BRITISH DEPUTY prime minister Nick Clegg has begun to take a more combative attitude publicly to his Conservative party coalition partners.
Mr Clegg was badly weakened after the Liberal Democrat’s poor performance in elections and the defeat of the electoral reform referendum. But he has vowed to safeguard the National Health Service (NHS) and all but threatened that Lib Dem MPs could vote against health secretary Andrew Lansley’s proposal to give GPs control of more than £80 billion (€91 billion) of NHS spending, which opponents fear threatens to privatise the service.
The government, facing growing opposition, has already halted the legislation’s progress through the House of Commons, but Mr Clegg said: “As far as government legislation is concerned, no Bill is better than a bad one, and I want to get this right.
“Protecting the NHS, rather than undermining it, is now my number one priority. I am not going to ask Liberal Democrat MPs and peers to proceed with legislation on something as precious and cherished – particularly for Liberal Democrats – as the NHS unless I personally am satisfied that what these changes do is an evolutionary change in the NHS and not a disruptive revolution.”
The focus on this legislation is but the first sign that Mr Clegg will emphasise his party’s identity in coalition, following disastrous losses in English council and Scottish parliament elections, though less so in contests in Wales. He also suffered a resounding defeat in the Alternative Vote referendum, aimed at electoral reform.
However, it remains uncertain if Mr Clegg will go further than simply air disagreements in public that would have been kept private up until now, or whether he will choose to pick fresh rows with Conservatives. Tory MPs are in little mood to offer concessions to their coalition partners after a superb performance in Thursday’s vote, particularly in the referendum and English council elections.
With much of the weekend taken up with background briefings by the Lib Dems against Conservative chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne, it was ironic that he also harbours the same doubts about NHS reforms, which were not part of the coalition pact agreed last May.
The chancellor, indicating that a compromise can be found, has warned prime minister David Cameron that botched reforms could “toxify the Tory brand”. He told the BBC: “We want to reassure people that we have never wanted to privatise the NHS. We want to make sure that the NHS can do these things in a timely way.”
Few in senior Conservative ranks believe the coalition is going to collapse, particularly since there has been relatively little rebellion against Mr Clegg from his grassroots.
However, there is an acceptance that the deputy prime minister will be removed or will choose voluntarily to stand down before the next election, unless his party suffers an extraordinary improvement in its fortunes.
Seeking to capitalise on the Lib Dem difficulties, Labour leader Ed Miliband, who faced his own disappointments in Thursday’s election, said it was “late, but not too late” for coalition party MPs and ministers to quit government in protest at cuts.
"If they are in favour of new politics they should start by keeping their promises and reflecting the will of those who put them into parliament," he told the Observer. "If they are not in favour of these Tory policies they should stand up for what they believe or leave the Cabinet. They can come and work with us. My door is always open."
