Nick Clegg has topped polls and left Labour and Tories in disarray after he reached out to the people of Britain in a vote-changing performance at the first Leader’s Debate.

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.

Labour has created a tax regime where the poorest pay a bigger slice of their income than the richest. Polluters are allowed to get away with harming our environment without paying for the clean-up. And we lose as much as £40 billion a year to tax dodgers.

This has to change.

The Conservatives tell us that we are all in this together whilst promising tax cuts for millionaires and then say that there might be tax rises for everyone else.

So much for their kind of change.

Today, we have pledged to put a transformation of Britain’s unfair tax system at the heart of the Liberal Democrat campaign for a fairer Britain.

Our plans will see tax cuts for millions of people, paid for by closing tax loopholes, making polluters pay and introducing a ‘mansion tax’ on homes worth over £2m.

For more details of our policy proposals, see here. And for a video from the launch, see here.

What we are proposing is a radical rebalancing of the tax system with fairness at its centre. This is a real and genuine change that would make a huge difference to the lives of people up and down the country.

Best wishes,

Nick Clegg MP
Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Vince Cable MP
Shadow Chancellor and Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader

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