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Below is the text of the speech made by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, to the BIS Manufacturing Summit in Liverpool on 19th June 2014.

Growing optimism

For the first time, I think, since these summits began, there’s a real sense of optimism emerging – albeit cautiously – about the future of British manufacturing.

Our economy is growing again – with Britain forecast to grow faster than any other G7 economy this year.

We have more people in work than ever before – with your businesses adding around 10,000 new manufacturing jobs to our economy every month.

Orders are increasing. Exports are rising. Output is up.

And, to take just one example, Britain now has the most productive car sector in Europe. We’re exporting more vehicles than ever before – with a new vehicle rolling off our production lines every 20 seconds. By 2017, UK industry predicts that Britain will be producing 2 million cars a year, beating our all-time peak of 1.92 million in 1972.

That’s no accident. It’s down to your hard work, your expertise and the close partnership you’ve built with our government – especially Vince and his team – to help Britain get back on its feet.

Why manufacturing matters

Yet, of course, whatever these results, there’s always going to be an economist or statistician ready to point to a pie-chart and question the ongoing importance of British manufacturing. Some talk about global shifts in demand, the rise of lower-cost competitors and say that manufacturing is only around 10% of our economy.

In truth, its impact is so much more. I only need to look at Sheffield, the city where I’m an MP, to see how much your success still matters. In fact, travel anywhere in the UK and ask people about the place they come from and they’ll talk with pride about the industries and products that put their communities on the map.

To name just a few – in Sheffield it’s steel. In Sunderland, Birmingham and across the North West it’s cars. In the Highlands, it’s whisky. In County Antrim, it’s buses. In Broughton, it’s planes. And hopefully in years to come, here on the Wirral, it will be building renewable technologies.

Your industries create a whole network of businesses that keep our local communities’ economies alive.

Take the good news that Jaguar Land Rover will be investing a further £200 million in their Halewood plant, near Speke. This investment will bring production of the new Discovery vehicle to Halewood in 2015, creating 250 jobs. And will increase Halewood’s workforce to 4,750 – trebling it since 2010.

Currently, this plant is producing a new Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Freelander at the rate of one vehicle every 82 seconds. Over 80% of everything they build at Halewood is exported to markets including Brazil, India, China, the US and Hong Kong.

Yet this is only part of the story, with countless local businesses supporting the plant across its supply chain. Companies like GETRAG, which produces transmissions for these vehicles and recently received investment from the Regional Growth Fund to expand its Merseyside plant.

Beyond that, we also have the hundreds of service companies that contribute. Whether it’s the accountants or legal services used by Head Office, the building services teams that maintain JLR’s factories and offices, the sales teams that market their cars around the UK or the local pubs, cafes and shops that serve their employees after a hard day at work. The reality is your companies are creating jobs, driving growth and boosting productivity in manufacturing and services.

And, as a sector, you delivered around £140 billion in GVA (gross value added) last year alone. You produce over half our exports in goods; invest more than anyone else in UK business R&D; and employ millions of highly-skilled people.

With figures like that you’d never get a French politician talking down their manufacturing industry. And the UK’s manufacturing base is growing faster than France’s right now!

Our commitment to you

That’s why, when we joined this coalition government, we were committed to sitting down with you to set out what Britain’s long-term industrial strategy should be.

It’s a conversation that had been long overdue: tackling the big issues that impact your companies – skills, access to finance, procurement, innovation and technology – and identifying the levers government could pull to help you grow.

And we’re delivering on our promises – with globally competitive taxes, less red tape and more generous capital allowances.

We’re establishing the British Business Bank to help make finance markets work better for small firms. And we have set up the Green Investment Bank – which is leveraging extra private sector investment for major green projects. This includes the partial conversion of the Drax Coal Power Station to biomass fuels – which when completed will provide around 10% of the UK’s 2020 renewable electricity target.

We’ve created our Catapult Centres – a national network of cutting-edge business research facilities, dedicated to commercialising the latest processes, materials and technologies.

Earlier this month, Vince and I opened a new Rolls-Royce facility in Washington, Tyne and Wear, which uses innovations developed at our Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield: to radically cut the time and energy it takes to produce essential engine components.

And Vince’s announcement today of a new £7 million grant to support research into cutting-edge aerospace technologies at Sheffield’s AMRC will help secure the UK’s global lead in this sector also.

More widely, we’ve expanded our apprenticeships programme, with 1.7 million new apprentices since 2010.

And, wherever possible, we’re giving power back to local councils, colleges and businesses like yours – through our Local Enterprise Partnerships, our Regional Growth Fund, as well as City Deals and the billions of pounds worth of Growth Deals we’re now negotiating. Together, this is helping to boost local skills and kick-start local infrastructure projects like the development of new transport systems and roads to support your business.

I’ve also established a new Local Growth Committee – which brings together ministers from across government to speed up the critical decisions needed in Whitehall to get projects in your local area moving.

Planning for the future

But despite all the progress the job’s not done.

And I know that, as the economy improves, many of you are questioning just how committed Whitehall will be to sticking to this strategy in the long-term.

You work in industries where it can take you years to develop your next big idea: whether it’s 3 to 5 years to develop a new car, 10 years to produce a new drug and up to 15 years to design and build a new aircraft.

These long timescales do not sit easily with the minute-by-minute demands and 5-year election cycles of the political world. And, over and over again, in Britain, we’ve seen politics not business drive the focus and scope of our country’s industrial policy.

And it’s staggering to see that, in the 10 years of the last government, the importance of our manufacturing base to Britain’s economy was left to decline 3 times faster than it did under Margaret Thatcher – shrinking from 20% as a proportion of our economy to a little over 10%.

Compare this to France, Germany and Asia where, for decades, your competitors have benefited from governments committed to preserving their countries’ industrial strengths, whatever the global challenges.

Taking the politics out of industrial policy

In my view, it’s time we had that same kind of certainty and stability here in Britain. The way I see it is like this: if this 5 year parliament was about rescuing the British economy, the next will be about renewing our economy. If this parliament was about reviving our economy, the next must be about finishing the job of rebalancing our economy.

It is about ensuring that we’re never again reliant on just one sector, just one region or over rely on simply boosting public sector jobs to shore up growth across our country. And, to make that happen, we need British governments – now and in the future – to act in a more strategic and less short-term way.

To put it bluntly – we need to take the politics out of Britain’s industrial policy. The country needs us to establish a cross party consensus – strong enough to last in this parliament and beyond – which isn’t about picking winners, on the one hand, or leaving it all up to the market, on the other. But, instead, builds on the work of individuals from across parties – such as the Conservative’s Lord Heseltine, Labour’s Lord Mandelson and Vince in the Liberal Democrats – to lay the best possible foundations for the future.

I know as much as anyone about trading blows in the Westminster bear pit. And I’m not going to pretend that’s going to end anytime soon. Yet, as we’ve seen in the last 4 years, there are times when – in the national interest – we need to put the political point scoring aside.

And whether it’s tackling the deficit, securing long term pension reform, creating the Office of Budget Responsibility or delivering the biggest programme of economic decentralisation in a generation – we are committed to pushing through the big, ambitious reforms Britain needs to make its economy stronger and prospects brighter, working with others across party lines where needed.

We’re committed to governing for the long-term – guaranteeing a government that is ready, on the one hand, to get out of the way of your businesses, so you can generate jobs and growth.

And that, on the other, is equipped to step in – where needed – to tackle market failures and create the best possible conditions for securing your success.

