Nick Clegg has broken his radio silence with an article in the Evening Standard attacking George Osborne's changes to the tax credit system.
He is certainly trying hard:
Osborne is nothing if not wily — he will have calculated, correctly, that this dramatic impact on the fortunes of working people can best be camouflaged in the technical undergrowth of a system most of his political and media audience don’t care to understand.
But next time you hear the claim that the Government is standing up for working people, just remember — it’s A-grade, 24-carat baloney.Meanwhile the the i repeats an allegation we have heard before. It quotes from the new biography of David Cameron by Anthony Seldon and Peter Snowdon:
Tuition fees for university students are to rise, despite a clear Lib Dem pledge to oppose any such increase. Osborne recognises that it will be a significant hit for Clegg (he tells his Tory staff, ‘They are mad to let us do this’), and offers to pass on the proposal telling him the change is not imperative.
Clegg rejects the offer, a momentous decision for the future of the Liberal Democrats, believing again that the change is part of the necessary punishment.
"But next time you hear the claim that the Government is standing up for working people, just remember — it’s A-grade, 24-carat baloney."
ReplyDeleteYes, Nick, we've been aware of that for about the last five years.