Clegg Returns To Saddleworth Campaign

Nick Clegg and Elwyn Watkins speak to a shopper at Asda in Shaw today.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today made his second trip to our area since the by-election was called. On a visit to Asda in Shaw, he shrugged off his party’s poor national poll rating, and criticised Labour for only offering “a blank sheet of paper” instead of credible policies.

The national media was out in force for the first time during the campaign, as the Liberal Democrat leader visited the supermarket at lunchtime, and later held a question-and-answer session at the museum in Uppermill.

Speaking to a gaggle of reporters near the bread aisle, including Saddleworth News, Mr Clegg denied the national opinion polls were getting him down: “I’ve just spoken to a number of shoppers here who’ve been very friendly, who’ve asked me questions, who’ve said they’re going to support the Liberal Democrats.”

He went on: “You get a lot of hype about how politics is described. I think most people accept that as a government we’re having to take difficult decisions to sort out the mess we inherited from Labour. At least we have a plan, at least we’re trying to get on with trying to provide this country and the people of Oldham and Saddleworth with an optimistic, positive view of the future.”

Mr Clegg also again criticised Labour over the Phil Woolas affair, saying the party had treated local people “shamefully.” He added: “It’s not me saying this, but five High Court judges, which have concluded that Phil Woolas lied his way through the general election and stoked up racial tension.”

The media waits for Nick Clegg to speak at Asda in Shaw today.

He continued, praising the Lib Dem candidate: “It’s only because of the courage and the willingness of Elwyn Watkins to fight for what he knew was right that we’ve now got this opportunity, presented to the people of Oldham and Saddleworth, to have the fair contest that they were denied by the Labour party the first time round.”

Mr Clegg also defended the coalition’s decision to increase tuition fees. Conceding it was “one of the most controversial issues of all” he said: “I’d like people to look at the content of what we’re proposing.”

The Deputy PM went on: “The more people look at that, they’ll realise that far from making it more difficult to go to university, it’ll make it cheaper and easier. Yes we’re saying to universities what they can charge can go up, but in most respects what we’re asking graduates to repay will go down.”

You can hear what Mr Clegg had to say in full here.

An earlier one-on-one interview which Mr Clegg did with Saddleworth News, which focused on more local issues, is here. An in-depth chat with Mr Watkins is here.

A total of ten candidates are standing. You can get interviews with Labour’s Debbie Abrahams here, BNP candidate Derek Adams here, Conservative Kashif Ali here, Peter Allen of the Greens here, Pirate Party UK candidate Loz Kaye here, Stephen Morris of the English Democrats here and UKIP candidate Paul Nuttall here.

The other candidates are David Bishop of the Bus Pass Elvis Party and Nick “The Flying Brick” Delves from the Monster Raving Loony Party.

Polling day is a week on Thursday. Plenty of other well-known political figures have already been campaigning in our area. An interview with Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable is here. You can hear from Labour leader Ed Miliband here and here, and Shadow Education Secretary Andy Burnham here. Conservative Chairman Baroness Warsi’s interview is here, and UKIP leader Nigel Farage is here.

To read full coverage of the by-election so far from Saddleworth News, click here.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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