Nick Clegg meets the people

1.58.00pm GMT Mon 21st Apr 2008

Nick is introduced by Hull North PPC Denis Healy

"Do you know what the average re-offending rate for young offenders is in this country?" Was Nick's response to a question about Lib Dem crime policy. When no answer was forthcoming Nick supplied it. "92%, but in Liberal Democrat led Chard, the repeat offending rate of arrested youngsters has dropped to 5%."

"Why? Because there, when someone is arrested for a minor but imprison-able offence, they are taken before a board of local people, including the person who has been offended against, and they decide what should be done. It might be community service or repairing damage. It frequently involves a meeting between the offender and the person offended against. This is what Liberal Democrats can do to bring the crime rate down."

Introduced by Hull North PPC Denis Healy,Nick Clegg made himself available to a mixed group of Hull students and local residents. The meeting took place in the Basil Reckitt Lecture Theatre at Hull University at 7.00 pm on April 17th.

Fielding a range of questions from how he felt about having Lib Dem ideas stolen by the other two major parties to explaining Lib Dem opposition to the war in Iraq.

Suffering stolen ideas is an occupational hazard for a radical third party and just has to be taken on the chin. Even if the Lib Dems don't get any credit for many of their ideas, like granting independence to the Bank of England. At least many people know it was Vince Cable who advocated the nationalisation of Northern Rock well in advance of Gordon Brown actually entertaining the idea himself. In any event the important thing is that by adopting Lib Dem ideas the country is better off, regardless of who actually puts them into practice.