Simon Hughes MP

Opinion: Ready for the challenge with energy, enthusiasm and passion

I have now been a political activist for quite a long time! Starting with campaigning for a Palestinian state and against apartheid in my teens, joining the party as a Liberal student, and then elected to Parliament in 1983 when Mrs Thatcher was at the height of her powers. Twenty seven years later, I have never forgotten what I came into politics to do. Fight for social justice, civil liberties, internationalism and a fair and responsible Britain where power is handed back to and not taken from the people.

For many people in our country these are not characteristics which we associate with the Conservative Party. Under Mrs Thatcher the gap between the rich and poor increased dramatically, and power was ripped out of the hands of local government.

Labour started promisingly but then quickly lost their radicalism. After 13 years in power, Labour left a legacy of a half-finished programme of constitutional reform, a continuing increase in social inequality and government intent on controlling increasingly large parts of our lives.

The election on May 6th withheld power and authority from either of the two parties which had governed for most of the previous century. Parties and members of Parliament were forced to compromise. We entered into negotiations with both parties clear that these should only succeed if we could implement many of the policies on which we had fought the election, and always making sure we stood by our principles. We earned the right to do this because nearly seven million people voted for us this spring.

It may surprise some, but I have been clear from the beginning that the coalition agreement which we came to, masterfully negotiated by our colleagues, represents the best opportunity we have had for decades to deliver the policies for which I and many have fought for our entire political lives. I spoke in favour of the agreement at the decisive meeting on the 11th May and at our special conference the following Sunday. I am determined to make it work. Already I am hearing widespread support for the idea of working together in government and in particular for an agenda which removes many of the worst excesses of Labour's authoritarian state.

There is of course no doubt that the years ahead will be difficult. Much of the press will seek to find and to create division wherever and whenever possible. The coalition agreement is an excellent foundation but events, dear boy and girl, events will certainly intervene -and responses will have to be negotiated regularly and carefully.

As a party we must trust our government ministers to do the right thing, as we would expect to be trusted ourselves if we were in the same position. But we must not repeat the mistakes of the Labour years and allow government to take our ministers away or lose touch with the public. It is the job of the leadership of the parliamentary party in the Commons, more than anyone else, to make sure there is permanent and effective communication between government colleagues and the rest of the Parliamentary party, and between the party and our supporters and those of us elected to parliament.

Parliament is about representation - of people, of parties, of ideas and of interests. Decades of single party rule with substantial Parliamentary majorities (all of the Thatcher, Blair and Brown years) have stifled debate and to a large extent excluded Parliament from the process of forming government policy. But even though the coalition has a comfortable majority, the new politics must be entirely different. There can and must be debate within the parties of government and between the parties of government. We may be the smaller party but we must never forget that we have an equal right to be heard and understood, and for our fundamental views and positions to be respected. In addition we must never forget that in this government it is Liberal Democrats and not the Conservatives who are the party which represent not just significant numbers of constituencies in each of England, Scotland and Wales, but also urban, suburban and rural communities in each of these three countries too. We have to make sure that this breadth of voices is heard in Parliament and by government.

This is why, as posted on Lib Dem Voice earlier this week, I wrote to the chair of our Parliamentary party with my suggestions about how Liberal Democrat MPs might reorganise ourselves for this parliament of coalition. It is a priority that we urgently put our new team in place. There must be Liberal Democrat MPs (and peers) who represent the party in each departmental area, sometimes of course as Secretary of State but otherwise as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson where we do not hold the top job.

The purpose of each Liberal Democrat spokesperson's team must not be to act as an alternative government or a government in opposition. We must use to maximum advantage the experience of our colleagues, in Holyrood and Cardiff and local government. We must allow our parliamentary team fully to participate in and support the coalition. We must make sure that all our members, through all our MPs, have a direct link to government to contribute positively and with fresh ideas and advice.

I was never more proud of our party than during the period of the coalition talks. I met with my local party members and supporters several times to discuss and debate the coalition. During this period and at our party conference in Birmingham everyone displayed the best traditions of the Liberal Democrats, a democratic party realising that authority comes from the bottom up and not from the top down.

For our party the coalition presents a huge opportunity. If we achieve what we set out to do in the coalition agreement, then we can go into future elections stronger than ever. We will be able to point to our priorities and positions of principle which determined the policy of government. And we will be able to show where we led the fight - against tuition fees, in support of the people of Gaza, for shifting the tax burden from the poor to the well off, against nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

When we show how much Liberal Democrats have delivered through this coalition we will have made the best possible case for a liberal Britain. Our ambition in this Parliament must that at every level - from each of our communities to the Westminster Parliament - we are seen, heard, and effective in making the case and leading the campaign for liberal democracy. Everything we do must seek to lay the foundations for further success at all elections to come - starting with every by-election this year and then the Scottish, Welsh and local elections in 2011. Liberal Democrat led government for Britain can then be within our grasp.

For all my life I have enthusiastically, loyally and successfully campaigned for liberal democracy. We have come a huge distance in this time. If I have the privilege to be our next deputy leader, I am determined to get out our message loud and clear. For Liberal Democrats in Britain, the best is yet to come.