Vince Cable speaks at Meon Valley Annual Dinner

6.47.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 12th Oct 2008

POLITICAL man-of-the-moment Dr Vince Cable says the key to injecting some spending power into the economy is simple: tax the rich more so the poor can pay less.

Dr Cable was speaking at the second annual dinner of the Meon Valley Liberal Democrat constituency party at the Mariott Hotel, Shedfield, on Friday. The 90 guests - who included the Lib Dem Treasury Spokesman in the House of Lords, Lord Oakeshott - had their eyes firmly fixed on the Lib Dem Shadow Chancellor as he spoke about the economic crisis and the best way forward.

The Lib Dems' own package to save the country from financial meltdown includes radical cuts in interest rates, measures to stop large scale repossession and a system whereby local councils can acquire land at reasonable prices and use it solely for social housing.

Dr Cable said: "We have to link to this crisis our policies on tax. The message is a very simple one: people who are very well off should pay more tax - and at the moment they don't.

"A lot more money is going to have be raised from people at the top end of the scale and it should be handed back to people on low incomes so they can pay a lower income tax."

As the man who predicted the collapse of the debt mountain and the property bubble not just in Britain but in the global economy, Dr Cable is seen as something of a leading authority on financial matters.

And regarding global government cooperation on the crisis, he added: "We are in a global economy and as an internationalist party, this is a time probably more than ever in my lifetime where governments are going to have to work together and hang together, otherwise they'll hang separately."

Dr Cable also gave special mention to Liz Leffman, prospective Lib Dem MP for Meon Valley.

"The Lib Dems are winning seats and by-elections and making headway in this constituency of Meon Valley, we have a superb candidate in Liz and there is every prospect of winning this parliamentary seat at the next general election," he said.

Liz commented: "Vince really is the man-of-the-moment and epitomises Liberal Democrat values at this time of economic crisis. We tell it as it is, we listen to what people's concerns are and we come forward with solutions about things that matter to people."