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Nick Clegg: Lib Dems paved way for growth of Derby's engineering excellence

April 30, 2015 12:12 PM
By Nick Clegg in Derby Telegraph
Originally published by East Midlands Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg writes exclusively for the Derby Telegraph:

NO city in the UK shouts 'engineering excellence' more loudly than Derby does.

Home not just to the ultimate status brand, Rolls-Royce, but also to Bombardier, the world's top manufacturer of trains and planes, and with Toyota right on its doorstep, the city boasts a reputation for technical quality and innovation few others could match.

No surprise then that there's been an explosion in the number of smaller engineering and manufacturing companies based here, or the fact that a new business and industrial hub is opening up in the south of the city and Derby's young university is expanding fast.

The dynamic growth the city is now enjoying reflects exactly the kind of recovery the Liberal Democrats in Government have worked so hard to deliver.

We've proved our commitment to a stronger economy by halving the deficit budget and helping businesses around the country to create 1.8 million jobs and more than two million new apprenticeships.

At the same time, we've also improved life for working people and families by cutting income tax by £905 for 24 million low and middle-income earners, providing an extra £2.5 million for struggling school kids, boosting the state pension, introducing unprecedented levels of free childcare and capping the cost of social care.

But the job is nowhere near done in terms of securing economic stability and delivering a fairer society, with opportunity for everyone.

The Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to balancing the budget by 2018, keeping the economy on track and protecting public services.

We're also the only ones who will genuinely stand by our manifesto pledge to give the NHS the £8 billion it needs and protect the early years, schools and college budgets.

Compare that to the savage cuts planned by the Tories and the reckless borrowing Labour has lined up for us all.

It's encouraging to see how, here in Derby, local businesses - large and small - have flourished in recent years.

The performance of the two local engineering giants - Rolls-Royce and Bombardier - reflects the upturn in the economy nationwide.

Rolls-Royce continues to expand, boosting local manufacturing jobs for local people, while Bombardier is back on top form, after reversing the trend whereby UK rail contracts were lost to overseas manufacturers under the previous Labour administration.

The city has also seen many new jobs created, thanks to funding from the recently formed Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

This was part of a multi-million pound initiative introduced by the Liberal Democrats in Government to drive economic growth nationwide. The local Partnership was awarded some £17.8 million to support projects in the area that deliver jobs, fire up economic growth and remove barriers to development.

We're also proud of the many other projects backed by the Lib Dems here in Derby to improve life for local people.

That includes completing the inner ring road, the Council House refurbishment with its innovative energy-efficient technology, and providing the city with a new bus station.

Derby has also received Local Sustainable Transport Funding under the Coalition, ushering in sustainable travel improvements, particularly in the south of the city, as well as the launch of the all-companies day bus ticket.

Lucy CareAs we approach one of the most tightly-fought elections in recent history, the Liberal Democrats are fielding an extremely strong trio of candidates here in Derby, including - appropriately enough, in this famous engineering city - a chartered engineer, Lucy Care, in Derby North.

The continued prosperity and economic growth of Derby encouraged by the Lib Dems in Government will be safe in their hands.

Mr Clegg's piece follows Derby Telegraph articles written by David Cameron and Green Party leader Natalie Bennett. We have also approached leaders of the other major political parties to submit a message to our readers and we await their response.