THE Liberal Democrats Conference has shown that the party's policies would do great damage to living standards and our way of life in Britain.

They would hugely increase the burden of taxation on the British people and would bring an end to democratically-accountable government in this country, and would subordinate our historic institutions to those of a federalist European superstate.

The Liberal Democrats are not some kind of more-palatable alternative to Labour. Their policies are just as ill-conceived, misguided and dangerous as those of New Labour.

Just as importantly, a vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for a weak Lib-Lab pact and that means a vote for all of the wrong-headed and dangerous policies that New Labour promise. The price the Liberal Democrats would demand for co-operation in a Labour government would be policies that would be as bad, or worse, for Britain as those Labour propose.

The Liberal Democrats are not a party of the centre. They are a left wing party, dominated by extremists who have nothing in common with the people who vote for them. In no way would they be a moderate influence in a Labour government. On the contrary, they would promote a dangerous left wing agenda of their own.

The Liberal Democrats would abandon Britain's independence and sign us up to a federal European state. They would devalue our democracy by insisting on an electoral system based on proportional representation that would guarantee weak multi-party government.

Liberal Democrats in the government would mean lower living standards. They would embark on a reckless spending spree, which they admit would oblige them to put up taxes, even for basic rate taxpayers.

GEETA SIDHU, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Blackburn.

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