Just before the 2010 General Election, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg took part in one of the most audaciously cynical election broadcasts in history - No More Broken Policies. (Embedding has been "disabled by request", I wonder why. But you can see it by following this link HERE.)
It is a bit like some of these emails that offer to compensate you if you've been scammed by spam email - if only you'll send your bank details. Nick offers to mend politics with no more broken promises.
Well, the rest is history as we live under the most rightwing Government in modern British political history.
As for Nick's promises in the broadcast...
Tuition fees abolished? No - trebled. A promise broken!
Making votes count equally? No, sold down the river with a dreadful referendum on AV, a non-proportional system. A promise broken!
Fairstart for children? Surestart centres closing. A promise broken!
Break up the banks and make them pay for the damage they caused? No; broken up yes; but the profitable bits sold off at a loss to the taxpayer. A promise broken!
New Green infrastructure? Not with the gutting of the Green Deal. A promise broken!
Sustainable green energy? The feed-in tariff slashed, community renewable subsidies ended and nuclear power the choice for "clean" energy. Er, no... A promise broken!
Fair taxes? Nope - a marginal increase in the tax allowance for everyone (including billionaires) with priority given to cutting income tax by a tenth for people earning at the top rate. With VAT increased, the poor pay proportionately more in tax; the rich even less. Broked again!
A fairer Britain? Wealth gap widening; welfare slashed; unemployment up with only austerity as a response...
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem President, claimed on Question Time last week that of course the Lib Dems are in a Coalition so can't have got everything their own way. If they hadn't gone into coalition, he claimed, the Tories would be in untramelled control. Except that any look at the maths in the Commons shows that the Tories can't do anything without Lib Dem votes. And at the same time, the Lib Dems claims to have implemented most of their election promises...errr??
Well, it doesn't really matter that much. They have sunk to 8% in a number of polls, and that was before we were reminded of their expenditure of £2.4 million of stolen money obtained from the fugitive criminal Michael Brown, finally caught and brought home for trial (and yes he got a dinner or three with then Leader Charles Kennedy). If there was an election tomorrow, UK Polling Report reckons they would be down to just 7 MPs.
Nice music though... I think from a film about zombies...
Well, the rest is history as we live under the most rightwing Government in modern British political history.
As for Nick's promises in the broadcast...
Tuition fees abolished? No - trebled. A promise broken!
Making votes count equally? No, sold down the river with a dreadful referendum on AV, a non-proportional system. A promise broken!
Fairstart for children? Surestart centres closing. A promise broken!
Break up the banks and make them pay for the damage they caused? No; broken up yes; but the profitable bits sold off at a loss to the taxpayer. A promise broken!
New Green infrastructure? Not with the gutting of the Green Deal. A promise broken!
Sustainable green energy? The feed-in tariff slashed, community renewable subsidies ended and nuclear power the choice for "clean" energy. Er, no... A promise broken!
Fair taxes? Nope - a marginal increase in the tax allowance for everyone (including billionaires) with priority given to cutting income tax by a tenth for people earning at the top rate. With VAT increased, the poor pay proportionately more in tax; the rich even less. Broked again!
A fairer Britain? Wealth gap widening; welfare slashed; unemployment up with only austerity as a response...
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem President, claimed on Question Time last week that of course the Lib Dems are in a Coalition so can't have got everything their own way. If they hadn't gone into coalition, he claimed, the Tories would be in untramelled control. Except that any look at the maths in the Commons shows that the Tories can't do anything without Lib Dem votes. And at the same time, the Lib Dems claims to have implemented most of their election promises...errr??
Well, it doesn't really matter that much. They have sunk to 8% in a number of polls, and that was before we were reminded of their expenditure of £2.4 million of stolen money obtained from the fugitive criminal Michael Brown, finally caught and brought home for trial (and yes he got a dinner or three with then Leader Charles Kennedy). If there was an election tomorrow, UK Polling Report reckons they would be down to just 7 MPs.
Nice music though... I think from a film about zombies...
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