Vince Cable visits North West Hampshire

Former business secretary Sir Vince Cable was guest of honour for North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats annual dinner at Test Valley Golf Club. A packed room of local members and supporters heard Sir Vince give an entertaining and informative account of his time in the coalition government and his views on the future.

The coalition was the "only viable government to deal with the 2010 financial crisis" he said, explaining several senior Labour leaders were opposed to any coalition with the Liberal Democrats. However the crisis was not caused by the Labour government but by the banks. The Conservatives have rewritten history to blame Labour and then created a climate of fear of Labour and the SNP to win re-election. The result is the most doctrinaire right wing and unrepresentative government this country has seen for generations with just one in four of the electorate having voted for them.

Doctor Cable highlighted the successes of Liberal Democrats in government in controlling Conservative excesses now becoming obvious as the Tories reintroduce measures previously blocked by Lib Dem ministers. George Osborne has redefined the deficit to include all government debt, including borrowing for infrastructure investment, effectively doubling the amount he will cut from public spending.

He continued to explain that the cuts to tax credits would leave over 3 million people up to £1300 a year worse off. Affordable housing is out of reach of a whole generation, and the government policy of selling off homes will only make this worse. Local government services, social care, education, policing will all be cut to the bone and the health service is on the verge of collapse as the reality of Tory cuts become apparent. Meanwhile they plan to snoop on every area of private life and shamefully ignore the plight of millions of refugees.

All of this is made easier he said by the "Labour party's failure to provide effective opposition." Instead it prefers to turn in on itself and relive the battles between its left and right wings seen in the 1980s. The lead role in opposing and controlling the excesses of the Conservatives has fallen to the Liberal Democrats. Voters are beginning to realise this as the Lib Dem membership soars and the party notches up a series of council election victories across the country.

Thanking Dr Cable for his talk parliamentary spokesman Alex Payton said the local party would continue to be the only effective opposition to the Tories and hold them to account at all levels of government.