Liberal Democrats will block the Government’s NHS reforms unless they secure significant concessions, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said yesterday.
His threat came as Mr Clegg said he was determined to give the Liberal Democrats a “louder voice” in the coalition in response to their drubbing in the polls last week.
Meanwhile, Ed Miliband sought to woo Lib Dem ministers and MPs to jump ship and join Labour in opposing Conservative policies– starting with Wednesday’s vote on the Government’s plans for schools.
And Prime Minister David Cameron ordered his party not to gloat about its electoral successes over the Lib Dems, insisting that the coalition between the two parties remains “absolutely vital” to the Tories’ long-term aims.
Despite the Lib Dems’ drubbing at the polls –which saw them lose more than 700 English councillors, dwindle to a rump in the Scottish Parliament and miss out on their long-cherished dream of electoral reform –Mr Clegg insisted he would not pull out of Government or demand the rewriting of the coalition agreement.
It was not the time for “tit for tat politics in the Government (with) ministers fighting like cats and dogs”, he said.
But he made clear he expected the second year of the coalitionwhich reaches its first anniversary on Wednesday – to see a change of tone in relations between the parties.
“I think all governments evolve and there’s a natural evolution in a coalition Government,” Mr Clegg told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show.
“In the first instance, you have to work together to take lots of difficult early decisions, but of course over time, your separate identities come out more.
“The message I’ve heard on the doorstep is people want to hear a louder Liberal Democrat voice in Government. It’s already very loud inside Government, we’ve got to make sure that people hear it outside Government.”
“We need to show people where we have a moderating influence on the Conservatives and we need to stand up for our values and say that loud and clear,” Mr Clegg added. The Lib Dem leader made it clear that his first battle will be over Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans to hand NHS commissioning power to GPs and increase the scope for private provision within the health service.
Unless there are “substantial, significant changes” to Mr Lansley’s proposals, he said he will tell Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to vote them down.
“I am not going to ask Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to proceed with legislation on something as precious and cherished - particularly for Liberal Democrats – as the NHS unless I personally am satisfied that what these changes do is an evolutionary change in the NHS and not a disruptive revolution,” said Mr Clegg.
Conservative ministers sought to smooth over rifts within the coalition following a referendum campaign which saw exchanges of insults and accusations between Cabinet colleagues.
“There’s a lot of heat in an election campaign in any democracy. Of course things are said, but we’ve had the result and now we move on,” Chancellor George Osborne told Mr Marr.