Rolling coverage of all the day's developments in Birmingham
Nick Clegg's interview is now over. He's done various other interviews this morning too. I'll post a summary of the highlights shortly.
The interview is still going on.
Q: What is the Lib Dem policy on the euro?
Clegg says the government is not going to join the euro this parliament.
Q: Does that mean the prospect of Britain joining is over for a generation?
Clegg says it is difficult to predict the future. He says he does not expect it to happen in his lifetime. Then he corrects himself, and says he does not expect Britain to join in his political lifetime, while he is Lib Dem leader.
He also says that no one predicted that the countries that signed up to the euro would be allowed to break the rules in the way that he did.
The interview is still going on.
Q: What is your evidence that the bond markets would punish the UK if the government changed its economic plans?
Clegg says when the government came to powers, other countries had lower deficits. But they are being penalised because they are not tackling their deficits.
Q: But it looks as if Italy is being punished by the markets because of lack of growth, which is the problem here. And UK debt has to be paid back over a longer period of time?
Clegg says the government has pulled the economy back from the brink, creating the space where it can do more to promote growth.
Q: But Italy is being punished because it has not got enough growth. We've got the same problem.
Italy has other problems, Clegg says. It has an ageing population.
Q: Aren't you conceding then that the UK is not in the same position Italy?
Clegg says that saying Britain is not Italy is a statement of the obvious.
Nick Clegg is on the Today programme now. Justin Webb is interviewing him.
Q: You said the government would not approve of "gratuitously offensive" bank bonuses. Aren't the current bonuses paid to bankers gratuitously offensive?
Clegg says he would like to have gone further. But in the Project Merlin agreement, the banks have committed themselves to bringing bonuses down.
Q: But it's not happening very quickly?
Clegg says it is not happening as quickly as he would like. But the government is introducing the greatest move towards transparency in this area the country has seen.
And Vince Cable has said shareholders should have more power in this area, Clegg says. Corporate governance is going to change, even though perhaps not as quickly as people would wish.
Q: But the cuts are taking place now. Why do you need to consult on these changes?
Clegg says in most areas of government people consult.
Q: When will the Vickers recommendations be implemented?
Clegg says everyone in government would like to do it as quickly as possible. But it is important to get it right. Vickers has set 2019 as a deadline. But that's a "backstop date", Clegg says. It might be possible to implement the changes ringfencing the retails arms of banks before then.
Nick Clegg is about to give an interview to the Today programme. I'll cover it here, before taking a look at some of the other broadcast interviews he's been giving today. As for the rest of the day, here's what's coming up.
9am: The conference opens. Delegates debate party rule changes affecting emergency motions and appeals.
9.40am: Delegates debate a motion calling for rules stopping men who have had sex with men (MSM) from giving blood to be reformed.
10.20am: A debate on social care. Delegates debate a call for the establishment of an older people's commissioner.
11.15am: Steve Webb, the pensions minister, delivers his speech to the conference.
11.35am: Paul Burstow, the health minister, John Pugh, the co-chair of the Lib Dem parliamentary health committee and Shirley Williams, the Lib Dem grandee and health bill "rebel", take part in a question and answer session on health.
12.20pm: Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, deliver his speech to the conference.
2.30pm: Delegates debate a motion on green policies saying the legislation to set up a Green Investment Bank should be introduced next year.
3.30pm: Andrew Stunell, the communities minister, delivers his speech to the conference.
3.50pm: Delegates debate a motion calling for the establishment of a national institute of wellbeing.
5.20pm: Delegates debate motion urging the Lib Dems to make a renewed commitment to the principles of "community politics".
As usual, I'll be covering all the Lib Dem conference news, as well as looking at the papers and the best politics on the web. I'll post a lunchtime summary at around 1pm and an afternoon one at about 6pm. After that my colleague Paul Owen will take over the blog and keep it going into the evening.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/sep/20/liberal-democrat-conference-2011-live
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