Clegg: 'Lib Dems Will Never Lose Their Soul'
Nick Clegg has attempted to allay the fears of Liberal Democrats by vowing to protect the party's "soul" amid anger over key coalition policies.
The Deputy Prime Minister admitted the Lib Dems were being forced to back "decisions which aren't exactly the ones we would make on our own" while in government with the Tories.
But during his closing speech at the party's spring conference in Sheffield, Mr Clegg insisted "will never lose our soul".
It came after a tough Saturday for the Lib Dem leader when activists overwhelmingly passed a motion condemning the coalition's NHS reforms.
The proposed changes include giving GPs control of commissioning services.
Former cabinet minister Baroness Shirley Williams branded the reforms "lousy" and backbencher Andrew George said the party should not be "the architects of (the NHS's) demise".
But Mr Clegg warned against listening to "Labour's scaremongering about privatising the NHS".
"I know that many of you have concerns about the Government's plans for the health service," he said.
"What I need you to know is that all of us in government are listening, and that we take those concerns seriously."
That sentiment was echoed by Danny Alexander, Lib Dem MP and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on Sky News' Murnaghan programme.
"We had a very good debate about the NHS and in fact the movers of the motion accepted the amendments that were put forward by delegates," he told Dermot Murnaghan.
"It's important as we progress with the health reforms that we do listen to issues that are raised by people in the Liberal Democrats and elsewhere.
"But they are based very much on the fundamental Liberal Democrat principles that power should be devolved and exercised - in this case, by patients and GPs - and not from a sort of, monolithic central control in Whitehall."
There was also heavy criticicms at the conference of the U-turn on tuition fees.
Mr Clegg said in his 40-minute closing speech: "Being in coalition with another party is not always easy.
"Making compromises, settling differences and going out to explain decisions which aren't exactly the ones we would make on our own.
"But every single day I work flat out to make sure that what we are doing is true to our values."
He added the Lib Dems had always been the party of "fairness, freedom, progress and reform".
"We cherished those values in opposition. Now we are living by them in government," he said.
"So yes, we have had to toughen up. But we will never lose our soul."
Mr Clegg, the MP for Sheffield Hallam, also faced dissent outside the conference with some 5,000 protesters marching through the city on Saturday.
"Our opponents try to divide us with their outdated labels of left and right," he said.
"But we are not on the left and we are not on the right. We have our own label: Liberal.
"We are Liberals and we own the freehold to the centre ground of politics. Governing from the middle for the middle."
Source - Yahoo.
