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  1. Politics
19 September 2011

Vince Cable’s speech to conference: Live blog

The Business Secretary addresses Liberal Democrat delegates in Birmingham.

By Samira Shackle

QUICK VERDICT: Cable’s delivery today was low-key, but were some unmistakeable jibes at the Tories — the repeated references to fairness, stimulus, and, of course, the reference to the “ideological descendants of those who sent children up chimneys”. There was also a sprinkling of Lib Dem populism with the emphasis on social justice, and fairness — particularly on limiting executive pay and taxing the rich. Notably, he didn’t use the Jaguar and Landrover contracts he opened with to say that the economy was on the home-stretch; nor did he indicate that the next phase of difficulty for ordinary citizens is going to be over any time soon.

12.37: Cable has reiterated his commitment to a mansion tax. “When some critics attack our party policy of a tax on properties over £2 million by saying it is an attack on ordinary middle class owners, you wonder what part of the solar system they live in.” Greater tax of land and property was a key theme of his speech last year.

12.36: He keeps returning to the idea of “responsible capitalism”.

12.35: “Some of you may have noticed one of the big media companies has had a spot of bother” — Cable makes a nod to his anti-Murdoch stance without courting controversy too much.

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12.32: Living costs are falling, he says, and there is a sense of grievance that workers are paying for a crisis they did not create.

12.31: Cable is talking about investment in infrastructure — the “stimulus” section of his speech. It’s not a word used often by George Osborne, it must be said.

12.29: How do we progress from financial stability to growth, asks Cable. “Panic in the markets will not be stopped by stopping maternity rights,” says Cable, assuring delegates he will not provide cover for unscrupulous business-people — the “ideological descendents of those who sent children up chimneys”. This is a jibe at Steve Hilton for some of his more unconventional ideas on workers’ rights.

12.26: Cable is criticising the idea that cutting taxes for the wealthy will improve the country’s wealth. On the idea that this will encourage tax avoiders back from Monaco, he says: “Pull the other one”. Playing to the Lib Dem faithful here.

12.23pm: Vince Cable is calling for “stability, stimulus, and solidarity” to help the economy recover and create a “responsible capitalism”. He is criticising Labour’s record and saying that financial discipline is not necessarily “right-wing” or “ideological”. He says he thinks they are following in the steps of Roy Jenkins. “The progressive agenda of centre left parties cannot be cannot be delivered by bankrupt governments” — but the really important word here is “stimulus”.

12.05pm: Join us at 12.20pm for live updates on Vince Cable’s speech. You can read the full transcript of it here.

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