There has been a lot of press speculation about the Lib Dems losing support and about our poor showing in recent opinion polls. This is contrasted with the Tories who are bounding ahead in the polls. It seems that the public willed us into a coalition and are now blaming us for having formed one.

There are two answers as to why we are in a coalition. First, there is the simple electoral arithmetic from May’s general election. Only a coalition with the Tories would produce a stable government. The second is about what we can achieve in government as opposed to being on the outside. See the recent speech by Simon Hughes at http://www.libdems.org.uk/latest_news_detail.aspx?title=10_weeks_on_the_Lib_Dems_have_had_huge_influence_in_Government&pPK=56581a41-74a5-4f93-b2e7-844d5e829448

Simon reiterates our key aims and sets out what we have achieved in 10 weeks of government. A  Tory government on its own would have looked very different and yes, we have had to sit with gritted teeth as they announce new directions for our schools and NHS which would see state control broken up and replaced by the free market,  not something that most LibDdems would happily support. But a coalition is exactly that, it means trading ideas and if we have to grit our teeth whilst we prepare the ground for electoral reform, so be it. Next May we will knock down the discredited  first-past-the-post voting system and the next general election will be a very different campaign. It goes without saying that without electoral reform this coalition does not make sense, but it is the only way of getting this vital reform.

Public support may be fickle but we, as a party, voted overwhelmingly to go into a coalition and we are strong enoughto stick with it till next May and hopefully to the next general election in May 2015.