In a speech to liberal think tank, Demos, Nick Clegg set out his dreams of a much more liberal UK by the time of the next election (scheduled for May 7th, 2015).

Some interesting quotes:

• Our challenge now is to seize this moment, the liberal moment, and to ensure that we help to deliver a liberal parliament - a great reforming parliament that carries out a fundamental redistribution of power to the people. 

• By the time of the next election, on 7 May 2015, Britain will be a more liberal nation. 

• This Government is deeply committed to the decentralisation of power - in politics, economics and in public services. To take just a few examples:
  
  More powers for Local Authorities
  Greater autonomy in our schools
  A radical dispersal of power in the NHS
  Locally-based partnerships to promote enterprise
  
  
• I think the last government sometimes fell into this trap. One of the problems we face today is that the people do not trust politicians; but it is perhaps an even greater problem that politicians very often do not trust the people.

• "Responsible adults must be in charge of their own well-being; it is for them to decide how to use their capabilities. But the capabilities that a person does actually have depends on the nature of social arrangements, which can be crucial for individual freedoms. And there the state and the society cannot escape responsibility.”

• The temptation, especially for politicians, is to delay the pain, to put off decisions that will be unpopular. That is a temptation to which the previous government succumbed, and the mess we are now clearing up is their legacy. But by acting now, we are very much more likely to see strong economic growth in the medium-term. It is pain for gain.
  
  
• for taxing ‘unearned’ income rather than ‘earned’ income; and
  for taxing pollution rather than people
  
  
• A liberal state cannot be equated to a particular level of government spending as a proportion of GDP. It is perfectly possible to have a state that spends small amounts on a highly authoritarian state apparatus. It is perfectly possible to have a state that spends large amounts in a manner that is liberating.
  
  
•  a liberal cannot hold a simple ‘for’ or ‘against’ view of regulation. It is clear that in many areas, we have not had enough regulation in the last decade – the banks and the housing market being the most obvious examples. On the other hand, we have seen far too much regulation for small businesses, and too much micro-management in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people.
  
  
• As I have said, the driving liberal mission is to place more power in the hands of people. In politics this means:
  
  More power to select, and deselect, their representatives
  More power to choose local priorities, rather than being dictated to from the centre
  More power for people to express their political preferences
  
  
• The referendum on the voting system next May will give people the chance to choose a new voting system. The proposal to equalize the size of parliamentary constituencies will give each vote a more equal weight.
  
  
• The decentralization drive will put more power in the hands of local authorities, but also in the hands of community groups, neighbourhood associations and local public services.
  
  
• House of Lords reform has been on the liberal agenda for well over a century. I am not going to hide my impatience on this issue.
  
  

• This parliament will be a challenging one. But it is also set to be a truly reforming parliament – a liberal parliament. By 2015:
  
  power will have been radically redistributed towards people
  our civil liberties will have been restored
  our broken political system will be repaired
  our economy will be balanced, green and growing
  
  If the coalition Government succeeds, by 2015 Britain will be a more liberal nation, a nation of stronger citizens living in a fairer society. I am under no illusions about the scale of this ambition. But I am also in no doubt that we can achieve it.

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You can read the BBC article on the speech, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10659606

You can read the full speech on the Liberal Democrat website, here: http://www.libdems.org.uk/speeches_detail.aspx?title=Nick_Clegg_sets_out_the_aims_of_a_liberal_Parliament&pPK=99bc7775-3992-4d6f-ae44-24a27f6f015c

brb, moving to UK.

Haha... I wonder if it'd be enough to redirect Mafoo's flight from NZ to UK. :P

its becoming even more capitalist, so its fucked, its not exactly in a good state anyway.

people in the UK should vote for this party - http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/Home

It will be a cold, cold day in hell before I vote for the Socialist party.

They just announced huge cuts and (worse) huge fee increases for higher education. At a time when every other country is prioritising education.

Right now anyone who is good enough academically can go to any university; costs are mostly paid by the government and if you're poorer they pay everything. That's a great system, and fair, compared to America where for the vast majority can't afford to go to the best universities. Now the plan is to increase fees from £3000/year to up to £20000/year, and make the top universities able to charge more. That will increase inequality and decrease opportunity.

This government also supported the Digital Economy bill, which introduces ISP monitoring, "three strikes" internet disconnection and no judicial process for doing so. That's not liberalism, that's oppression.

All this decentralisation isn't liberal, it's a bid to devolve responsibility so the government can't be blamed, and to install the government's friends as "Chief Executives" of these free schools*. Like what's happened with hospital trusts - when they screw up, the govt isn't blamed and the Trust board is unaccountable.

*I go to an academy school, and the 'executive headmaster' is paid more than £200,000 and controls a budget of more than £15m for this year.

@Machina Whilst I agree that most of this is just soundbites, and political bullshit... it excites me that we now have politicians that exaggerate what civil liberties they're returning, rather than playing-down the ones that they're removing.

I am a supporter of fixed-term parliaments simply because it helps dilute some of the powers that the Prime Minister has - it gives them less flexibility. I mean, had Gordon Brown have called the election when the notions of it first started - when Labour were still ahead in opinion polls - we could still be lumbered with the bloke, and the Labour party in general, for another 2-3 years. Thankfully, Brown had no balls... but another Prime Minister might have taken the opportunity.

Personally, the reforms that I am most looking forward to are the ones of Parliament. I am fairly confident that the electoral reform referendum will pass (it being held on the same day as Scottish/Welsh/NI elections will certainly be in its favour), which I am in support of - whilst you might argue that it gives the Liberal Democrats too much power, I would argue that it shares out power more in-line with what the public want - also, hopefully, giving more power to the grass route parties, and, genuinely, help put Parliament in a position to increase its scrutiny, debate, and representation abilities.

The other thing being the Lords reform. I'm in favour of an 80-20 split. Elected (via PR), appointed (via independent body) split... but with much longer terms (maybe 10 years) - just so that the house can function properly as a democratic upper chamber, without having to deal with the short-termism that the Commons focuses on. This will probably never happen.

Thinking more long-term (I believe that if this Gov't lives up to its promises, we could see a second term of Con-Lib), I'm hoping that they will see their way to moving the powers of the Royal Prerogative to the Commons, and sort out the dog's dinner that has been devolution in this country (being a bit of a perfectionist, I'd like to see a far more equal playing field in terms of devolution - right down to all cities and major towns having directly elected Mayors).

 But, I'm rambling, so I'll stop now.

@Soleron: I won't comment on the universities thing, as I'm not versed enough on the subject.

However, the Liberal Democrats did say during the election run up that they would repel the parts of the Bill that you were referring to. But, nothing was said about it either way in the Coalition agreement papers.... probably meaning that it's going to stay.... personally, I'd wait for the first, big case - I'm sure it could even be taken to the ECHR. What I'm saying is, there's hope yet.

I'm loving this government more and more everyday. I don't think I want to see the Tories with a majority like I used to. This crazy, backwards mix that none of us voted for has resulted in the closest thing we have to a Libertarian party. I want the freedom lovers from both Con and Lib to create a new party and leave the extremists in the dirt with the Labour communists.

I don't care how bad things get, keep the cuts coming. Get us back in the black as quick as possible, I don't want our kids and grandkids to have to pay a penny of OUR debt.

"Responsible adults must be in charge of their own well-being;"

So legalise it/them already!!!

Don't make the Dutch mistake of letting the criminals have most of the profit. We have some of the best distribution and logistics experts locked up behind bars. Pardon the non-violent ones and let them go to work and pay their taxes.