So, today, I want to set out 3 possible policy areas where, I believe, we could achieve the long-term, cross-party agreement we need. It starts with government’s industrial strategy.

Supply chain strategy

Over the past 4 years, working in collaboration with you, this government has been able to set out a long-term plan to boost Britain’s competitiveness and secure jobs.

The importance of this work shouldn’t be underestimated. For example, Richard Parry Jones – co-chair of the Automotive Council – has talked about the critical role that our industrial strategy is playing in securing that sector’s recent success.

Businesses have confidence in our industrial strategy, because they have helped to develop it and they’re helping us deliver the strategy. And this powerful partnership gives us the chance to rectify some of those mistakes of the past – notably, by strengthening Britain’s supply chains.

Every time a UK manufacturer has moved overseas in the past 40 years, we’ve seen the local companies that support them disappear too. Company by company, this has led to a hollowing out of the UK’s domestic supply chain – meaning that over half of the materials and components used in British manufacturing are now sourced from overseas.

But, if we move now, I believe that trend can be reversed. As you know, the Fukushima earthquake 3 years ago heavily impacted global supply chains – forcing factory closures in Japan and months of production delays across the world. That’s led to companies like Nissan taking a serious look at basing more of their supply chains here in the UK to mitigate problems like this in the future.

I believe a new UK Supply Chain Strategy – developed in collaboration with your core UK suppliers – would help us identify how we can turn that intention into long-term investment. These supply industries are huge, important sectors in their own right – our steel makers, petrochemical companies, glass producers and so on – all of which employ thousands of people and generate millions for our economy.

Leading business organisations, including the CBI, believe that real potential exists for the UK’s share of global supply chains to be much higher. And, to help make that achievable, I believe this new strategy should focus on answering 3 central questions:

What exactly are the big issues your sectors face in basing more of your supply chain in the UK?

What are the common barriers to investment and growth in the UK’s supply chain sectors – such as access to finance, regulation and research etc?

How can we tackle these issues to make the most of opportunities like major government-supported infrastructure projects?

Take our offshore wind industry – which is so important to this region’s future. By 2020, it’s estimated that there will be around £40 billion worth of renewable electricity projects in the UK. Yet only around 20% of the components needed to build our offshore wind farms are currently being sourced in the UK. Think of the opportunities for local jobs and growth, if – together – we could increase that figure. Siemens are already paving the way, with their £160 million planned investment in UK turbine manufacturing.

The other major weakness of the past which needs addressing will be familiar to you – skills. We’re already doing a lot of work to increase the number and quality of apprenticeships available, by giving you greater input into these qualifications, and also to make it easier for you to recruit and train the young people you need for the future.

And, recently, Vince announced his plans for a new network of National Colleges – centres of excellence dedicated to giving people the high-level technical skills required to work on huge projects like the development of High-Speed 2.

We’re now consulting with you on the priority projects and skills gaps that you think these colleges should address. For instance, boosting the skills and training needed in the offshore wind industry will give people highly transferable skills which they can use not just in one sector but across our economy as a whole.

These kinds of skills are highly transferable, giving people a greater shot not just at employment in one sector but also across our economy. And this could be another critical opportunity for businesses like yours to help develop Britain’s future workforce.

Regional Growth Fund

Finally, with public finances likely to remain tight in the next Parliament, we also need to look at where government can best focus its money to continue that rewiring of Britain’s economy.

Gradually, we’re repairing the economic mess of the previous government – but it can’t be fixed overnight. Between 1998 and 2008, cities like Birmingham and Nottingham actually saw their private sector workforces shrink even in the boom years. This has left behind a profound imbalance in our regional economies – increasing their reliance on public sector employers for jobs.

That’s why we established the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) to help kick-start private sector investment and jobs in areas like this. And, over the past 4 years, government has committed to invest £2.9 billion in over 400 projects focused on increasing business competitiveness across our regions. This includes companies in Merseyside like Glen Dimplex Appliances, where I visited recently, a manufacturer of cookers and ovens, which secured £3 million in RGF funding to expand their operations – creating 300 new jobs.

And I’m pleased to announce that Round 6 of the RGF opens today, with over £200 million available. We’re encouraging bids directly from companies that require grants of more than £1 million, as well as from organisations like Chambers of Commerce, universities and others to help support SMEs who require funding of less than a million. So, if that’s you, please apply.

Of course, there are some who complain that our RGF money isn’t getting spent fast enough. They’re comparing it to the days when the last government would just hand over money to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to spend as they saw fit. But we’ve changed that – we’ve put the businesses that secure this funding in the driving seat. They decide when this money is spent in line with the growth plans for their companies.

And this is proving a powerful stimulus for business investment in those regions that need it. In total, for every £1 invested through the RGF, we’ve leveraged over £5 in extra private investment: creating and safeguarding over half a million jobs across the UK. This compares to the RDAs which only leveraged 65p for every £1 they spent.

But, we’ve still got a way to go to clear up the damage done to our long-term competitiveness. That’s why I believe there’s such a strong case for extending the RGF beyond this parliament to 2020.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, together, we’re building a better future for British manufacturing.

We’re delivering results, but we mustn’t stop now.

Together, we’ve got to ensure that the hard work of the last 4 years continues to pay off.

And this is my commitment to you – that I will do everything I can to build a long term political consensus focused on helping your sectors thrive, your companies grow and securing a stronger economy for Britain’s future. Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, on international development, made in Shoreditch, London on 28th May 2014.

Development myths

Stand on any British high street with a collecting tin and you’ll quickly lose count of all of the people willing to put their hand in their pocket for a good cause.

When disaster strikes – the Pakistan floods, the humanitarian crisis in Syria – the British people are always among the first in the world to give what they can. And yet if you stopped those same people to ask them how much our government gives in foreign aid every year, you’d probably get a more distorted response.

How much we give

The myths about Britain’s development commitments, peddled vigorously by aid sceptics, are sadly now rooted in many people’s imaginations. On average, the British public believe that around 20% of all the money the UK government spends in a year goes on foreign aid. In reality, we spend 0.7% of our nation’s income. That in itself is an historic achievement: we are now the first of the world’s wealthiest countries to meet this long-held promise.

It is still a lot of money. But, to put it into some kind of perspective, it’s less than what we spend on takeaways every year.

Where UK aid goes

Then there are the claims that the bulk of this money is effectively stolen – lining the pockets of corrupt officials overseas. Again, not true. The UK government has some of the toughest procedures possible in place to ensure the money gets to the right people.

Under this coalition, we assess UK development programmes every year to check their value for money. And every 2 years, we review our work with international partners like the World Bank. We check that our money is going to the right place. And when it isn’t, we shut programmes down. We also ask the Independent Commission for Aid Impact to take a tough look at DFID’s work, so Parliament – through the Commons International Development Committee – can ensure it meets the highest standards.

And the public is now able to go online and check the purpose, scope and details of all DFID’s programmes via the Dev Tracker website. Here they can see exactly what DFID spends their money on, even the funds we invest via NGOs like Save the Children and CAFOD. And – despite what the sceptics say – it’s simply not the case that people’s taxes are frittered away, wasted on irrelevant projects or problems we cannot solve.

Britain does a huge amount of good with this money; alleviating human suffering in some of the most dangerous and deprived parts of the world. When disasters strike like Super Typhoon Haiyan, we are always amongst the first on the scene and the most generous.

We work with communities where people have virtually nothing and help them protect their children from diseases, their families from starvation and women and girls from violence and rape. We are working to end wars. We are helping millions of boys and girls to go to school so they can one day play their part in giving their nations a better future. We are helping to protect the planet from climate change – the greatest challenge of our time.

