We can fix economic mess - Clegg - News in brief

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In his New Year message to the party, Mr Clegg insisted that only the Lib Dems can "fix this economic mess Britain's in".

And he promised to devote the first three months of 2009 to new policy initiatives to help children and young families, including a new proposal for maximum class sizes of 15 for infants in primary schools.

Mr Clegg acknowledged that Britain was going through a "time of crisis" and that 2009 would be a tough year, with 200 families at risk of losing their homes every day and unemployment threatening to hit three million.

But he insisted that a time of crisis can also be a time of opportunity, by ushering in change and renewal. He said: "The Government got us into this mess and hasn't got the right ideas to get us out of it. The Conservatives want to do nothing - they wouldn't lift a finger to help.

"As the New Year starts, it's time to do things differently. There is a path to recovery...

"Liberal Democrats will do things differently. I know we can fix this economic mess Britain's in, if only we do things differently for once instead of making the same old mistakes the same old parties have made for generations.

"Both Labour and the Conservatives keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect something different to happen. They are parties of the past, prisoners of their own special interests."

He highlighted Liberal Democrat plans for "big, permanent and fair" tax cuts to encourage spending and a package of investment in environmentally-friendly development to stimulate the economy, in place of Labour's temporary cut in VAT.

He told activists: "2009 must be a year of doing things differently. A year of hope. A year of real change. And that's what the Liberal Democrats offer."