Scrutinising the Liberal Democrats

As the Liberal Democrat poll surge continues, panicked spin doctors from Labour and Tory have been heard muttering darkly about the need for more scrutiny of the Liberal Democrats. In reality, that's actually pretty easy.If ever a party wore its heart on its sleeve, it's us. We are by a million miles much more open and transparent in our policy making process than either of them so any questions you have are easily answered from our online resources. Our manifesto is available here in full so you can see exactly what we stand for. It tells you also how much it will cost, too.

The labservatives make it sound like they've never wasted any time reading a Liberal Democrat manifesto in their lives, which is complete and utter nonsense. In previous elections in our target seats we know all too well what "scrutiny" from the labservatives means - mainly telling all sorts of lies and half truths both about policy and electoral chances.

In 2005, Labour rather limply decided to attack us on local income tax in the face of our opposition to their illegal invasion of Iraq. The model they presented, of a nurse and a firefighter living in a band A or B property was just not realistic and failed to take account of the fact that the majority of people would be better off under our proposals, including the nurse and firefighter. Also on the ground, it seemed like the labservatives were colluding between themselves to try and make it look like we were out of the race.

Take Edinburgh South the seat I was working in in 2005 and 2001. I can't remember which way round this happened but maybe someone else who was there at the time can fill me in, but one of them, I think the red lot, put out a leaflet with a bar chart on it highlighting a "poll" that they had carried out putting Labour in first and the Tories in second. The message, they said, was that Edinburgh South was a 2 horse race between Labour and the Tories. This was complete and utter nonsense as the Liberal Democrats were only a couple of thousand behind Labour in 2001 with the Tories in a distant third.

Anyway, the other labservative then cheekily reproduced the same bar chart on their leaflet to boost their campaign.

And what happened on polling day? Labour won, by the skin of its teeth, with the Liberal Demorats just 405 votes behind and the Tories way back in 3rd, as we always knew they would be.

I am sure that the voters of Edinburgh South will be wiser this time and turn to Fred Mackintosh to get Labour out.

I went canvassing in Newington, Fred's former council ward, on many occasions, and I was always quite touched by the genuine affection people had for him and the respect they felt towards him for the way he'd fought for the area. Well, for the past 3 years, he's been putting in that sort of effort across the entire constituency.

What's happening now is that the labservatives are using the same sorts of tactics on a national level. Tactically we have Vote Clegg get Brown from Cameron and Vote Clegg get Cameron get Brown. They can't both be right. Actually they know fine that it's Clegg who's posing a severe threat to their decades long stranglehold on politics and that people are starting to see that things really could be different. And isn't it just typical that they can't offer the voter anything other than fear of their opponents?

In Scotland, the vote Clegg get Cameron line Labour is using is just bonkers. They are clearly taking the electorate for fools. Where are these places where Labour MPs are at threat from the Tories? Certainly not Dunfermline and West Fife, where the Tories got 8% last time. Labour's domination of that seat was broken - by Willie Rennie for the Liberal Democrats in the 2006 by-election. Since then, he's proved himself to be a popular, hard working and likeable MP who is cammpaigning to stop Labour turning Rosyth into a dumping ground for nuclear submarines, while Labour field a candidate who used to be paid by the nuclear industry to speak on its behalf.

Even before the Tories starting shooting themselves in the foot with dodgy letters to the papers and failing to vote for measures to support businesses with huge rate increases, there was no prospect of any sort of Tory surge up here.

The Labour attack lines which have annoyed me the most over the last 24 hours has been their blatant lies about our plans for tax credits and Winter Fuel Allowance. Let's get it absolutely clear - the people who are most in need will continue to get tax credits. We will reform them so that they are better targetted at the poorest but higher earning families who currently get around £545 in tax credits will get £700 for every taxpayer in the household - that's still a net gain. I'm staggered by Labour's bare faced cheek at attacking us on tax credits when it's them who are taking 50,000 poor families to court because of tax credit overpayments and who have set up a system that's so complex that it doesn't pay out the right amount in a good third of cases.

As for Winter Fuel Payment - if you hear that we're going to scrap it, that too is rubbish. In fact, Labour have presided over a system which pays this out to a couple of still working professional 60 year olds while parents struggling to give a severely disabled child 24 hour care don't get it. We'll sort out that and although we're not going to pay it out automatically until 65, anyone from 60-65 who qualifies for Pension Credit will continue to get it. Another practical example of ensuring that those in most need get most benefit.

So there you have it - the tactics the others will use in the name of scrutiny - cynical misinformation both about electoral chances and policy. Don't let them away with it.

How to help the Liberal Democrats #LibDems

Maybe you've been inspired by Nick Clegg's positive message today, when he said:

"It is a very exciting opportunity for everyone in Britain who wants fairness and real change, who wants something different.

"This isn't the old politics of a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservative Party. The real choice is between the old politics of Labour and Conservatives and something different, something new and that is what we offer."

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Maybe you were impressed by Vince Cable's knockout performance in the Chancellors' Debate last week.

Maybe you have been helped by a local Liberal Democrat Councillor like Daisy Benson or Allan Knox and were impressed by the work they did.

Maybe you were angered by the emptiness in both Brown's pitch, which was basically "vote for us because we're not the Tories?" and Cameron's, who explicitly said "we don't want another 5 years of Gordon Brown."

