George Osborne and David Cameron blocked plans to build more
social housing because it would produce more Labour voters", Nick
Clegg has claimed,
According to the former deputy prime minister, the
chancellor and prime minister rejected repeated Lib Dem attempts to get more
money to build homes for people on low incomes.
Clegg quoted the chancellor and prime minister in an
interview with The Independent today as telling him: "All it does is
produce more Labour voters."
The former Lib Dem leader also said Osborne blocked his
attempts to expand childcare provision for two-year-olds for poorer families in
favour of offering 30 hours of free childcare for older children as it would
score a political victory over Ed Miliband.
Clegg claims the chancellor told him at the time: "All
we want to do is to shoot Labour’s fox"
In the interview, Clegg also accused the Conservative Party
of "rigging the rules” in its favour in such a way that could lead to a
Tory "one-party state".
He said: "If you look at the way the Conservatives seek
to hobble and neuter Westminster, the bullying swagger with which they treat
the BBC, the general air of hubris, there is a feeling that politics is being
reduced to the whims and mood swings of one political party. That is not
healthy.
A combination of US-style game playing by the
Conservatives and Labour’s self-indulgence is conspiring to leave millions of
British voters completely voiceless."
His criticism comes as officials have announced details of
how the UK’s electoral map is to be re-drawn, but an analysis of the Boundary
Commission’s proposals suggest it could cost the Labour Party 10 MPs to the
Conservatives at the next election.
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