The right thing to do; the smart thing to do

And the things we do with this money are also clearly in Britain’s own interests too: making our people safer and more prosperous.

When Pakistan can’t prevent young men getting radicalised and trained by militants within its borders, that can lead to terrorist attacks on our streets. When Somalia can’t tackle the problem of piracy, it disrupts the trade routes of UK businesses. When droughts destroy the crops of farmers in the developing world, global food prices spike and it hits the pockets of families here at home. And when countries like Brazil and others can’t put a stop to deforestation, it increases the chances of us and everyone else being hit by floods and extreme weather.

So when the coalition said that we would not sacrifice aid spending as we dealt with the deficit to fix our economy; that we would not balance the books on the backs of the world’s poorest; that we would meet our commitments to spending 0.7% of our nation’s wealth on development come what may; we did so not only because it is the right thing for Britain to do, but also because it was the smart thing for Britain to do.

Who we are

So let the aid sceptics continue to campaign against these efforts. Their cynicism is, I believe, out of step with our national interest and with the compassion we feel as a country towards those who are suffering elsewhere. They might want to sneer at the generosity of the British people. I will be even more staunch in standing up for the UK’s development programmes.

The help we provide is the hallmark of a Britain that is open, compassionate and engaged in the world – an expression of who we are. It must be defended with renewed energy and vigour against the forces of insularity and xenophobia which are now on the march.

As of last year, we are spending 0.7%, and that is a huge achievement.

The debate that matters now

And beyond this issue of how much we spend, there’s arguably the more important question of what we spend the money on?

In fact, for me, this is the debate that matters most. Not if we spend 0.7% on this, but where that money should go.

The world is changing. It can no longer be carved up along the same old dividing lines: rich vs poor; north vs south; developed vs developing. Power has shifted with dizzying speed from west to east and from north to south. And the paradox is that some of the world’s fastest growing countries are now the most impoverished, the most unstable. In fact, 75% of the world’s poorest people now live in these so-called Middle Income Countries.

These are the millions that still have to live on less than £1 a day – far less than the cost of our daily cup of coffee. And this reality – that most of these people now live in countries growing faster than our own – leads to legitimate questions about whether we should still be helping them.

Nigeria

Nigeria is a good case in point. Right now, everyone is agreed that the world should help bring back the school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Yet that hasn’t stopped some aid sceptics commenting that, once the girls are found, the UK – as a major development donor to Nigeria and the only country working on development projects in the north of the country – should just get out. They point to Nigeria’s rising GDP, its vast oil reserves, investment in satellite technology and the fact it’s now Africa’s richest country as proof that it should sort out its own problems.

Yet beyond these economic statistics, there’s a more complex human reality. A lack of governance, a lack of investment and a lack of capacity means that Nigeria isn’t making as much of its natural resources as it could. And, every day, a rising population, growing poverty and the increasing threat of crime and violence means that Nigeria is simply running to catch up. 1 in 10 of the world’s poor now live in Nigeria. 1 in 6 of the world’s children not in school are in Nigeria. The situation is particularly bleak in the north, where living conditions are as tough as in any warzone. Targeted attacks by Boko Haram on vaccination centres threaten a polio epidemic across the region. And just last week, the country was hit by a wave of bombing attacks.

What Nigeria shows us is that you can’t judge a country’s progress by its economic statistics alone. Every one of these countries experiencing rapid growth, and undergoing huge change, is on a journey, taking them from poverty to prosperity.

The UK’s development programmes are designed to help them complete that journey. Everything DFID does is to ensure that, in the end, they don’t need us anymore – that they can be independent of outside help. Of course, countries like Nigeria are ultimately responsible for providing for their own people. But everything in our history tells us that, if we walk away from a country too early – midway through that journey – things just get worse.

A tailored approach to development in a more complex world

That’s why I don’t believe it is right that we just arbitrarily cut off our help when a country hits a certain GDP target. We need to look at this on a country by country basis: delivering a more tailored approach to development in a more complex world. That means we need to know exactly where these countries are located along that long journey. And, for me, this is a job for the whole global community, working with the World Bank, OECD and others.

Organisations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are also critical to this work. For example, in 2011, working with the Gates Foundation, we were able to leverage extra funds that will enable GAVI to vaccinate nearly 250 million children, saving around 4 million lives by 2015.

Working with other organisations allows us to take a collective view on the form of aid and assistance most appropriate to a country’s development, for instance when to move from conventional aid to providing more of what’s known as technical assistance to a country.

That means ensuring they have strong political, economic and social institutions and practices to support their continued growth. More accountable, effective and transparent parliaments and public sector organisations; a free press; the rule of law; better education and human rights protections – these are the best tools people have to guarantee power is spread from governments and elites right out across society.

So right now, for example, teams of UK tax experts – set up by Danny Alexander – are working in countries like Afghanistan and Tanzania: using HMRC expertise to train government officials to collect the taxes due from businesses and wealthy individuals within their borders.

3 years ago, I launched our £355 million Girls Education Challenge, which is working to help a million girls in the toughest circumstances across the world, by 2016, improve their lives by getting into school. And Lynne Featherstone is looking at how we can do the same to help children with disabilities around the world who are excluded from school.

While Ed Davey at the Department of Energy and Climate Change is leading on work – through the International Climate Fund and other programmes – to help millions of people in developing countries prevent and adapt to the growing risks of climate change.

And in all of this, of course, we need to be clear to these countries that, as we help them, we expect them to respect the rights of their own people. That’s why the human rights’ protections set out in our partnership agreements with them are so important. They should know that the help we give depends on them doing what is right and fair for all their citizens.

Female genital mutilation (FGM)

And that includes protecting those who are most at risk. That’s why we’ve fought so hard for strong action from the UK government, and others, on female genital mutilation or cutting. This is one of the most extreme manifestations of gender-based violence there is, but for most of its 4,000 year history no-one even talked about it.

Now, finally, thanks to the committed work of campaigners like Nimko Ali and Leyla Hussain and my Lib Dem colleague Lynne Featherstone that taboo is finally being broken. This practice is being brought out of the shadows.

It’s already illegal here in the UK and in many countries around the world. Yet, despite this, millions of girls around the world are still at risk of FGM – a staggering 3 million girls in Africa alone.

Right now, the first thing many of them know about this threat is when one day, terrified, they’re physically held down and harmed. And what follows is a lifetime of excruciating pain and trauma, serious health issues and, more often than not, dangerous complications in childbirth.

But, together, working across nations and creeds, I really believe we can end FGM within a generation. I believe we can protect and empower these girls. And I want to pay tribute here to Lynne for her tireless work – from Burkina Faso to Kenya, around the United Kingdom and inside government – to increase the public’s understanding of this unnecessary, harmful practice and promote the voices of FGM survivors worldwide.

Last year, Lynne announced a £35 million DFID programme to end FGM worldwide within a generation. And, building on this work, this summer, the UK is holding a major international summit to take our campaign around the world and also address the problem of child and forced marriage too.

But it’s no good doing great things abroad, if we don’t also take a long hard look at what’s happening here as well. This isn’t just some mysterious ritual that only happens in far-off places. Shockingly, each year, more than 20,000 British girls are at risk of FGM too. Just imagine, that’s roughly the equivalent of all the pupils in 20 UK secondary schools.

There are already some brilliant young activists like Fahma Mohamed talking about these issues to young people, to parents and to communities and governments across the world and they deserve our unswerving support.

