Wednesday will mark the anniversary of Gordon Brown being driven to Buckingham Palace to call the 2010 general election.
Fast forward a year, and something is happening that, for the Liberal Democrats, is a new experience: the policies we championed during the election are becoming reality. I don’t mean that consultations are being announced, votes held, or papers published. Over the next few days, lives will be changed for the better, thanks to the introduction of policies for which we have long campaigned.
There is more to come. This week, I’ll be announcing how the Government plans to tackle the difficult issue of social mobility, because for all the old promises and spending on this issue, social mobility in our country has stagnated. These are not policies designed for the quick fix, but deep and lasting changes that build on concrete policies such as the pupil premium and will have an effect for generations.
The idea that coalitions can’t work has been comprehensively debunked. It was always one of the great Westminster myths that people would be unable to understand how two parties could work together in government with professionalism and respect. In only 12 months, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have shown how two parties can come together in the national interest to clean up the mess left by a third.
As a party with 57 MPs, we have inevitably had to make compromises: that’s how coalition works. But the compromises of coalition government are infinitely preferable to watching from the sidelines as others deliver on their own policies.
This time we are in government, and in a single year have pointed Britain towards a better future and changed politics for good. This week will show people just how much we are achieving. I look forward to many more like it.