Nick Clegg: Our rivals have deserted centre ground

It’s been a hard slog – for everybody – but one that is beginning to pay off. The economy is recovering, the deficit is coming down, more people are in work and wages are starting to overtake inflation.

The central question in this year’s election is simply this: who is best placed to finish the job and do so fairly?

There are two huge risks which now loom large: the threat from those whose plans would undo the economic repair job; and the threat from the populists who want to put their own interests ahead of the interests of the country.

The biggest threat to our economy comes from Labour and the Conservatives, both of whom are reverting to type as the election approaches.

Labour say: “Trust us, we’ll fix the economy and raise living standards”. But they won’t. They are a clear and present danger to the recovery. Their economic policy consists of huge borrowing and total denial about their responsibility for what happened last time.

We’ve already had the risible sight of Ed Balls claiming Labour are the party of the centre ground. Here you have the man who, as City Minister, let the banks get away with utterly irresponsible behaviour, now claiming he is the guy you should trust with the economic recovery.

It’s like waking up to find a late night voicemail from an ex saying that they’ve changed and it will all be different if only you give them one more chance.

But it won’t be different. Labour will borrow and borrow. Under Labour, we could be paying billions more every year just on the interest on our debt – money that should be spent on schools, hospitals and frontline public services.

On the other hand you have the Conservatives unveiling posters saying we should stay on “the road to a stronger economy”. We should. But they don’t plan to stay on the road, they want to stray far from it. They’re trying to sell you an ideological approach of cuts to public services packaged up as continuity.

It’s a con. It’s like a mobile phone salesman offering to renew your existing contract and then cutting the amount of calls you can make.

Take education for example. The coalition protected the schools budget in this parliament because the Lib Dems fought for it. Tory plans mean education will have to be cut by a quarter – a quarter! – by 2020. And that’s just one unprotected department.

They have made a choice to remorselessly cut the money for public services even after the deficit has been eliminated. And their cuts will be even deeper because they have committed to £7bn of unfunded tax cuts and will not ask for a single penny more in tax from the very wealthy. That’s not sticking to the plan. That is a new plan to shelter the very wealthy and impose unnecessary cuts to public services.

So don’t fall for it. Labour and Tory majorities would be a massive risk to our economy and our public services.

The Liberal Democrats will borrow less than Labour and cut less than the Conservatives. And because we are cutting less and spending less on debt interest we will be able to ensure the NHS has the full funding that it needs.

The Liberal Democrats may have suffered from entering into coalition in 2010, but we patently did so in the national interest and brought stability to our government.

We’ve been attacked from the start by vested interests on the left and right for the very fact of coalition and the compromise and moderation it brings.

I will always defend the values of British liberalism – of compassion, fairness and tolerance – as party politics becomes more fragmented and extreme than before.

Because coalition – the ability to compromise, to strike the right balance between extremes – is what has helped pilot the country through some of its most testing times over the last five years. It has enabled us to start the work of building a stronger economy and a fairer society, so that everyone has the opportunity to get on in life.

A strong coalition government, with Liberal Democrats anchoring it in the centre ground, remains the best way 
to make sure we finish the job and finish it fairly.

Nick Clegg is leader of the Liberal Democrats and the Sheffield Hallam MP.