birth.

"The next key test is the council elections," he said. "We have ten seats on the county council and I hope to see that number steadily and significantly increase.

"I'm extremely aware it's an area where the Conservatives have been almost entirely unchallenged but it's obvious the Liberal Democrats are the only challengers, much as we are the only challengers to Labour in Sheffield. It speaks volumes that we are the most national of the three main parties."

Mr Clegg added he hoped to change the way politics in Britain was run, as this was what first drew him to become an MP.

"There's no point being in politics unless you want to change things," he said. "In my view, a democracy cannot continue to be unchallenged, unreformed, and unmoving in the face of public apathy and cynicism.

"Lots of people are turning off politics at the moment. It doesn't enjoy the confidence of a lot of people, which is very sad to see."

The meeting was attended by around 150 people, some of whom were politics students at Dr Challoner's School, and they mostly approved of what Mr Clegg had to say - especially about his party's attitude towards the environment.

"Our environmental policy is acknowledged as being the most advanced," he said. "We very much set the pace in policy terms and have set out a vision of a zero-carbon Britain by 2050."