Huhne Says Lib Dems Are The Effective Opposition With Coherent Ideas

1.37.04pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 18th Jan 2005

Hampshire MEP and Eastleigh prospective parliament candidate Chris Huhne said the Liberal Democrats' election themes published yesterday showed that the party is the real opposition with coherent ideas for change.

Mr Huhne said that the Liberal Democrat package was an important switch of priorities that stressed well-run public services and value for money. He highlighted the commitments to employ 10,000 more police officers to tackle crime by ending the Government's costly £3.5 billion ID card scheme.

Free long term personal care - already introduced in Scotland by the Liberal Democrats - would be part of an important package for the elderly that includes a £25 a week pension increase.

The council tax would be replaced by local income tax so that there was for the first time a link between local tax and ability to pay.

There would be faster diagnoses for patients in the National Health Service, and student tuition fees would be abolished. Services would be accountable to local people, not to a far away Whitehall bureaucracy.

"Unlike the Conservatives, we are not pretending that we can improve key services and cut taxes at the same time. That is simply incredible. We have set out a programme of real savings - including the abolition of the Department of Trade and Industry - combined with a new 50 per cent top income tax rate on earnings of more than £100,000 a year. Our figures add up," said Mr Huhne, who is a member of the Liberal Democrats Treasury team as their european economic spokesman.