Liberal Democrat Party Conference: Nick Clegg keynote speech

Liberal Democrat Party Conference: Nick Clegg keynote speech; Nick Clegg MP (Liberal Democrats Leader) speech SOT - I’m going to talk today about the future. But let me start by asking you to think back to the past. One year ago. It was a different world. You remember. The Labour government was, sort of - popular. Gordon Brown had dealt with a crisis – competently Everyone wanted to pay court to The Great Gordon. Even Margaret Thatcher had tea with him. The Sun newspaper wrote: “Gordon Brown is in a position of strength” And at the other end of Whitehall. David Miliband was telling reporters he wasn’t interested in being Prime Minister. Oh, really, David. Things were so different last year that when Vince Cable predicted a housing collapse. People just thought he was Victor Meldrew. No-one outside this party realised Vince was a twinkle-toed economic prophet. What a difference a year makes. But what’s far more important is that things have changed for every family in Britain too. The political changes of the last year are nothing compared with the economic hardships families face now. Like Angie, a middle-aged mum, who came to see me recently in my constituency. Who said she was finding it difficult to sleep. She told me about that sinking feeling she gets at the supermarket checkout and the petrol pump. Counting down the days until her cheap mortgage deal ends. Switching down to just half an hour of heating in the morning because it’s all she can afford. You know how it feels, don’t you? There’s this big, intangible thing called the global credit crunch. Banks and funds with names you’d never heard of – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns. And suddenly you’re worrying – is my money safe, in my bank, on my high street? These are difficult times. Our economy weakens by the day. We survive on oil and coal we cannot afford, from nations we cannot trust. A firestorm is raging through our fin...