Working with partners

Like many of you in this room, they’re blazing a trail; they’re telling us what needs to be done. And I want them to know that we will act. Many of them are using the power of the internet – publishing blogs, producing videos and organising Twitter campaigns – to get their message out there. And, again and again, activists are showing us how much more we can achieve by harnessing these technologies.

This is why our work with organisations like the Omidyar Network is so important. Over the last 2 years, together, with the Network’s support, we’ve been able to kick start tech-projects that can empower people across the globe. This includes:

– tech-solutions to help citizens in Uganda and Kenya highlight government corruption and fight for redress

– women and young people in Liberia reporting sexual abuse and influencing future legislation to protect them

– new mothers in Nigeria giving feedback on the care they’ve received to improve services

Giving these people a voice and a chance of a better life where they didn’t have one before.

And, finally, this reinforces how much more we can achieve together – we can’t do any of this in isolation. By working with other countries, NGOs, foundations, businesses and multilateral institutions like the EU, we can extend our reach to the remotest villages, the toughest terrain and the people who are hardest to reach.

Take just a handful of projects represented here today – in Uganda, we’re providing clean water and better sanitation with Water Aid. We’re helping fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan with Amnesty. In East Africa, we’re helping to improve children’s health with UNICEF and so on.

And, as part of the European Union, the world’s largest development assistance donor, the UK’s voice is louder and influence stronger in countries where human rights violations and environmental abuse are taking place.

This is why I’m so committed to multilateralism – because it’s plainly in our own national interest. Moving forward, I’m keen that the EU develops closer partnerships with other organisations like the African Union and new emerging leaders in development like Brazil.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, In the last 2 decades, we’ve seen the greatest progress in human history to lift people out of poverty. But the job’s not done. And no matter what the aid sceptics say there really is no ‘them and us’ – climate change, terrorism, better health and the need for growth and jobs matter to all of us. Rich or poor, north or south, developed or developing, we all simply want a better future and a chance to get on.

For me, nothing perhaps exemplifies that more than the story of 2 young girls I met – 1 in a school in Tower Hamlets and 1 in a school in Addis Adaba. When I asked each of these girls what they wanted to be when they grew up, despite all of the differences and distances between them, both answered, “I want to be Prime Minister one day” (They didn’t say Deputy PM).

These young girls, and millions like them, deserve the chance to achieve their dreams.

That’s the reality that makes you do the work you do. It’s the ambition that drives Britain’s commitment to development.

And it’s why I will always fight for the same things abroad as we do at home: stronger economies and fairer societies for all.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, to the Scottish Chamber of Commerce on 19th May 2014.

I want to thank the Scottish Chambers of Commerce for hosting today’s event. As businesses, you rely on the Chambers’ advice and expertise to help you succeed. And you’re relying on that same support as you sort fact from fiction in the current Scottish Independence debate.

So I want to reassure you that I’m not here to drown you in further statistics or reel off a long list of statistical claims and counter claims about the independence debate.

But I am here as someone who is proudly British, as well as English, and leads a party with strong Scottish roots and a clear positive vision for Scotland’s future in the UK.

And today I want to set out why I believe that our nations will always be stronger together than apart in an increasingly uncertain, fluid and interconnected world

This is an argument of the head and the heart – a positive case built on a great shared past, and the potential of a great shared future.

Firstly, it recognises that the UK’s success isn’t just some lucky accident, but a direct result of the close political, economic and social ties that bind us – pulling us together as families, workmates, colleagues and partners.

And, secondly, it argues for what more we could achieve in the future.

Over the last three centuries, we’ve worked together, lived together and faced the world together.

We’ve created some of the most respected and enduring institutions in the world – our welfare state, the Royal Society and the Edinburgh Festival.

And whether it’s Adam Smith laying the foundations of our modern economy…

…Our lawyers leading on the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…

…Our scientists working together to discover life-saving drugs like penicillin…

…Or even Sir Chris Hoy racing around the velodrome at London 2012.

…again and again, we’ve blazed a trail.

We’ve extended our nations’ reach and influence far beyond our borders and shores.

As part of a single domestic market with its view fixed resolutely outward, British products – Scottish products – have unparalleled market access, with an embassy and consular network that can promote them around the world.

But Britain abroad is not just about selling things.

It’s about using our size and scale as a force for good – as a strong voice in the EU, UN Security Council, NATO and G7.

That includes the UK taking a lead in global development, doing what we can as a country to help others – peacekeeping in Bosnia, humanitarian help in the Philippines and working in Nigeria, to help them bring back the kidnapped school girls.

Today’s UK offers Scots a platform from which to achieve success and export the best of our common values around the world.

And the reality is that our ability to do that isn’t undermined by our differences, but strengthened by them.

It gives us a richness and diversity that, down the years, has fed into our culture, language, history, sport and national traditions.

It’s created an incredibly powerful sense of community across the UK that means when we’re in trouble or face big challenges we stand together.

So whether that’s caring for our ageing population or stepping in to help those struggling to get back on their feet again, we have the resources to support them.

Organised Crime. Terrorism. None of us are insulated against these problems now. And together, we can better protect our citizens – with cross-border police operations and the work of our intelligence services

And, as part of the UK, when we’re hit with a once-in-a generation shock to our economy, with our financial sector in freefall, we know that our shoulders are broad enough.

We saw that six years ago. And, together, we’ve rebuilt the UK economy on the foundations of our strong, stable currency union, shared regulatory and fiscal systems and collective financial clout to boost the UK’s competiveness.

Above all else, this is a shared recovery driven by our shared strengths – in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

That includes helping our financial sector to recover and grow. In the last four years, we’ve made the UK one of the most competitive places for asset management in the world, an industry in which Scottish firms lead.

We’ve invested in the UK’s energy sector, whether that’s basing our UK Green Investment Bank here in Edinburgh, supporting major renewable projects in the Outer Moray Firth or Grimsby; or securing a strong future for our oil and gas industries.

And we’re helping the UK’s other major industries, like the Scotch whisky industry access new markets and drive growth – with targeted measures such as the spirit duty freeze in this year’s budget.

In all of this, we’re doing what we can to back businesses large and small – helping smaller employers meet the costs of employment by introducing a £2,000 NI tax cut, or access the finance they need by setting up the British Business Bank.

And together our economy is turning a corner.

We’re growing faster than any other G7 country – with seven straight quarters of growth in Scotland.

We’ve cut the deficit by a third, with it forecast to be reduced by a half by 2014-15

There are now more people in work than ever before. And last year, the UK was the top destination for foreign direct investment in Europe – with Scotland attracting its highest level of foreign investment for 15 years.

And in the coming days and months, you have two big decisions to make about whether Scotland builds on that recovery or goes it alone.

The first is your vote in the Euro-elections. For which our standard bearer is your MEP George Lyon. The second is, of course, a Yes or No to Scottish Independence.

Some would argue that these two events are incomparable. The Euros happen every five years, while the vote to decide Scotland’s constitutional future is a once-in-a-generation decision.

But both come down to choosing the kinds of nations we want to live in.

On the one side you have those whose first impulse is to talk up difference, create division, pretending we live in a world where states can still thrive when they stand alone.

On the other, you have those of us who believe that the challenges of a global world are best met by removing barriers, embracing diversity and seeking common solutions.

The reality is we live in a world where our greatest challenges have little respect for borders: climate change, terrorism, organised crime…

…where power is shifting from West to East.

