Lib Dem leader impressed by Rowen

Paul Rowen gives Nick Clegg a copy of the ‘Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in and around Rochdale’ written by John Cole and published by Wharncliffe Books in 2007

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has taken time out of his busy election campaign to offer his support to Paul Rowen and to speak out about the closure of vital services at Rochdale Infirmary.

Mr Clegg said: "Rochdale is one of those places where people’s votes are really going to count this time, because it is one of the most marginal in the country.

I was there in December and was enormously impressed with what Paul Rowen and his team are doing. I also discovered that the first Cleggs came from Littleborough in the twelfth century, so I am – in that sense at least – a local myself!

It is ludicrous that the Labour Government is now closing the maternity and children’s units at Rochdale Infirmary, and are due to close the accident and emergency department next year. It will force local parents and grandparents to travel to Oldham or Manchester to receive the emergency treatment they need for their children and grandchildren. Seconds count in an emergency and Labour’s decision will literally cost local lives. This is an urgent case for our plans for devolving decision-making on health to the people who know best what needs doing – at local level.

Manufacturing is in the fabric of Rochdale but if we are going to support manufacturing, we also need to shift power away from the City of London too. Our economy depends far too much on consumer spending and borrowing rather than saving and investment. It depends too much on the Square Mile of the City of London – instead of on all 100,000 square miles of Britain.

Yet, not only are Labour and Conservatives determined to brush the banking crisis under the carpet – as if it wasn’t relevant to the painful cuts that are already happening – but they are still preoccupied with the artificial wealth of inflated property prices rather than productive work.

I am absolutely determined to tackle this problem, so that we start building a more diverse economy, one that is based on innovation, creativity and sustainability rather than debt.

We have to make sure that the high street banks which families and small businesses depend on are never again put at risk by the casino culture of investment banking. We have to break up the big banks, separating high street and investment banking, so that they can focus on lending money to productive business again. I am determined that we use the government’s stake in the banks to make sure this happens.

The economy doesn't work unless it has cash. It is a kind of lifeblood, and the blood is not circulating in the economy at the moment, because a lot of the banks aren’t lending. That will be our number one priority in government.

We want to set up an infrastructure bank, local enterprise funds and regional stock exchanges, to finance really important projects like new rail services and green energy, and to get people back to work – investing in wind energy and renewables, the energy efficiency of public buildings and homes, and to bring empty homes back into use through renovation.

This is the cutting edge industrial sector of the future, and it urgently needs attention. They have a huge potential for jobs, but if we don’t act on this, the jobs will just go somewhere else.

Creating a sustainable economy for the UK is one of the four key messages of our campaign – tackling the recession and the climate crisis at the same time. It’s an urgent priority, along with cutting class sizes and increasing one-to-one tuition, creating a fair tax system and political reform.

Every time I come to Rochdale, I meet people who have been helped by Paul, whether it was stopping plans to brick up their windows (Barnes Meadow Estate) or bringing the Metrolink into the centre. Some people might make glib promises, but Paul really makes a difference.

His record of action over the last five years is unrivalled. He is exactly the kind of champion we need to help change the political system to break open Westminster and Whitehall.