Charles Kennedy New Year Message 2005

6.00.00pm GMT Tue 4th Jan 2005

In his New Year Message, Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democrats, offered his condolences to the victims of the tsunami and their families and promised that the Liberal Democrats will be active in helping to restore the shattered communities.

He said: "When these tragedies occur, it can be hard to grasp the huge numbers involved - both of casualties and the financial resources required for rebuilding. But our country has already demonstrated that it can lead the way and when Parliament resumes, the Liberal Democrats will be active in ensuring that there is a continuing determination to assist these communities - some of whom are already among the poorest people in the world - long after the most immediate crisis has disappeared from our television screens and our newspapers."

On domestic politics, Mr Kennedy says the Liberal Democrats are ready for a General Election and looking forward to it:

"As the Conservative party fades away as a national political force, we Liberal Democrats will be the challengers to Labour in its heartlands. The Conservatives cannot win the next election and this will be a three party struggle."

He says there is an increasingly clear division between Labour and the Conservatives on one side and the Liberal Democrats on the other:

"A clear division is emerging in British politics: the politics of fear versus the politics of hope. Labour is counting on the politics of fear, ratcheting up talk of threats, crime and insecurity. While the Conservatives are re-working their populist scares about asylum and the European 'menace'.

"Look at how Labour, with the support of the Conservatives, has undermined trust in the political process by its spin and its reliance on external threats. Currently Labour is using this climate of fear to try to strip away the civil liberties that generations of Briton have defended and enjoyed.

"The politics of fear versus hope can be expressed in another way. It's also the politics of liberalism versus illiberalism. And, as happens increasingly often today, Labour and the Conservatives are on one side and we are on the other."

Mr Kennedy points to issues like the Iraq war, ID cards and the Council Tax, where Labour and the Conservatives are lined up against a Liberal Democrats opposition.

He says 21st century Britain is a more liberal society and is increasingly turning to the Liberal Democrats: "I am proud of the Liberal Democrat's record in the holding this Government to account in 2004; and I look forward to 2005 and the chance to put our case to the nation."