Clegg brands Brown plan a 'gimmick'

Liberal Democrat Party Leader Nick Clegg
12 April 2012

Gordon Brown's plans for sweeping constitutional reform have been dismissed as a "gimmick" by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

He said the plan was "not worth the paper it is written on" and accused both Labour and the Conservatives of being part of a "two party stitch-up" to block reform.

Mr Clegg was speaking after an election campaign visit to Liverpool during which he insisted the Liberal Democrats were the only party offering a tax cut for "ordinary" people.

He said Mr Brown's proposals for electoral reform and fixed term parliaments had been offered by Labour before.

"I hope I will be forgiven for taking any promises from a party that has done nothing to change our politics with a huge pinch of salt," Mr Clegg said.

Speaking to reporters on the plane chartered by the Liberal Democrats for the campaign ahead of the May 6 election, he dismissed suggestions the move by Mr Brown was an attempt to woo his party as part of an effort to gain support in the event of a hung parliament.

"I think what is going on is that Labour and the Conservatives have worked out, about 30 or 40 years too late, that people simply aren't going to put up with the same old, same old politics, with the same old mistakes and the two-party stitch-up."

The expenses scandal was the "latest evidence of a political system in crisis" but Labour was "apparently trying to come up with some sort of gimmick" instead of actually pushing through reforms when they had the chance.

"It is not worth the paper it is written on. If they believed this why didn't they do it?"

Earlier Mr Clegg visited a community centre in Penny Lane, the street immortalised in song by The Beatles. Speaking to reporters at the Penny Lane Development Trust Centre Mr Clegg said he felt "pretty unaffiliated" to any other party despite efforts to attract support.

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