Perhaps this has motivated you to get involved for the first time, to help in a campaign. It is a great experience. Some of the best fun I've had in my life has been amidst the pressure of an election campaign. There are all sorts of things you can do from stuffing envelopes to delivering leaflets to telephone canvassing to putting a poster up to entering stuff onto a computer to knocking on doors. You can do as much or as little as you want to and you meet all sorts of fabulous people.

Wherever you are in the country you can volunteer here.

I just wanted to mention a few campaigns where friends of mine are standing and who have a real chance of winning. First there are the two energetic Edinburgh candidates, Kevin Lang in North and Leith whose HQ at 5 Bonnington Road Lane is now up and running and who can be contacted on 07786 062 302 and Fred Mackintosh in Edinburgh South, only 405 votes behind Labour who have only just selected a candidate, is based at 4 Grange Road Edinburgh, 0131 662 1513. There's also Katy Gordon in Glasgow North, contactable on 0141 221 3167. In Aberdeen South, local campaigner John Sleigh, who was instrumental in the effort to save Doonies Farm has only 1348 votes to make up. He can be contacted at 173a Crown Street, or 01224 571959.

South of the Border, if you happen to be near Watford, where Nick Clegg is today, Sal Brinton is in a very good position to beat the sitting Labour MP. The added bonus of helping in her campaign is that fellow blogger Sara Beford keeps the Army marching on its stomach with a delicious array of home baking.

Ed Fordham in Hampstead and Kilburn needs only 474 votes to win. He also has been fighting an energetic campaign for several years.

Finally, Bridget Fox, in Islington South and Finsbury, heroine of the emergency motion at Liberal Democrats' Spring conference, whose work has helped to ensure that Lib Dem MPs are opposing the controversial Digital Economy Bill would also make a fabulous MP.

These lovely people will all be able to find you something to do - you never get to the end of your work in an election - there is always more you can do to get your message across or help local people.

It was during the 1983 election that I as an idealistic 15 year old casually wandered into the SDP HQ in Wick looking for a copy of a manifesto - and I've never looked back.

If you want to make a difference in this election, come and join us!

Is there going to be an Election, or something?

In the biggest shock since Ricky Martin decided to share with us that he's gay, Gordon Brown will head to Buckingham Palace today to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament so that a General Election can take place on 6th May. You have to love the quaint traditions we observe in this country. Presumably the Queen will politely pretend that she had no idea that this was going to happen, rather like a wife who's found out her husband's cackhanded plans for her surprise birthday party and chooses not to hurt his feelings by telling him. I just can't help thinking that the Prime Minister and the Queen between them have way too much power. I think that Parlimaents should sit for 4 years at a time, like happens in many other countries, so there can be no doubt about when the election's going to be and a Prime Minister can't delay or bring it forward for political advantage.

You could argue that this power has been part of Gordon's downfall. His dithering over the Election that Never Was in 2007 started the process that was to send his premiership into freefall, leading to a febrile period of rebellion in the Labour Party that could only be quelled by the dark arts of Peter Mandelson.

On 6th May 1910, Britain entered a new era after the death of King Edward VII. Exactly 100 years on, the British have the choice between two futures - more of the same with this lot and Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats. While the Labservatives between them have progressively increased the gap between rich and poor, it's the Liberal Democrats who offer not just policies but a whole new political culture with our four main pledges:

Fair Taxes - raising the tax threshold to £10,000 taking 4 million of the lowest paid out of tax completely and giving others an extra £700 per year. That's several months' Council Tax or rent to many people.

Giving children the best start in life - making sure those children who need it most get the educational support they need to reach their potential. No child should be held back because of their background. Nor should young people be put off going to university because they can't afford the fees - we would phase out tuition fees for all, like we did in Scotland.

Cleaning up politics - giving people the right to sack corrupt MPs, a fair voting system, fixed term parliaments, tighter rules on lobbying and political donations.

Securing the recovery Vince Cable is so effective as Shadow Chancellor that even the Sun has taken to slating him as they did yesterday (no, I'm not linking to them, are you having a laugh?). Both Labour and Conservatives are running scared of our credible and sustainable plans for the economy, investing in green technology, warmer homes, properly dealing with the banking sector so that they can no longer put our economy in peril.

31% of people want Vince Cable as Chancellor. He was the clear winner of last week's Ask the Chancellors debate as judged by cold hearted journalists. Nick Clegg has the highest approval rating of any of the leaders. The more people see of Nick, the more they seem to like him which bodes well for the tv debates.

We're going into this election in a good position, not just in the polls but on the ground. We're better prepared, and have been better organised for longer than I can remember seeing before. I think that the current Scottish Lib Dem contingent in Westminster have a very good chance of being joined by three fantastic friends of mine Katy Gordon in Glasgow North, Fred Mackintosh in Edinburgh South and Kevin Lang in Edinburgh North and Leith, all of whom have been working flat out on their campaigns for a very long time.

This election is wide open, probably the most unpredictable I've ever known. To that 31% who want Vince Cable as Chancellor, or in the 45% of people who think Nick Clegg is doing a good job - well, make it happen. Vote to make them PM and Chancellor. If you all do, they will be. As the meerkat would say, simples.