By Emma McHale and Wenli Cheng
Liberal Democrats campaign
The voters’ decisive rejection of the Liberal Democrats in Sheffield was a “harsh” verdict on the party, according to the city’s Lib Dem leader.
Paul Scriven, said he was “very disappointed” to lose and believed people would come to regret voting the Lib Dems out.
“People will look back and think they were a bit harsh to the Liberal Democrats,” he told Jusnews reporters at last night’s count.
But Mr Scriven gave his backing to national leader Nick Clegg who is being blamed today for the party’s poor showing at the polls.
Mr Scriven described this year’s campaign as “very long”.
He said: “I am clearly aware that there are some national issues around, which no matter who was in Government were probably going to take some pain as people feel very apprehensive about the future.
Culprits
“But I genuinely believe that in the long term these difficult decisions have got to be taken. We can’t keep borrowing four hundred million pounds a day and the Government’s got to get that under control.”
“What’s happened here is like an economic fire, where the fire fighters have turned up and are getting blamed for starting the fire. Where the real culprits for starting the fire have suddenly become gods. They’ve left you and I with four hundred million pound of debt every single day and that’s why we’re having to borrow as a country.
“I believe that in the future, people will look back and think “actually we were a bit harsh on the Liberal Democrats in 2011 because there were things that Nick Clegg brought to the Government like fairer taxes, money for the most deprived kids in terms of the pupil premium, pensioners being £1000 better off than when the lifetime of the pension and 2000 extra apprenticeships.”
Vision
“What I do know about Nick Clegg is this: He’s a politician who is thinking about the future. Your future and my future. He’s wanting to get the economy right. He’s got the back bone, the vision and the goal to stand there and take the crap that’s been thrown at him for our long term interests. What he hasn’t done is what Tony Blair and Gordon Brown used to do is to take short-term party advantage based on an opinion poll or a focus group. We are in this for the long run to sort out the future, not just for us.
“But for the generations that come after us to make sure the country’s stable. I’ve got every confidence in Nick Clegg for having the backbone, the focus and the vision to get us out of this mess and really importantly bring a sense of fairness to the Government.
Listen to the full interview