… where our fates are increasingly tied – and decisions taken in Washington, Beijing, Moscow and indeed Kiev all impact us here at home…

…and where your biggest competitors are just as likely to be found half way across the globe as in the next town.

No one knows that more than you.

Every year, Scottish businesses export £11.6 billion of goods and services to the EU and nearly £14 billion to the rest of the world – selling £750 million worth of whisky to the US, more than £7.5 billion of manufactured goods to EU countries and nearly £8 billion of services globally.

In the UK, Scotland is part of the one of the largest, most influential member states in the EU, whose weight has been deployed to the benefit of our financial services industry, our oil and gas interests and our fisheries fleet.

And your MEP George Lyon has been an outstandingly powerful advocate for Scotland – leading reforms on the budget and farming, making the case for Scotland in Britain and Britain in Europe.

Of course the EU is not perfect. Which system of government ever is?

But, as a progressive and a reformer, I believe that, where a system is flawed, our best and only response must be to come together and fix it, not cry foul, say it’s all too difficult, or worse still use it as an alibi to get out.

And where there are common problems, we should search for common solutions – in the UK and in the EU.

Because, whatever way you look at it, for our jobs, influence, safety and the environment, the UK is infinitely better off IN the EU than OUT.

Over 3 million British jobs are linked to the EU. It’s the world’s biggest borderless market place, made up of more than 500 million people with a combined GDP of nearly £10 trillion. And just under half of all the UK’s trade is with the rest of EU.

If we’re IN, together we can build on that – securing new EU Free Trade Deals with the US and Japan.

If we’re IN, we can deliver the reforms we want – making the EU more streamlined, more accountable and more focused on competition and growth.

And, whatever their obvious differences, both the SNP and UKIP share a willingness to put Scotland’s position in the EU at risk.

The SNP denies it, while UKIP campaigns on it.

Both are making a gamble that people throughout the UK cannot afford.

So you should know – all of Scotland should know – that saying no to leaving the UK and the EU does not mean no to more change.

Over the past four years, I’m proud of the contribution that the Liberal Democrats have made to this country.

We’ve cut the income tax bill for over two million low and middle-income Scots.

We’ve taken the lowest paid out of income tax altogether.

We’ve re-established the link between pensions and earnings so that older people get the support they deserve.

But one of our proudest achievements is Scotland specific.

The 2012 Scotland Act constitutes the single largest transfer of financial powers from London to Scotland since the UK’s creation.

Many of those powers have already gone live, with borrowing powers to be introduced in 2015. And a Scottish income tax rate set by the Scottish Parliament from 2016.

Liberal Democrats were clear in the coalition negotiations that this Act was necessary to strengthen the devolution settlement – giving people in Scotland more say over domestic affairs while remaining part of a strong and successful UK.

But the story of devolution – the journey to home rule – is not yet complete.

We believe we can empower the Scottish Parliament and strengthen its accountability even further.

In the event of a No vote this September, all three pro-UK parties have pledged to deliver more powers.

The Prime Minister has started to talk about the Conservatives’ proposals.

Labour published theirs some months back.

And the Liberal Democrats put our plan out there more than eighteen months ago.

All three parties are clear in their commitment.

More powers will come.

But it is no surprise that my party was first out the blocks or that we will act as the guarantors for a far-reaching deal.

Devolution is in our instincts – just as it is in the interests of the people in Scotland.

Liberal Democrats worked with Labour and those outside politics in the Scottish Constitutional Convention, where we pushed for greater powers than many wanted to give.

And we won the argument.

We worked again with Labour plus the Conservatives and others on the Calman Commission, again with the most radical proposals of the Scottish parties, reaching an agreement that we enacted in government.

And so, for the next real transfer of powers, it is natural that our ideas should come first, that we should be bold, and that we will play a central role in delivering for Scotland.

The proposals published by Ming Campbell’s Home Rule Commission are radical and far-reaching.

And when the next phase of devolution is shaped after September’s vote they will form the basis of our contribution to that discussion.

We want to see a more powerful Scottish Parliament, whose actions are more accountable to the people who elect it.

That means raising more of the money it spends on the priorities that it has chosen.

The 2012 Scotland Act will mean that from 2016 the Scottish Parliament will raise about 30% of the money it spends.

Under our proposals we raise that level up to over 50%.

Income tax paid on earnings by Scottish taxpayers should be the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.

With the rates and bands determined here in Scotland.

So should capital gains tax.

And inheritance tax too.

Why should these be the reserve of the UK Parliament only?

If people in Scotland want to further cut the income tax burden on middle-income earners that should be a choice for them.

If they want to raise it in order to take less from lower earners, again they should be free to do so.

If they elect a Parliament whose wish is to cut or increase capital gains tax, inheritance tax, or spending on schools and hospitals – well, so be it.

Let these debates come out of the shadows.

That is what democracy is about.

Taking decisions and the responsibility that goes with them.

Scotland should be able to innovate and change within the UK in line with its own opportunities and challenges, and that is what our proposals allow.

And let me say this to you.

More powers can be good for business – with great fiscal powers comes greater fiscal responsibility.

A Scottish Parliament that raises far more of the money it spends will bear the consequences of the decisions it takes – for taxpayers and those who use Scotland’s public services.

And a Scottish Parliament with tax and spend powers is a chance for you to make your voice heard and shape decisions that work for Scottish business and jobs.

On corporation tax for example.

It makes little sense to devolve this tax per se and spark a race to the bottom on either side of the border.

Not least when we’re already cutting UK-wide corporation tax to the lowest level in the G7.

But we can devolve the revenue it raises.

So if in future Scotland raises more corporation tax than the rest of the UK, Scotland should benefit from that extra spending.

That doesn’t mean taking any more from current businesses.

It means an incentive for the Scottish Parliament to create a more business-friendly environment.

Set these opportunities against the backdrop of a single UK market with a single regulatory system, and what you have is stronger democracy, increased accountability and incentives for business success.

Of course our proposals are not the final word.

The settlement on further powers will need to be negotiated.

Between the three pro-UK parties of course.

And with the SNP, if – for the first time – they were willing to be part of the devolution conversation too.

Currently, the SNP are unwilling to admit that the nature of this debate has fundamentally changed. Further powers for Scotland HAVE been delivered in this parliament and, if Scotland remains in the UK, they WILL be delivered in the next.

The SNP are pouring scorn over the proposals I and others are making for further devolution, but by doing so they are living in the past.

We’d like them to be part of the changing conversation over Scotland’s future’

And we want those outside politics who also have a major stake in Scotland’s future to be involved too.

Business must be at that table – contributing to this work, influencing its outcome, getting it right.

So, the choice is yours

…Between a Britain that is open or closed…

…A United Kingdom or Independent Scotland…

…Working together or going our separate ways.

Yet, in a world where more and more of our ambitions and issues are bound up together nationally and internationally, I don’t believe it’s in our interest to sever those ties which have served us so well, for so long.

That’s why I hope you vote No in September. It’s the positive choice for our positive future together.

And it’s why I will continue to argue passionately that all our interests are best served by being in the UK, in Europe and working together.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nick Clegg on 23rd April 2014 at the launch of Cityfathers.

40 years ago, when women were first being allowed onto the trading floor of the London Stock Exchange, any talk of families in the workplace was confined to a framed photo on your desk.

Mothers were almost always expected to stay at home and an event like this just wouldn’t have happened.

Now we have the highest female employment rate on record, with 630,000 extra women in employment since 2010. And networks like Citymothers and Cityfathers show how many more parents are choosing to both earn and share their childcare responsibilities between them.

