LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Nick Clegg, whose popularity ratings threaten the biggest shake-up in British politics for decades, was last night roundly attacked by British prime minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron.
The Liberal Democrat leader’s support for an amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have lived in the UK for a decade or more and who have obeyed the law since, was highlighted sharply by his two opponents.
Immigration is now one of the key issues in the campaign in the wake of Mr Brown’s caustic description, caught on a television microphone, of Rochdale pensioner, Gillian Duffy as a bigoted person because she complained about Eastern European immigration.
The Liberal Democrats’ manifesto pledge would lead to a new wave of illegal migration, Mr Brown declared, though he too came in for criticism for failing to curb it during Labour’s 13 years in power. Meanwhile, Mr Cameron sought to damage Mr Clegg for his past support of the euro single currency: “Let me tell you one thing I wouldn’t do. With Greece so much in the news, I can guarantee you that I would never join the euro and I would keep the pound as our currency. That’s the change we need and if you vote Conservative next Thursday, we can start to get to work on Friday.”
Instant polling figures from ITV News/Comres showed a significant rise in the number of people who believed the Conservative leader had won the Birmingham debate: 35 per cent last night, compared with 30 per cent last week.
However, the polling figures also suggested that the 2,500-strong panel of people have not changed their voting intentions on the back of the debate with 35 per cent saying they will vote for the Conservatives, 36 per cent for the Liberal Democrats and 24 per cent for Labour.
The prime minister repeatedly argued that the Conservatives’ plan to begin spending cuts immediately would damage the economy, and threaten “a double-dip recession”: “Shrink the economy, as the Conservatives want to do, and you will endanger the economy.”
However, he openly acknowledged that his hold on Downing Street was slipping when, in his final remarks, he said “if things stay as they are” the Conservatives, “perhaps supported by the Liberal Democrats” could be in office.
Polling figures indicate that the Rochdale encounter with Mrs Duffy has had no impact on voting intentions – though this is undoubtedly due to the fact that Labour’s support is down to its core vote.
Nevertheless, Mr Brown made one more effort to recover ground: “There is a lot to this job and as you saw yesterday, I don’t get all of it right,” he told the audience and viewers at home, who are expected to have been more than 10 million.
Rejecting Mr Brown’s attacks on his ability to run the economy, the Conservative leader said the prime minister constantly “mixed up the government with the economy”, pointing out that his planned cuts amounted to £1 out of every £100 spent by the government.
Urging voters to hold on to “the dream” of changing Britain, Mr Clegg said change would happen if people voted for it, and he urged all political leaders to “be frank about where cuts are needed – so that we can protect things like schools and hospitals. We need to break up our banking system so that irresponsible bankers can never again put your businesses and your savings at risk.
“We have to rediscover our passion for innovation, for building things, not just placing bets on the money markets. We need fairer taxes, so that you don’t pay any income tax on your first £10,000. Of course, they’ll tell you tonight that these things can’t be done. But I think we’ve got to do things differently – to deliver the fairness, the prosperity, the jobs which you and your families deserve.”