Liberal Democrats have no limits on their ambitions for Britian - Kennedy

7.18.08pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 3rd May 2005

At a rally in London tonight, Charles Kennedy, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, said that there is no limit to the Liberal Democrats ambition for Britain. He also stated that Labour have been reduced to running pathetic scare stories rather than having the confidence to stand on their record, while the Conservatives cannot win.

Mr Kennedy said

"And as we approach polling day, it is clear that the story of this election is increasingly the record levels of support for the Liberal Democrats.

"Labour and Tony Blair are running scared of the Liberal Democrats. He has suddenly realised how attractive the Liberal Democrat message is.

They are reduced to making unfounded claims about their opponents rather than having the confidence to stand on their record. From the start I was determined to run a positive campaign. I did so because that is how I believe politics should be a challenge of ideas not a battle of insults. And I did so because I wanted people at this election to have the clearest possible idea of what the Liberal Democrats stood for. We have repeatedly set out those key domestic policies:

· Liberal Democrats will scrap university tuition fees

· Liberal Democrats will raise pensions by £100 a month for the over 75s and end the discrimination against women in the pensions system

· Liberal Democrats will introduce free personal care, as we already have in Scotland

· Liberal Democrats will end the artificial targets in the NHS and let doctors and nurses get on with the job

· Liberal Democrats will put 10,000 more police on the streets rather than waste billions on compulsory ID cards

· Liberal Democrats will put 21,000 new primary school teachers into the class room

"They represent a programme which addresses people's hopes rather than playing on their fears. A programme which provides security for the vulnerable and opportunity for all our citizens.

"But of course, there is more to this election than a battle between the parties on specific domestic policy choices. To a greater extent than at any election I have fought, here is the issue of which Party can be trusted with the stewardship of our country during the next Parliament.

"The question of trust is so important, because so many of the judgements which politicians have to make have nothing to do with the promises in their manifestos.

"The plain truth is that Tony Blair's authority is seriously undermined by Iraq. Even if he wins a third term. He is now going to be a lame duck Prime Minister.

"But if the Prime Minister has lost the trust of the country, what can we make of Michael Howard's Conservatives? "On Iraq, Michael Howard has developed a new foreign policy doctrine. It is called 'regime change plus.' It basically says that it is acceptable to go to war to oust an existing regime whatever the UN thinks, whether or not the war is legal. It is not the policy of a serious contender for power in this country."As we enter the last lap of this campaign, it is now clear that the Liberal Democrats are set to go into the next Parliament with significantly more MPs, and with the highest level of voter support for a generation.

"We set no ceiling on our ambitions as a Party. We are clearly set for a further major advance on Thursday. But I am determined that this will not be the high water mark of Liberal Democrat electoral success. It will be a further staging post - an important staging post - in our upward progress as a Party.

"Both the other Party leaders are time expired. And in the case of the Conservatives - with many of their leading members set to lose their seats to the Liberal Democrats next week - we do not have the faintest idea of which direction the Party will take after polling day.

"We can be certain that after May the fifth they will be incapable of speaking with any coherent or effective voice - their very future as a viable party will be in doubt.

"We must work to revive our democratic way of life. We must protect the rule of law from Ministerial interference. We must stand up for individual liberties.

"So as we prepare to submit ourselves to the electorate, let us redouble our efforts. Sure in our beliefs, confident in our cause, and ambitious for our country."

Liberal Democrat Party President, Simon Hughes said:

"There are now no 'no-go' areas for the Liberal Democrats. In communities up and down the country, more and more people are looking to us as an alternative to Labour's tired promises and empty rhetoric.

"With the Conservatives now virtually irrelevant in Britain's major towns and cities it is the Liberal Democrats who are the real alternative to Labour."

Amanda Harland, former Conservative candidate for Colne Valley, said:

"Since resigning as a Conservative PPC in October I have for the first time stood back and actually looked at the political scene in this country without having any bias towards a particular party.

"I had been blinkered to the fact that the Conservative party had become a very narrow minded clique that represents an ever increasing minority in this country. Their policies on immigration and asylum are based on fear and ignorance. Their promises on the economy are at best optimistic and quite frankly don't add up.

"We have had this Labour government for 8 years. We have had a Conservative led opposition for all of those 8 years. But not that you would hardly notice - the Conservatives have provided no effective opposition.

"It is time that there was a real opposition to this Labour government and I believe that only the Liberal Democrats can provide that opposition."