Wolverhampton members prepare to choose a new Party leader

3.26.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 28th Oct 2007

Two leadership candidates capable of delivering on the party's aspirations

A large contingent from Wolverhampton were in a packed house at Benn Hall in Rugby to see Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne go head to head at the West Midlands Leadership Hustings on Saturday 27 October. Both Chris and Nick said that they wanted to project the Liberal Democrats as the radical party of change and set themselves a quest to break the mould of two party politics over two parliaments. Both spoke eloquently with their own particular style, and either will make a leader who is capable of delivering on the party's aspirations.

Chris Huhne has been the Party's environment spokesman and The Green Tax Switch was a ground breaking policy that has shifted the debate for all three main parties in Britain. In his speech he said that climate change was the "elephant in every room" and it should be a central issue for government. He said he wanted to promote a fairer, greener, more liberal Britain with people taking charge of their own lives. He said that new party lines were drawn between authoritarian and liberal values - no longer between left and right.

Nick Clegg has been impressive as Home Affairs spokesman. He has come up with radical policies on prisons and illegal immigrants that are liberal and common sense, and he has not been afraid to make the case against Labour and the Conservatives in a highly charged area of public debate. At the hustings he said that Britain was suffering from an "epidemic of powerlessness" and that he would put education, security, the environment and managing the effects of globalisation at the heart of his leadership. He said that "a fearful country is not a liberal society".

Wolverhampton Liberal Democrats feel very confident about the future of Liberal Democracy and believe that whether the new leader is Nick Clegg or Chris Huhne we can will reach out to the millions of Britons who share our values, but have never yet voted for us.