Chew Moor has now become “Chew Valley”.

We at the Liberal Democrats will be the first to admit that there’s the occasional slip-up in our Focus newsletters, but we always try to get the name of the ward right (it usually helps).

Labour criticised the move by telling the BBC: “It’s very disappointing that the Conservative Party feel the need to drop in a candidate’s spouse into the audience to ask a question while passing themselves off as a member of the public.”

The row has escalated and Tory chiefs will be fearing that it may overshadow their candidate’s performance.

Those on Twitter have been commenting on her performance. One described her as “haughty and superior” and another said “Tory candidate looks as if she can’t be a****”.

Jackie Pearcey, the Lib Dem candidate, was however described as “a lovely lady and a great local campaigner” and she was lavished praise for doing a “great job”.

The Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Bolton West answered questions at the TV debate in Westhoughton’s Carnegie Hall. The debate was hosted by Gavin Estler, the BBC Newsnight presenter.

Youngsters from Westhoughton High School were in the audience. When asked which of the candidates they preferred, they said that Jackie Pearcey’s Liberal Democrats had the best policies.

Jackie won the greatest applause from the ‘studio’ audience, many of whom were from Westhoughton. She won applaud for saying voters should be listening to the policies that the parties have to offer rather than the parading of politicians’ wives by Gordon Brown and David Cameron.

Jackie said: “The debate was a first for Bolton West and I was very proud to have been able to put across my views to the people who will be choosing their next MP. People are fed up with the same old and tired politics of Labour and the Tories, and this event has thrown the doors open to a three-horse race. If you like what I said, and you want me as your MP, vote for it. This is the year that we can make a real difference.”

Jackie’s TV showing was boosted by the first TV Leaders’ Debate, in which Nick Clegg topped the debate for the Lib Dems. A Chancellors’ Debate saw Lib Dem Vince Cable as the star of the show too.

Jackie Pearcey is seeking election for the Bolton West constituency on Thursday, 6th May. Polls are open from 7am until 10pm.

The debate, which was hosted by ITV1, saw Nick Clegg eclipse Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Subsequent polls have placed Nick Clegg has the clear winner of the first debate.

But the news was overshadowed by a surprise new YouGov poll for The Sun which pitched the Lib Dems in second place, just 3 points behind the Tories – leaving Labour trailing in third place. The Tories were on 33% (down 4 points), Lib Dems on 30% (up 8 points), and Labour were down 3 points on 28%.

The phenomenal change of fortunes means that the Lib Dems are now on an equal footing – and everything is for play.

People are said to be impressed by Clegg’s friendly, honest and approachable manner. They are fed up of 65 years of the same old, same old with successive Labour and Tory government – and are ready for a change.

All eyes will be on Mr Clegg’s performance at the Sky News Leaders Debate next Thursday. It is thought the Lib Dems may perform well because the debate will focus on foreign affairs, such as the Iraq war, which the Lib Dems have been very strong on in previous years.

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Dear friend,

Ever since I became leader of the Liberal Democrats I have been travelling the country, holding public meetings, listening and talking to the people I meet. The economy is in a mess, people are losing jobs and everywhere I go, people are angry at the way politicians have let them down.

The two old parties don’t really want to change a political system that keeps them in power or challenge the bankers who got the economy into such a terrible mess. The next election will be your chance to tell them they’re wrong – your chance to vote for something different.

Many people believed they would get change for the better in 1997. Instead, under Labour, the gap between rich and poor has got bigger, our politics has got even dirtier, our civil liberties have been eroded, the environment around us is in danger and our international reputation is at a new low. Labour let us all down.

The Conservatives say they want change but all they really want is to keep things the way they are. They say they want fairness but demand tax cuts for millionaires. They say they want to protect the environment, but have linked up in Europe with people who deny climate change is a problem at all. They will promise everything and change nothing.

Britain is in the teeth of three crises: a huge banking crisis and recession, a rotten Westminster system abused by too many MPs for personal gain, and the threat of climate change. We need big changes to fix our economy, our discredited politics and our environment, yet both Labour and the Conservatives are letting the City, the House of Commons and polluters off the hook. No action against bankers’ bonuses. No action to give people the right to sack MPs guilty of breaking the rules. No action to slash emissions. They say just enough to get in the headlines, but when the spotlight moves on it’s back to business as usual.

I believe there’s a better way. This country can be fairer, it can be safer, greener, and stronger in the world. Only the Liberal Democrats have the ideas, the energy, and the ambition to provide the new hope the country needs. If that’s what you want too, after twelve years of Labour disappointment, turn to us. We carry the torch of progress now.

Despite all the gloomy news, there’s still real hope for the future – but only if we make a fresh start. We need strong leadership and a different kind of politics to make it happen. The way things have always been done has got us into this mess, and it will never get us out.

Above all, we must do everything to protect the next generation from the mistakes made today. For me, how we treat young children is the most important measure of what kind of society we want, what kind of values we hold dear.

Even in these difficult times, giving all children from all backgrounds the life chances they deserve will always be my personal priority.

So if you want things to be different, choose a party that is different. Choose the Liberal Democrats.

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats

To see the full text, including a downloadable PDF of the document either click here.

The article which appeared in The Times

Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, yesterday made it clear that it is up to the people of Britain to decide who will govern the next Parliament, and not for the Labour and Tory parties to start discussing who will back who if there is a hung parliament.

