Power broker

SIR ALAN BEITH is not only the North-East’s most senior Liberal Democrat, but he is also the party’s only survivor of the last General Election to produce a hung parliament, the near dead-heat back in February 1974.

Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath hung on – inviting the Liberals in for four days of fruitless coalition talks – just as Gordon Brown is expected to try to cling to power if this election fails to produce a decisive result.

Thirty-six years on, the Berwick-upon- Tweed MP is advising Nick Clegg, the modern Lib Dem leader, on the best way forward if history repeats itself on May 6, amid rising speculation of a Tory-Lib Dem pact.

With such invaluable experience on Sir Alan’s CV, Mr Clegg is likely to prick up his ears when the veteran warns that a deal should be ruled out while Conservative policies remain a muddle in so many policy areas.

“We don’t know what they believe in,” Sir Alan says of David Cameron’s party, when he anticipates the election battle ahead.

And, asked if Mr Cameron must provide that missing clarity to secure a post-election agreement if he falls short of a Commons majority, the 66-year-old replies: “Indeed so.”

In recent interviews, Mr Clegg has hinted that the Tories will have a “mandate” to govern if, as seems certain, they win the most votes, but Sir Alan suggests it is not that straightforward.

He acknowledges the current prime minister would have the first opportunity to form a new government, saying: “Absolutely. That’s the way the constitution works.”

And, asked to list the areas where he believes common cause could be made with the Conservatives, he could name only rolling back Labour’s assaults on civil liberties.

Pointing to Tory muddles over the timing of spending cuts, energy policy and tackling climate change, Sir Alan adds: “The real problem with the Conservatives now is that we don’t know what they believe in.

“I think David Cameron is trying to do a Tony Blair and strip the party of things that make it unelectable, without giving us any clear picture of what framework of belief would guide the Conservatives.

“For example, David Cameron says he wants to be green, but large numbers of their candidates deny climate change or regard environmental issues as very low down on their list.

“Our primary objective is to get done the things that Liberal Democrats want to see done. That’s how we would use our power.”

Their “four tests” are extra cash for poorer pupils, voting reform, a tax shake-up to shift the burden onto the rich and a switch to a greener economy less dependent on financial services – of which, arguably, the Tories back only the first.

Asked if he expects to be of help to Mr Clegg if the youthful leader is thrown into hung parliament talks, Sir Alan says: “Yes, I hope so, because people do forget what is involved.”

But talk of pacts will be redundant, as Sir Alan predicts a Lib Dem surge across the region on May 6, saying: “I’m confident I will not be the only Liberal Democrat MP in the North- East after this election!”

In the North-East, the Lib Dems are the challengers to Labour and yet – despite the Government’s shrinking popularity at recent elections – Sir Alan remains their only MP.

If, as he insists, Blair and Brown have “taken the North-East for granted” over everything from the Barnett Formula to high-speed rail, it seems relatively few voters have agreed.

But, after May, Sir Alan expects to lead a “team of North-East Liberal Democrat MPs”, pointing to likely victories in Newcastle, Durham City and even Redcar.

The Beith prediction is that the creation of a unitary authority in Durham City will be a top-tier issue. He says: “Durham has been robbed of its status. Visitors from other countries must be astonished that this historic city doesn’t have a local authority any more.”

But, if those are Labour negatives, what are the positive reasons for voting Lib Dem in the region? Commitments to fairness in the tax system and to cleaning up politics are the swiftly- delivered answers.

Sir Alan’s party would lift four million people out of paying income tax altogether, by raising the threshold to £10,000, by hiking capital gains tax on the rich and by squeezing their tax relief on pensions.

HOWEVER, many commentators have argued it will put little in the hands of the low-paid, who would lose benefits.

Sir Alan appears to accept that Labour’s policy of tax credits targets the poorest better, but argues the practice is very different.

He says: “I regularly have constituents who come to me saying they get a bit of overtime, their income increases and they let the tax office know. But, then, the tax credit is not altered and, months later, they find that they owe hundreds of pounds back.”

Sir Alan has represented England’s most northerly constituency since 1973, when he stayed in the National Liberal Club – “with shared bathrooms” – because there was no second-home allowance.

He said the biggest difference from that era of glam rock and the three-day week was the workload now – 300 emails a day from constituents, in place of 30-odd leisurely letters.

Criticising looming rules that will outlaw expenses claims for maintaining a second home, Sir Alan says: “I don’t want to see a situation arise where someone has to be either rich or sponsored to be an MP.”

Meanwhile, Sir Alan is not ruling out a return to a frontbench role after the election, pointing out: “Ken Clarke has been in parliament longer than I have.......”