Nick Clegg will try to shift the blame for cuts on to Labour

By Jonathan Walker on Sep 19, 10 06:53 PM in Politics

Think you've had enough of "deficit porn"? Get ready for another dose, as the dire effects of debt are to be the theme of this week's Liberal Democrat conference.

Party leader Nick Clegg is to focus on Labour's failure to get the deficit under control in his speech to the party faithful (taking place on Monday, right at the start of the conference).

The message is that the cuts already imposed by the Lib Dem/Conservative coalition, and those still to come in next month's comprehensive spending review are essential and, basically, all Labour's fault.

But it will also be a tacit admission that the governing parties need to do more to explain why spending cuts are needed and have failed to push their message with the force it requires.
Birmingham Lib Dem MP John Hemming (Yardley), who is here at the party conference in Liverpool, said something similar to me when we met up earlier today.

Some critics of the Government would think otherwise, and have coined the term "deficit porn" to describe what they see as an obsession with focusing on bad news about the economy.

Of course, some Labour figures - such as Tony Blair and Lord Mandelson - believe the Coalition's approach, painful as it may be, is more realistic than the view taken by "deficit deniers" who argue cuts aren't needed.

But Mr Clegg will make a concession to critics who don't like being chums with the Tories.

He's already ruled out an electoral pact with the Conservatives, insisting the Liberal Democrats would fight every seat going at the next election.

But he is set to go further and spell out that there is no guarantee his party will want to continue the Coalition after the next election.