John Brigden speaks out on immigration, cuts in the health service, prisons, and the Euro… the Liberal Democrat candidate squares up to tough questions.

.Q: Is it true you will let in all the asylum seekers and have an open borders policy on immigration?

A: No. We have never said that but of course the Conservatives would love you to believe their spin. We want a points system, like Australia. If you are a dentist, a doctor or have another skill in short supply (for instance a farm in East Anglia needs pickers for celery and can’t get the workers), then obviously, we would allow workers in on a temporary basis. It’s a common sense policy that controls immigration without damaging our economy.

Q: Is it true you advocate an amnesty for illegals?

A: We have said this needs looking at as if we knew who was here, we could assess the size of the problem. We don’t know who is here because the Conservatives abandoned exit-controls - they stopped immigration officers looking at passports for people leaving the country and now complain the problem is caused by the Labour Party! What hypocrites. Labour let the situation continue so now nobody has any idea who is here.

Q: Are we joining the Euro if you get your way?

A: No, I think we need to be able to adjust our own interest rates, but we have seen a massive devaluation by being on our own, and there is strength in having partners. If the time was right and conditions were right I think we could. The problem we have is that although we are a member of the EU we have no influence over the Euro which is currently too strong.

Q: Are you in favour of emptying prisons?

A: No…but, the prison system currently doesn’t work. We need to stop short term prison sentences and look at alternatives as 9 out of 10 offenders come out having been to a university of crime, and re-offend. Conservatives criticise us for this, but Ian Duncan-Smith, the former Tory leader, agrees with us on this…quite a lot of people agree with Nick, these days.

Q: Is it true you will leave Britain defence-less?

A: No, on the contrary we will strengthen our troops…we want our troops to get the equipment they have been denied. We think we should come out of Afghanistan as soon as possible as there is no point in our troops dying and getting maimed in an unwinnable war.

Instead of spending £5bn a year in Afghanistan we should give more resources to front line troops and our other forces. We will also cancel the £100bn Trident replacement which was designed as a Cold War deterrent...the Tories say this is wrong, but won’t say how we can afford it. Lots of countries have a nuclear submarine, including Germany, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, but they don’t feel defenceless. And, of course, having nuclear weapons under the sea has not stopped the UK having a terrorist attack. The threats have changed since the Cold War, we need a review of our defence to look at where the money goes.

EDIT: Army Generals agree with our position - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7612615/General-Election-2010-generals-back-Nick-Clegg-on-Trident-nuclear-deterrent.html

Q: Is it true you won’t ring-fence the money spent on the National Health?

A: Yes but we don’t want to cut the frontline services. There are no sacred cows, if you are in the worst financial crisis ever, and have a debt of £170bn, how can you go on spending money regardless? There is massive over-manning in the Health Service; 50 per cent of those employed don’t do any doctoring or nursing…and Labour has just spent £12bn on a computer system that doesn’t work.

Q: But you can not possibly win !

A: Yes we can…we are 1^st or 2^nd, in 250 seats, and everyone has a secret vote. We now even have the power of Facebook behind us. If all those who want a real change vote Liberal Democrat we can really change the face of politics.

Millions already see Liberal Democrats running things locally, we work with Conservatives, and Labour, in lots of local councils, like Leeds and Southwark, and we run by ourselves in Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, Portsmouth and Sheffield - big cities where we have taken over from Labour. In Oxford, there is not one Conservative councillor, next door, the district council at Abingdon has been in Lib Dem hands for over 20 years…we have run things well locally, and wouldn’t have been able to do this if we had not given good value at the same time. Vince Cable understands economics – the Daily Telegraph says the Conservative’s George Osbourne can’t add up and is no economist, who would you rather trust with your money?

Find out more about John and his policies at his website:  http://www.johnbrigden.co.uk

The Liberal Democrats have received a significant bounce in the opinion polls following Nick Clegg’s performance in the UK’s first leaders’ debates

One survey put the Lib Dems in the lead for the first time in decades. A BPIX poll for the Mail on Sunday suggested support for Mr Clegg’s party has soared 12 points to 32%, while the Conservatives dropped to 31% and Labour trailed on 28%.

Three other polls also showed increasing support for the Lib Dems as Gordon Brown admitted the debate had thrown the race “wide open”.
In the Independent on Sunday, a ComRes poll will show the Tories on 31, the Lib Dems second on 29 and Labour in third place on 27.
A YouGov poll conducted after the leaders went head-to-head on television gave the Conservatives 33, Labour 30 and the Lib Dems on 29.

An ICM survey for the Telegraph put the Tories on 34, Labour on 29 and the Lib Dems just behind on 27. Conducted before the debate but after the manifesto launches, it suggests momentum was building for Mr Clegg even before his widely-complimented performance.