Nick Clegg launched the Party manifesto this week. This is about 4 key principles:

• Fair taxes;
• A fair start for every child;
• Fair, clean and local politics;
• A fair, green economy with jobs that last.

He launched it by saying that airbrushed posters, meaningless slogans, all set against the spectacle of the Government turning in on itself when the country is crying out for leadership. But most depressing of all was that we learned that the Labour and Conservative parties have decided to run their election campaigns as if the world hadn’t changed.

He was clear that shopping lists of pledges don’t wash any more. The politics of plenty are over. After the expenses scandals most people will have no time for implausible promises and no interest in attempts to buy their favour with cheap trinkets. But neither are they interested in relentless prophecies of doom and despair. Faced with these new circumstances, he started from three simple beliefs:

First, treat voters like grown ups. People know that the country faces one of the greatest crises in our public finances in generations. They know that difficult decisions must be taken. So they want politicians to spell out their priorities, spell out the choices, rather than live in denial about the dilemmas we face. Vince Cable and Nick Clegg have gone further than any other politicians in spelling out some of the steps which must now be taken to address the deficit and redirect money to our priorities:

• A 10% levy on banks profits as long as they are underwritten by the taxpayer;
• No to the like-for-like replacement of Trident;
• An end to tax credits to above average income families;
• Cancelling the Government’s Baby Bond scheme;
• A £400 cap on all public sector pay increases.

These cuts and revenue raising measures are, in our view, unavoidable if we are to persuade people that we are serious – and we are deadly serious – about tackling Gordon Brown’s astronomical deficit, yet alone generate the resources we need for our social and political priorities.

Second, the importance of conviction. He reported that he had heard the claim that at a time of crisis in the Government’s finances, values and conviction must take a backseat to the immediate task of balancing the books. He strongly disagrees. He does not believe it is possible to balance the books, yet alone transform British society, unless you are guided by strong values which guide you through the difficult choices which now must be made.

People will not support a Government which merely presents itself as a team of bean counting accountants – just as it will dismiss a Government living in denial about the enormity of the task ahead. People want leadership that is realistic about the difficult decisions ahead, but optimistic about the way forward and guided by clear values. The party which will win the argument in this year’s election campaign is the party which finds a way of marrying credibility and hope, restraint and generosity, discipline and compassion. That is what the Liberal Democrats will provide.

And, third, stick to the big ideas. The coming election will be no ordinary election. For once, the hype about the future of Britain being at stake is true. Elections should be an opportunity for us all to ask: where next? And for voters to choose. As a country, we face acute social, environmental, economic and political problems. The next Government will not only need to deal with the immediate crisis in the public finances. It must reinvent our rotten political system, heal the social divisions which still thwart the hopes of millions, and put our economy on a new, more balanced, more sustainable footing. None of this can be achieved if we merely tinker at the edges – the Labour and Conservative approach.

Talk of change is cheap. Delivering big, permanent change is the real challenge.

We are putting our cards on the table now. The heart of our manifesto will be short, direct and to the point. We have stripped away everything that is not essential because the country cannot afford it. We have isolated only two areas where we will make immediate, significant additional spending pledges: in education and in infrastructure investment. And both will be funded from specific cuts in other areas of current Government spending.

No other party in British politics today has taken such a deliberate step to be open and credible with the British people about what we can and cannot afford. And, yes, that means that some multi billion pound spending commitments we have promoted in the past – like new free childcare entitlements, a new citizen’s pension or free personal care – will no longer be firm commitments in our manifesto, but will be put on hold until they become affordable again. And some of our other pledges such as the scrapping of tuition fees will have to be phased in over a longer period of time. Our manifesto is based on a single insight: that the dreadful crises we have faced gives us the chance to reshape our country. And it is built on one simple and very British value: fairness.

Making this country fair will not be easy. There are huge vested interests standing in the way. We will offer the British people the chance to vote for the four steps that are essential for a fairer Britain. Only four. But they are four big changes – more significant than anything Labour or the Conservatives will offer at this election - that together will reshape the country we live in.