88 Quotes by Vince Cable

The Tories are now the party of rural areas and Labour essentially is in the big cities.

According to the papers, I’m miserable, alienated, and on the brink of resignation. But that’s simply not where I am.

Fundamental renegotiation is very, very unlikely to produce any significant change.

We have sectors of the economy, aerospace is a good example, where Britain’s probably the second country in the world, the automobile sector, where we’ve done extraordinarily well, an enormous amount of investment over the last couple of years, life sciences is another.

I clearly believe a lot more than some of my coalition colleagues – Tories – in redistribution and using the tax system for that purpose. I also believe in the government having an active role in the economy, which is having an industrial strategy. I’m not a believer in laissez-faire.

When Gordon Brown becomes prime minister, the balance sheet that reflects his economic stewardship could look very sickly indeed. He could become Labour’s biggest liability, not its most marketable asset.

Quite apart from the problem of the vote, it’s bad for the image of Parliament that people take the trouble to come up and are not allowed to see their MP.

Taxes shouldn’t be higher; they should be fairer. We must be a party that’s disciplined. We must make tough choices.

My college, Fitzwilliam, was pretty good but unfashionable and I lived in digs so I was not part of the cloistered ‘old college’ environment, which frankly was a bit intimidating. But I worked hard and settled in by exploring politics and girls.