Deputy PM sends message to rioters during Newbury visit

Nick Clegg promises tough response to rioting and says he is trying to help West Berkshire families feeling the pinch

THE Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg visited Newbury on Tuesday during a pivotal time for the Government and spoke exclusively to Newbury Today and the Newbury Weekly News about the violent riots affecting the country, protests in Newbury, and why he did not go back on his pre-election promises.

Despite cancelling many other meetings due to the carnage which forced political leaders to conduct ad-hoc tours of devastated communities, Mr Clegg was in town to speak to West Berkshire Liberal Democrat members at St Nicolas Hall in West Mills.

Echoing the message delivered by Prime Minister David Cameron that the violence would not be tolerated, a forceful Mr Clegg told the Newbury Weekly News: “We have to be very clear, there is a simple message, if you go out and smash windows, nick things, you steal phones or shoes you are breaking the law and you will be arrested.

“I think the message was very clear, particularly to youngsters this is not some game, if you do this you will be punished.

“There is a question for parents and families if you have a teenage son or daughter and they are out make sure you know where they are, make sure they are at home, we want people off the streets and safe at home.”

Deploring the actions of a criminal minority, he defended the Government's decision to cut council funding to areas such as West Berkshire and said the closure of youth clubs was not an excuse for the violent rampages being carried out across the country.

“There is simply no excuse for stealing, and the idea that difficult decisions in public spending has caused this is wrong,” he said.

“I think we will have plenty of time as a country to go through what the cause of this may or may not have been.”

Since the Coalition Government was formed last year the people of West Berkshire have seen disposable incomes shrink due to the rise in VAT, cuts to child tax credits and working tax credits, and the number of people paying a higher rate of tax has risen.

Mr Clegg said he understood that the people of affluent West Berkshire would be amongst the worst hit by these actions but he felt the right decisions had been made and that the future looked better for those who currently feel the pinch of tightened purse strings.

“We knew there would be a squeeze and it would hit living costs would increase,” he said.

“There are things we are trying to do to help but we are aware that the situation we inherited was a difficult situation.

“People were in too much debt, households were in too much debt, the banks were in too much debt the country was in debt. We have to get ourselves free of that so we can wipe the slate clean for the next generation.”

In November students and pupils from schools across the area marched through the streets of Newbury to protest the Government's decision to raise the cap on university tuition fees.

Mr Clegg was seen as a target for the anger as the Liberal Democrat election manifesto contained pledges to protect students and not to raise fees.

He defended his actions over the claim he had broken promises.

“It is a political fact that the Liberal Democrats did not win the general election,” he said.

“I can deliver all the manifesto pledges in Government if I was the Prime Minister of a Liberal Democrat government, but I'm not.

“We have 8 per cent of the MPs in Parliament and we are part of a coalition, we have to make concessions, as the Tories did.

“As regards to university fees, we have had ministers such as Vince Cable working on policies which are fairer.

“It is not as well known a system currently but it is fairer.”

Around 150 people attended the mini-conference, and the former MP for Newbury, David Rendel (Lib Dem, Thatcham Central) said “I think Nick was brave and right to come along.

“Clearly there were some things that the coalition has done that he had to explain but he did a good job of winning some of the more sceptical parts of the membership over.

“It's not every day the Deputy Prime Minister comes to Newbury so it was a good day for us.

“It was a very good event and it will look favourably on Newbury as a constituency that we managed to carry it out considering everything else that was going on.”