Yet the enormity of the challenge we face – to ensure genuine equality in work and across our society – requires even more radical change.

Change

First, we have to sweep away those Edwardian rules which still hold back those families working hard to juggle their responsibilities at home and work.

For decades, our parental leave system has been based on the assumption that it’s dad who goes out to work while mum cares for the kids – giving fathers 2 weeks off when your baby is first born and mothers up to a year.

But what about those households where the woman is the main earner? Or the families where a working father just wants to spend more time with his children, or both parents want to do their bit at home without sacrificing their careers?

In many ways, the system still treats these families as the exception not the norm.

As a Liberal, I’ve always believed the system should support not dictate our families’ choices. That’s why I, and the Liberal Democrats, have made building a Britain that’s fit for modern families one of our biggest priorities in government.

So we’ve worked hard to increase access to affordable, high-quality childcare for more families. And, from 2015, government is investing an extra £750 million in tax-free childcare: to help more working parents with children under 12 cover their childcare bill. This is support worth up to £2,000 a year per child for millions of families.

This is in addition to our offer of 15 hours a week of free early years’ education for every 3 and 4-year-old, as well as for 2-year-olds in those families most feeling the squeeze.

Most importantly, I’ve also fought to drag those clapped out rules into the 21st Century.

And, from next year, if a mother wants to return to work before her year’s maternity leave is up or go back to work for a particular project, she can – without losing out. Her partner will now be entitled to use up her remaining parental leave and pay, if that’s what they want. You can even – as parents – take off chunks of time together.

Yet changing laws like this is only the start. Culturally, we also need to recognise that we can’t build a more family-friendly Britain unless all of us see the world differently.

We need to tackle once and for all the hidden prejudices which still limit the choices of many men and women. And we need to create the same equal opportunities for both sexes to care as well as earn.

Creating equal opportunities

How do we do that?

Well, we’ve got to tear down those barriers which still prevent too many brilliant women from reaching the top of their professions. For example, despite progress in recent years, women still account for just 21% of board positions on FTSE 100 companies. And only 4 of those companies have a female CEO.

That impacts on all of us, with estimates showing that the UK could boost its GDP by up to £23 billion if we use the skills of our female workforce more effectively.

Parents and teachers have an incredibly important role to play here: inspiring every young girl to think big and aim high for their future. If they’ve got the talent and ambition to succeed, then no job should be closed off to them – whether it’s to build their own business, lead a top company or work at the cutting edge of science, technology or engineering.

This is also why brilliant campaigns like Inspiring Women, which Miriam is heavily involved in, are so important: to help more young women reach for the sky.

Government is doing its bit to help too: boosting support for female entrepreneurs, pushing for more women on boards and helping young girls see the full range of career options open to them, including in those traditionally male-dominated STEM industries.

But at the same time, we also need to encourage more boys to see the value of building a career in the caring professions. For too long, these kinds of jobs – in childcare, early years’ education and social care – have typically been seen as the preserve of women. There are around 4 million people working in health and social care jobs in the UK today and still 4 out of every 5 people working in those jobs are women.

Yet these are fields in which both men and women have a lot to offer and can excel. We are now starting to see that kind of change in nursing. But I want to see it happen right across the board: helping more people to make choices based on what’s right for them not outdated preconceptions about their gender.

Of course, if we’re to do it properly, then we also need to challenge the ways in which many fathers are still pushed to see themselves as a breadwinner first and carer second.

Tackling hidden prejudices

Whether it’s by a manager’s raised eyebrow when you ask for some family time off. Or your friends’ surprise when you say you’d like to be a stay at home parent if you could. Or your own ingrained fear that, if you choose to work more flexibly, you’ll find your career stuck in the slow lane and your peers overtaking you.

As your survey shows, it’s as if even asking to work differently marks you out as less committed, ambitious or capable than your colleagues without children. And according to official research, fathers are less likely to work part-time than other employed men. In fact, around a quarter of new fathers take only a week or less of paternity leave.

This is despite increasing numbers of employers, both big and small, which now recognise the benefits of work-life balance, such as a more productive, loyal and engaged work force. This includes many of your own employers, companies like KPMG, Citi, Lloyds, EY and others.

Yet that kind of fantastic corporate support still isn’t translating into the wholesale shift in attitudes we need. That’s especially true in jobs with an entrenched long hours’ culture like here in the City.

We’re all familiar with the objections that come up again and again when changes like this are proposed:

It’s bad for our economy.

This is an additional burden businesses just don’t need.

It’s going to make us less competitive.

Yet the reality is that countries like Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands which actively champion more family-friendly working arrangements are consistently rated amongst the top economies on global competitiveness and well-being.

UK research also shows that employees working flexibly are more prepared to go that extra mile. And, more widely, McGill University academics argue that family-friendly policies help to reduce staff turnover, boost performance and improve job satisfaction.

As you can see in almost every political debate these days, there’s a big difference emerging between those who want Britain to be open or closed and ready to change or anxious to turn the clock back.

I’m clear on that fundamental dividing line. I believe we should always point to the future not hanker after the past. And the simple reality is that we always see resistance to these types of reforms in the early days, but they rapidly become the norm.

As representatives of some of the UK’s leading organisations, you can help us make that happen now. By working with us to ensure every family who can benefit from these new rights is able to do so, including your own, we can make family-friendly working the new norm in Britain.

That means ensuring it’s a genuine option for every employee who works in your organisation. From the men and women serving meals in your canteen and cleaning your offices to those sitting in the boardroom.

Getting the chance to take these opportunities is always harder for those families on the lowest incomes. So talk to your bosses, customers and business partners. And together we can generate a once-in-a-generation chain reaction across our offices, factories and other workplaces.

As competition increases, no successful business leader would think twice about investing in the latest technology to help their business get ahead. In the same way, we need to show how an upgrade in old-fashioned attitudes to flexible working can sharpen competitiveness even more.

That’s the only way we’ll secure the best, most talented and diverse workforce for Britain’s success. Together we can ensure that, in the City and beyond, every British family – whatever their background or circumstances – gets an equal chance to thrive.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, at Easter on 14th April 2014.

This Easter, millions of families and friends, of all faiths and none, will come together across Britain to enjoy the holiday period.

For Christians, of course, Easter is one of the most important festivals of the year. Following Lent, it is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and reflect upon his life and teachings. And whether you are Christian or not, I’m sure many people can relate to the messages of love, forgiveness and tolerance that Easter represents.

I want to pay tribute to the millions of Christians in the UK who work so hard to put those values into action. What you do enriches our society in so many ways, whether through charity work at home and abroad or your dialogue and cooperation with other faiths across communities.

And, to Christians and non-Christians alike, I hope you all get a chance to enjoy the break.

Happy Easter.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, to the Liberal Democrat spring conference in York on 9th March 2014.

Since I became the Deputy Prime Minister I have had the privilege of spending a bit of time representing Britain’s interests in other parts of the world.

I have visited Latin America and Asia to boost exports. I have been to Africa, where we are building better education systems as well as helping fight corruption, poverty and disease. I have travelled to different parts of Europe and the United States to promote British trade.

And while each trip varies from the last, there is a thread which runs through them all: you get to see Britain through other people’s eyes.

Everywhere I have been – every nation around the planet – has its own story about Britain.

On a trade mission to South Korea I paid my respects at a war memorial at the bottom of a hill where, during the Korean War, British soldiers – heavily outnumbered – fought for three solid days to hold back North Korean and Chinese forces.