The Tories and Labour have recently lavished praise on the Lib Dem leader, Clegg, in an attempt to woo the party into a potential ‘coalition’ if a majority mandate is not provided after the election.

Nick Clegg writes…

If there is a hung Parliament there will be no under-the-counter deals with either big party.

Hostilities have started. The frenzied announcements and counter-announcements from the Conservative and Labour parties over the past few days point towards a long, grinding election campaign.

Much of what we have heard so far is unsurprising: absurd pledges on spending, vitriolic attacks on cuts.

But one development is new: both the old parties now claim to be almost identical to the Liberal Democrats. David Cameron and Gordon Brown are ostentatiously flirting with Liberal Democrat voters, clumsily trying to woo them — and by implication me and my fellow Liberal Democrat MPs.

This year’s general election is likely to be the most open and unpredictable in a generation. So you have a right to know where we stand. I can promise voters wondering whether to put an “X” against the Liberal Democrats that there are no backroom deals or under-the-counter “understandings” with either of the other two parties.

The stance the Liberal Democrats will take matters more than ever because the map of British politics is being dramatically redrawn. Slowly but surely three-party politics has asserted itself. Half a century ago only 2 per cent of voters chose a party other than Labour or the Conservatives. At last year’s local elections, that had shot up to 40 per cent. At the last general election, one in four people who voted supported the Liberal Democrats; six million voters, more than for any other Liberal party in Europe.

So no wonder that both Mr Brown and Mr Cameron are trying to appeal to the millions of people who have long tired of the pendulum politics of Westminster. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so it’s a compliment of sorts that the core values of the Liberal Democrats — fairness in society, real change in politics — are now being mimicked by others. On so many issues in recent years, Liberal Democrat instincts have been in tune with the British public: on Iraq, civil liberties, political reform, the environment, fair taxes, the excesses of the City of London, the rights of Gurkha veterans.

We are, and have shown ourselves to be, very different from the other two parties. My message to Mr Brown and Mr Cameron is simple: the Liberal Democrats are up for real change. We are not up for sale.
Mr Brown and Mr Cameron utter fine words about reform and fairness, but their policies aren’t even close to what’s needed. They both say that tax should be fair, but Mr Brown has created a tax system where the poorest pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes than the rich, while Mr Cameron’s top priority is tax cuts for millionaires.

But Britain faces economic, social, political and environmental crises on an extraordinary scale. So we need an extraordinary government, not more of the same, for these extraordinary times. In the event of a hung Parliament, the British people also deserve to know how the Liberal Democrats will respond. We have two basic principles that I will uphold.

One, we will respect the will of the public. The voters are in charge and the decision is theirs. If voters decide that no party deserves an overall majority, then self-evidently the party with the strongest mandate will have a moral right to be the first to seek to govern on its own or, if it chooses, to seek alliances with other parties.

Two, regardless of the post-election arithmetic or whatever power we are granted, there are four objectives that we will unwaveringly pursue.

First: fair taxes. Our plan would mean that the first £10,000 you earn would be free of income tax. This would be paid for by taxing income and capital at the same rate, phasing out special pension subsidies for highest-rate earners, switching tax from income to pollution and introducing a mansion tax on the value of homes above £2 million.

Second: a fair start for all our children. We will cut class sizes and provide more one-to-one tuition to children by introducing a new “pupil premium” in our schools.

Third: a fair and sustainable economy that creates jobs. We will use the money from one year’s cuts in current spending to create tens of thousands of new jobs in public transport, a national programme of home insulation and new social housing. We will be honest about where savings must be made to balance the books and we will break up the banking system.

And finally, fair, clean and local politics. We will introduce a fair voting system, ensure that MPs can be sacked by their constituents if they break the rules, return powers to local communities and stop tax avoiders from standing for Parliament, sitting in the House of Lords or donating to political parties.

While the other parties set out increasingly implausible lists of promises, the Liberal Democrats will remain focused on this short list of big, structural changes that will make Britain fairer. Neither of the other parties seems willing or capable of delivering them. So the Liberal Democrat message to the voters is clear: if you like what we offer, vote for it. The decision is in your hands.

By Nick Clegg, published in The Times on Tuesday, 5th January 2010.

Labour and Tory chiefs have lavished praise on the Lib Dems in a desperate attempt to win their support.

Gordon Brown and the Tories’ David Cameron have both commended Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, as never seen before.

It is seen as a clear sign that both parties believe the Lib Dems pose a serious threat to their chances in the elections.

People are impressed by Lib Dem plans for a fairer tax, which would leave millions better off.

They support the Lib Dem stance on the illegal war in Iraq and they like our plans to tackle environmental change.

Gordon and David are desperate because they realise people are turning to the Liberal Democrat’s common sense policies.

David Cameron, Leader of the Conservatives, who have announced plans to freeze the pay of public workers on just £18,000

The Tories will freeze the pay of public officials earning just £18,000 a year if they get in to power, it has been revealed.

Responding to the ludicrous plans that were announced at the recent Conservative party conference, Jackie Pearcey, Bolton West’s Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, said: “So, the Conservatives’ much-trailed plans to freeze the pay of “high earning public officials” means everybody on £18,000 a year or above.  That is basically everybody earning one and a half times the minimum wage, including many people who qualify for help such as tax credits to keep their families at a decent standard of living.”

“If the Conservatives think that hitting ordinary families on less than the average wage is hitting “high earners” it shows how out of touch they really are,” she added.