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Swimming against the current? Will Nick Clegg turn the tide tomorrow?

THE Liberal Democrats are an optimistic bunch: it’s hard wired into our philosophy. It’s why we support the freedom of the individual, it’s why we trust that they will make the right decisions. Tomorrow, we’ll be trusting that Nick Clegg will make a few more good decisions in his speech to the party faithful.

The signs are encouraging. The Liberal Moment pamphlet Nick launched with Demos last week championed the argument that we are placed to take over the progressive mantle from Labour, who are devoid of ideas and hiding from the press. Nick’s premise is that the situation has flipped from where we were 100 years ago when the Liberals decided to start fighting among themselves, when egos got the way of achieving change and the party lost its way quite spectacularly. If you look at Brown and Mandy’s tussles, Hazel’s rocking of the boat, and a failure that pervades the entire Labour party, you can conclude – as this week’s Bagehot in The Economist did – that Clegg had a point.

But we need policies that will support that view. This week’s announcement by Vince Cable of a property tax on properties valued at over a million pounds, with a larger tax on those over £4million, is welcome. Nick needs to flesh it out somewhat, explaining how we would make it work – that it is genuinely redistributive, genuinely progressive.  The true Lib Dem die-hards are even getting excited that this could, in years to come, lead to the Lib Dems adopting Land Value Taxation as their policy.

Nick will also need to articulate how in our new austere environment he will deliver the cuts that will be needed. Describing them as savage was a bold move, and the document Vince Cable launched last week put some meat to those ideas, including some painful decisions for Wales in Broughton and St Athan, and some eminently sensible ones about reducing the number of ministers in the Cabinet. When Wales receives full law making powers, as it should, there won’t be the need for a full time Secretary of State as so much more of what Wales wants will be decided by Welsh people themselves. The Western Mail seem to think this is big news, but really it’s just common sense.

Honesty and integrity in our policies and our politics is another plank of Nick’s speech we hope to see tomorrow. No political party will have credibility at the next election without explaining how they will right our public finances. For once, the Lib Dems aren’t being overly optimistic about the challenges we face as a country (both Wales and the UK) and laying out how they respond. Positioned right, it will lay down a gauntlet that the Tories and Labour will need to match. As Gordon Brown can’t even mention the word ‘cuts’ at the TUC without a lukewarm response, it seems unlikely the ducks will align for him. It will be a test of George Osborne’s competence and gravitas as to if he can match the Lib Dems’ response to the austere environment with similar honesty.

It’s an honesty that’s much needed in politics right now. As a sector it’s not been the best of years for politicians. iPods on expenses looks like small fry compared to the downright disgusting behaviour of some people in Westminster. Putting some integrity back into our political system is essential. And while the Lib Dems’ may well have led the field in calling for greater transparency, let’s hope we’ll see Nick challenge the other party leaders to do the same now. This is one case where political parties should work together to achieve speedy change.

There is and has been an elephant in the room that Nick will need to charm in his speech tomorrow: tuition Fees. We shouldn’t as a party have sacred cows that can never be slaughtered. Down that road lies stale tedium. But because the BBC could find not one person who said they supported ending our policy, it rather suggests this cow should be here to stay. Some delegates – and I am among them – do understand the queries that Nick has raised. Like him, I think fees are wrong in principle. Like him, I agree that it’s going to be harder to fund big spending pledges in the current climate. I also hope that, like him, I will still see the abolition of tuition fees and acquisition of knowledge as a priority – priority enough to receive funding.

If Nick can do those things tomorrow he will give the Welsh Lib Dems a great springboard for the General Election next year, and a great narrative to Kirsty and the team to further develop in Wales, to work on all those Labour seats, as they remain unable to craft any sort of progressive narrative to respond to the recession. Plaid’s collectivist philosophy may well be found wanting in the same way. Meanwhile, the Tories seem to be groping around for a response. Talk of increasing the cost of salads will not plug the public spending hole.

The large contingent of Welsh people at conference have good reason to be optimistic. It’s not just our outlook, it’s our message. It’s our opportunity to finally reclaim the progressive mantle.