It is a battle that every single South Korean schoolchild learns about. Had we given up or been defeated, it could have cost their grandparents the war.

For Mexico, Britain is the first European country to have officially recognised their independence following their liberation from colonial rule. That means something to them.

In Colombia Britain is the nation that built their first railways.

Lynne Featherstone and I were in Ethiopia, for whom Britain is now the first member of the G8 to have met the decades-old promise by rich countries to spend 0.7% of our national wealth on aid for the developing world. Something we have long argued for and this Coalition has delivered.

So wherever you go one thing is clear: people don’t listen to our country out of some nostalgic deference to an old power. They listen because of who we are. Because of the things we’ve done. Because of the leadership we continue to show. And that makes me incredibly proud.

I love Britain.

I love it for all its contradictions.

I love that we are as modest as we are proud.

I love the way we can cherish our traditions yet innovate relentlessly, churning out one ingenious invention after the next. The telephone, the steam engine, the jet engine, the world wide web; the same nation that came up with stainless steel is now developing graphene – the strongest material the world has ever seen. Oscar winning visual effects; cutting-edge design; theatre, fashion, music, film – you name it, we do it, and we’re up there with the best.

I love that a country capable of extraordinary pomp and ceremony can still retain a spiky irreverence towards its establishment. A country where we line the streets waving our Union Jacks wildly to welcome the arrival of Prince George, and the next moment we’re chuckling at Private Eye’s front page: ‘Woman Has Baby’.

I love that we insist on queuing when we go abroad, even when the locals don’t.

I love that the BBC and NHS are known and respected across the planet.

I love that our cities are home to every race, religion, colour and language in existence.

I love Miriam telling me that the feeling of freedom you get in Britain simply doesn’t exist anywhere else.

I love that the shipping forecast is listened to by insomniacs of all ages, right across the country, miles from the sea.

I love how excited we get at the glimpse of any sun, insisting on staying out in our t-shirts and flip-flops – even when it’s obviously still cold.

I love living in a country synonymous with human rights and the rule of law.

I love that it was British lawyers who drafted the European Convention on Human Rights and a British Prime Minister who helped launch the Single Market. And I enjoy reminding my Coalition partners that it was a Prime Minister from their party at that.

I love that we do respond – the cliché is true – to every problem no matter how big or small with the same thing: a cup of tea.

I love that, wherever you go in the world, you’ll find football fans obsessed with the Premier League.

I love that we are a family of four different countries, each with their own characters, traditions and good-natured rivalries. And that’s why I want to see – we all want to see – Scotland stay in our family of nations later this year.

I look at what’s happening in places like Russia, where the government is effectively criminalising homosexuality, and I love that Britain is a place where you can be gay and proud – and now you can get married too.

Above all I love that, while we may be an island, we have always looked beyond our shores. Throughout our history, when we have seen trouble in the world we haven’t just looked the other way; we haven’t just crossed to the other side of the street; Britain doesn’t peer out at the rest of the world and shrug its shoulders. We are always at our best when we play our part.

This summer marks the centenary of the First World War. One hundred years ago hundreds of thousands of British troops headed into a conflict from which many of them would never return. When it ended my grandfather, not long out of school, climbed onto the roof of Westminster Abbey and watched the survivors come home – bloody, bruised and broken by the things they had seen. He told me that, in spite of everything, he was desperately upset that he hadn’t been called up to the front: because he passionately believed that to be a British soldier, defending our values of liberty and peace, was the most noble thing you could be.

Years later he married a woman who had herself come here to avoid conflict and revolution: my grandmother. She escaped Russia during the revolution, crossing Europe with her family and eventually settling in London. For her Britain offered a place of stability and safety. At a moment of great upheaval, this country welcomed her in and let her call it home.

There are few nations as open-minded and warm-hearted as ours. Smart, funny, compassionate Britain. Always changing, always evolving Britain. Humble enough to understand that we must work with others. Confident enough to lead.

For me it is these qualities that make this nation great – these great liberal qualities. Not some sepia-tinted memory of Empire. Not some stuffy parochialism dressed up as patriotism.

In the 21st Century, in a highly competitive, fluid and fast-moving world we hold our own because of our ability to embrace the future rather than cling to the past. It is our ability to look forward and outward and our capacity for reinvention – in other words our liberalism – that ensures this small island remains a giant on the world stage.

The question – one of the biggest questions of our time – is how we protect the liberal values of this nation.

Six years ago we suffered an unprecedented cardiac arrest in our banks.

This wasn’t just a recession. It was a shattering collapse of the basic assumptions by which successive governments had run our economy since the Big Bang.

This wasn’t just a downturn. We were a nation plunged into uncertainty as the thumping heart of our economy ground to a halt.

And you have to remember: even before this happened a quiet crisis of confidence was already creeping over developed economies like ours. Global power, money and influence have been shifting from West to East and from North to South for years. The previously fashionable view that the world would automatically slide towards greater freedom and democracy now feels presumptuous and naïve. Within our lifetimes America will no longer be the world’s biggest economy. It will be China: an authoritarian state.

Taken together, in societies across the Western world, these experiences have created an entirely understandable but dangerous urge to turn inwards. An urge to reject the new or unfamiliar and to shun the outside world.

If anyone doesn’t believe it, just glance across the Channel at our European neighbours, where a number of extremist parties are on the rise.

In Greece’s last parliamentary election the Golden Dawn Party secured 18 MPs. They ran on an anti-immigration platform. Their slogan? ‘So we can rid the land of this filth’.

Hungary’s Jobbik Party now has 43 MPs, one of whom has called for a register of Jews who he claims ‘pose a national security risk’.

In Bulgaria, Ataka makes up 10% of the National Assembly. One of their MPs has reviled Syrian refugees as ‘terrible, despicable primates’.

In the Netherlands Geert Wilder’s PVV party is polling at around 18%. They have called for the Koran to be banned, comparing it to Mein Kampf.

Front National. Around 21%. Their leader, Marine Le Pen, has compared Muslims praying in the streets to the Nazi occupation of France.

These are not far flung places. This is our backyard. The forces of chauvinism, protectionism and xenophobia have been emboldened. And there is no doubt about it: the fight is now on for the future direction of our continent.

We are lucky. Thankfully we do not have the same extremism here in the UK. But that’s not to say the fight isn’t on for the future of our country too.

An ungenerous, backwards looking politics has emerged in Britain. The politics of blame has found an acceptable face: it wears a big smile and looks like someone you could have a pint with down the pub. So I’m drawing a line in the sand. I am going to defend the tolerant and modern Britain we love, and I am going to start by showing people what’s at stake at the upcoming European elections: do you want Britain in Europe, or out?

That’s the real question in May. One party wants out. Another is flirting with exit. The other lot don’t have the courage of their convictions on this – they’re saying nothing at all.

The Liberal Democrats are now Britain’s only party of IN. The only party out there explaining the clear benefits of Britain’s place in Europe. The only party giving people the facts.

IN because Europe is our biggest export market and vital to British jobs. Because pulling up the drawbridge is the surest way to wreck our economic recovery.

IN because in the fight against climate change, and in a world where some of the biggest players are also the biggest polluters, Europe’s nations can only make a difference if we work together.

IN because cooperation between our police forces is essential for catching the criminals who cross our borders. Crime crosses borders, so must we.

IN because Britain stands tallest in the world when we stand tall in Brussels, Paris and Berlin.

