Restoke the anger, advocates Clegg

Public anger over issues such as MPs’ expenses, donor scandals and bank collapses must be re-stoked to ensure reforms of Britain’s “deeply flawed” establishment succeed, Nick Clegg said.

By The Newsroom

Published 30th May 2012, 07:00 BST

The Deputy Prime Minister said voters needed to be reminded “in fairly lurid detail” about recent controversies if they were to swing behind the changes he wanted to push through.

He dismissed Tory criticisms that his plans, such as House of Lords reform, were a distraction from the economy – insisting vested interests helped fuel the recession.

The Liberal Democrat leader appealed for help from pressure groups after inviting them to Westminster to discuss his proposals.

“People won’t accept reform, people won’t get excited about reform, unless you first spell out in fairly lurid detail what is wrong with the current situation,” he told them. You can do that in a way that is unencumbered by the party politics of Westminster.”

Mr Clegg said he feared the “visceral anger” felt by voters against the political system at the 2010 general election was beginning to fade.