Salma Yaqoob

It's a good job it is Ramadan and I'm fasting, or I would have choked on my cornflakes reading this. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is trying to convince us that Britain will be a fairer place after slashing public spending by up to 40%. Really? Deprived inner city areas like Sparkbrook ward will be better off without the Building Schools for the Future programme and free school meals? Or without the winter fuel allowance? Or without more active state support and intervention to reduce the chronic levels of unemployment that already exist?

These cuts are hitting the poorest and most deprived areas hardest and Nick Clegg has betrayed those who voted Lib Dem in the mistaken belief they would help make Britain a fairer place.

The good news is that more and more Lib Dem voters are seeing through the lies they were spun before the election.  Sky News has the Lib Dems at just 8% and in the latest You Gov poll '59 per cent of respondents believe the Lib Dems had sold out their principles in joining the coalition, 62 per cent said it was no longer clear what they stood for, and only 14 per cent believed the coalition would last more than four years'. The sight of Clegg pontificating about cracking down on tax avoidance while hiring tax avoider Phillip Green as his 'efficiency adviser' is enough to turn anyones stomach.

The longer this government goes unchecked the more they will roll back all the gains made by past generations that really helped to make Britain a more equal society. And make no mistake that is the Tory agenda. They are 21st century Thatcherites, and nastier with it. The Lib Dems are the soft underbelly of this coalition. If the new Thatcherites are to be stopped, then cracks have to be opened up in this government. It is imperative that the Lib Dems are made to pay a heavy price at the ballot box.