This isn’t about some starry eyed affection for the EU – of course it needs reform. But you can’t change it with one foot out the door. You change it by taking your place at the table – which is where you protect Britain’s national interest and promote our values too.

How else would we, right now, be making our presence felt against Vladimir Putin’s Cold War aggression in the Ukraine?

The EU is a global economic superpower. By standing shoulder to shoulder with our European partners we have the clout to defend not just our own interests, but the interests of our continent as a whole.

So, for all these reasons, I’m IN.

Forget the lazy assumption that, in the court of public opinion, the eurosceptics will automatically win. There is nothing automatic about election results. A few months ago, when I asked people to take to Twitter to tell me why they’re IN, they did so in their thousands. It was our most successful online campaign ever.

There are plenty of people out there who don’t want anger. They don’t want bile. They want jobs. They want our country to have influence. They want opportunities. Ultimately they want hope.

And that, Liberal Democrats, is what it all comes down to. Hope. It’s the oldest dividing line in politics – hope versus fear – and it’s back.

We talk a lot about reducing the deficit, fiscal consolidation, bringing down public sector debt, increasing GDP, creating private sector jobs. But in the end what we’re really talking about is giving the British people the confidence to once again look to their futures with hope.

That’s how you lead a nation through difficult times. That’s how you hold a country together when its citizens are feeling the pressure. And that’s what the last four years in government have been about.

There is still a long way to go and many people are still feeling the squeeze. But after a period of grave uncertainty, the British people can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope that makes each and every one of you feel proud: there would be no recovery without the Liberal Democrats.

No recovery if we hadn’t decided to enter into coalition in order to provide the country with strong government.

No recovery if we hadn’t held our nerve and stuck to the plan.

No recovery if we had allowed the Coalition’s economic strategy to be solely about cuts. Sorting out the nation’s finances is essential but equally as important is investing in the foundations of lasting growth.

The unprecedented Treasury support that will transform Britain’s roads and rail.

The world’s first Green Investment Bank.

The billions of pounds spent on businesses across the country.

The million more young people who are now qualifying as apprentices.

Don’t let anyone airbrush out our role. Thanks to the heroic efforts and sacrifices of millions of people we have been able to pull this country back from the brink. Under extraordinary pressure we have achieved extraordinary things. And no matter what our critics say, when the history books are written they will say that, most extraordinary of all, the country was put back on the right track by a party which had never been in government before but which had the guts and the courage to do what it took.

And now a different challenge awaits.

We’ve been in emergency mode for the last four years, but that is slowly changing. If this parliament has been about a rescue, the next will be about reconstruction and renewal.

If we are truly ambitious for our country, Britain’s future cannot be like its past.

Successive governments relying on an overheated financial sector; presiding over a wildly imbalanced economy where the gap between rich and poor grew; where the North fell further and further behind the South.

Successive administrations jumping from one set of public service reforms to the next and Whitehall just seemed to carry on regardless as more and more power was sucked up to the centre.

I don’t want us ever to go back there. It cannot be right that the country goes through all of this pain only to end up where we started when it all went wrong.

In this coalition we have begun to turn the page, but the real test will come in the next parliament – when government will have to show whether or not we have really, genuinely, learnt from the mistakes of the past.

And I simply do not believe that our opponents have. I simply do not believe that they are up to this task.

Left to their own devices what are they offering the British people?

Profligacy. Economic incompetence. A bloated and cumbersome state. Politicians who think that all they need to do to prove themselves is posture against business. A leadership desperate but unable to break free from the grip of its Union paymasters. A party that cannot be relied upon to keep the economy safe; that wants us to put them back behind the wheel even though they still won’t admit how badly they got it wrong.

Or how about widening inequality. A remorseless shrinking of our public services. A party that claims we’re all in it together and yet refuses to ask the wealthy to pay even a penny more in tax towards the on-going fiscal effort. A party which will instead single out one group – the working age poor – for especially tough sacrifices. £12bn worth of especially tough sacrifices, from people who are trying to work their way out of poverty and who we should be helping stand on their own two feet.

A weak economy. An unfair society. If it all sounds depressingly familiar it’s because most of us have lived through it all before. Two parties encumbered by the same old prejudices; straitjacketed by the same old ideologies. And whichever way you look at it, left or right, if either of them get into government on their own, they will drag Britain in the same direction: backwards.

No. That’s not my Britain. That’s not the Britain I love. And I am not going to sit back while either of them sweep in and leave this nation diminished and divided because they still don’t understand what makes our country great.

Liberal Democrats think of that when you’re out campaigning in the crucial coming weeks – in your wards, in your communities, in your regions for our hardworking councillors and our excellent team of MEPs.

When I tell you that we need to get back into government again – protecting Britain from one party rule – this is why:

Because we are the guardians of a modern, open and tolerant Britain.

Because we are the only party who will not ask the British people to choose between a stronger economy and a fairer society. They don’t have to. They can have both if we make our shared mission enabling every single person to get on in life.

Because we are the only party with the imagination and ambition needed to ensure Britain draws a line under some of our worst times with our best qualities intact.

In government again the Liberal Democrats will continue rewiring our economy so that our banks are the servant and not the master. So that, instead of fake booms and reckless consumption, we invest in growth that is balanced and sustainable, which stretches across every corner of Britain and which conserves our natural resources too.

That is how we embrace a better future rather than repeat the mistakes of the past.

We’ll finish the job of balancing the books, but continuing to spread the burden fairly, as we have been in this government – giving Britain a stronger economy and a fairer society too.

The future, not the past.

We’ll continue correcting the imbalance in our tax system, so that it doesn’t just protect the wealthy but properly rewards work.

And, yes, that means that in the coming Budget Danny Alexander and I are pushing to take the Liberal Democrat income tax cut even further than we had originally planned in this parliament.

We are about to hit the target that was on the front page of our manifesto: raising the personal allowance so that no one pays a penny of income tax on the first £10,000 they earn, saving over 20 million people £700. Now we want to go beyond that, taking the total tax cut to £800.

And if we’re in government again we’ll go further still: no one paying a penny in tax on the first £12,500 they earn.

Fairer taxes. The future, not the past.

We’ll create an education system that, from toddler to graduate, allows our all of our children to rise as far as their talents and efforts will take them, irrespective of the circumstances of their birth.

The future, not the past.

We’ll transfer ever more power to our cities and communities so that they can drive their own destinies and we break Whitehall’s grip for good.

The future, not the past.

We will ensure that this country rises to the challenge that will define the 21st Century: playing our part in the fight against climate change, for the sake of our children and the planet we leave behind.

The future, not the past.

And we will live up to our greatest traditions by keeping Britain engaged, outward facing, a heavyweight in Europe and a leader in the world.

If this sounds like the Britain you want, the Liberal Democrats are the party for you.

Between now and the election my aim – our aim – is to build a coalition bringing together all of the liberal-minded, liberal-hearted men and women who love the Britain we love – and who want a party prepared to fight for it. That’s the coalition I care about. A coalition of all the people who want to keep this nation open, tolerant, compassionate and strong.

So to the people out there who may not have voted for us before: it doesn’t matter, that’s the past. What matters now is the kind of country you want to live in. The kind of nation you want us to be.

Open not closed.

In not out.

Great Britain not little England.

Forward not back.

Hope not fear.

The future not the past.

If you have faith in this country, if you believe in Britain’s values, if you still want this incredible island of ours to keep punching above our weight and shaping the world so that it is a better place, put the Liberal Democrats back in government again – let us protect the Britain you love.