Clegg: Don’t duck tough choices
Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader and deputy prime minister, comments on the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election:
“We are here to win. I think the choice in Oldham East and Saddleworth is much like the choice in the rest of the country.
“This is the wrong time for indecision. This is the wrong time to duck tough choices and I think the people here deserve more than a blank sheet of paper from Labour. They deserve answers and what we are doing, the Liberal Democrats, is rolling up our sleeves to sort out the mess we have inherited from Labour to provide a better future for people here and indeed the rest of the country.
“The choice is basically between do you face up to the problems we have got or do you run away from them.
“We all want a good, clean contest where people behave in a grown up way towards each other but where we offer clear alternatives.
“The choice is a fundamental one. Firstly what kind of MP do the people of Oldham and Saddleworth want. I think people were appalled that Ed Miliband gave a job to someone who was subsequently discovered to have lied his way through the election campaign.
“Secondly, do you want a party like the Lib Dems who are in government getting stuck in, used to taking difficult choices, to dealing with the mess that we have inherited to give a good positive future to the country as a whole or do you want a party like the Labour Party that simply wants to stick its head in the sand and pretend the problem will somehow go away.”
