Staggered Exclusive: Nick Clegg On Marriage And Weddings

With the General Election coming up on Thursday we thought we’d put some questions to Nick Clegg about his views on married life, weddings and what the Liberal Democrats will do for people who are about to tie the knot…

STAGGERED: As a men’s wedding website our readers are mostly grooms on the verge of their wedding. How can your party help them out as they start their married life?

NICK CLEGG: We all know that weddings can be hugely expensive, as can lots of the other costs newlyweds may be facing – buying a home, starting a family. So our plan to stop almost everyone paying any income tax on the first £10,000 you earn will really help – that’s, on average, £700 back in your pocket, and perhaps that of your fiancée’s, too. That could help with the ring or the honeymoon, for instance.

We’ll pay for it by closing the loopholes in the tax system that currently benefit the very wealthy. If you are starting a family, our plans to shake up parental leave will be a big help too. At the moment fathers only get a measly two weeks off. It’s not enough – I know from when my own children were born, how important it is to have time with your new baby right from the start. So we’ll let mothers and fathers share a year between them in whatever way works best for them.

STAGGERED: What new policies or amendments proposed by your party would relate directly to newlyweds?

NICK CLEGG: I have to confess we don’t have policies that are wholly specific to newly married couples – though we did campaign for a relaxation of the daft rules that stopped some couples using songs like Robbie Williams’ Angels at their civil wedding service! I think marriage is a great thing – I wouldn’t have things any other way in my own life. But that doesn’t mean government should design policies that penalise people who choose to do things differently.

I’ve been very clear, for example, that I think David Cameron’s ideas about bribing people to get married, through the tax system, are just wrong. And I wonder what planet the Conservatives are on when they think they can foster happy marriages by giving people £3 a week. If you’re on this website, thinking about getting married, my guess is you’re in it because you love your fiancée.  That’s incentive enough.

But, what I can tell you is that our plans to deliver fairness for people in Britain will very likely help you: like our income tax cut and shared parental leave, and also our plans to free up councils to deliver more affordable housing. We’ll also give fathers a formal right to take time off for antenatal appointments for when you do decide it’s time to hear the patter of tiny feet, although I appreciate for a lot of newlyweds that may still be some way away!

STAGGERED: When and where did you propose and where did you get married?

I proposed to Miriam in Lincolnshire, on the platform at Rauceby station. I told some reporters that the other day, and they said it didn’t sound that romantic, popping the question while we were waiting for a train to Sleaford. But it just seemed like the right time. We tied the knot in Olmedo, the village where Miriam grew up. It’s in the Castilla y Leon region of Spain. Afterwards we headed to this beautiful parador – they’re state run hotels – with our families and friends. Miriam thought my English family wouldn’t make it through the night for the Spanish party, but they did. The location there is just breathtaking. The hotel has these huge windows on one side, with incredible views of the rolling valley and a perfectly preserved Roman aqueduct.

STAGGERED: You’re a very good public speaker, what advice would you offer to nervous best men, grooms and fathers of the bride addressing a full room of strangers?

NICK CLEGG: A lot of it’s about practice. A big speech like that – particularly if you aren’t used to public speaking – is a performance, so make sure you’ve worked out what you’re going to say beforehand and that you rehearse. The other thing, I think, is to make it personal. There’s a risk, particularly for best men, that people think they have to stick rigidly to drunken or embarrassing anecdotes about the groom.

Some of that is all well and good, but one or two really personal stories about why you’re pleased the couple have got together go down really well too. If they’re tales you’ve told before you’ll be much more confident telling them again, and try, if you can, to imagine you’re telling a few friends in the pub, rather than a room of however many people. Oh, and don’t forget to enjoy it; this audience wants to laugh, they want to cheer and clap – they’re completely on your side.

STAGGERED: What about your party and the wedding industry – an industry that is mostly made up of lots of small businesses and entrepreneurs – how would your party help them?

NICK CLEGG: It’s very difficult for business at the moment, not least because the banks aren’t lending – despite the fact it’s us, the taxpayers, who bailed them out when they got into trouble. So, first, we’ll get the banks providing credit again, at reasonable rates. Let’s not forget we now own some of the biggest banks, and I also want to break them up so that ordinary high street banking is insulated from high-risk investment activity. That way casino banking will never again hold a gun up to the whole economy.

We also need to find new sources of funding for small enterprises, which is why my Business Team has developed detailed plans for what we call Local Enterprise Funds. The idea is to get people with capital to spare to invest it in these funds, and for them then to lend money to new entrepreneurs. A sort of local Dragon’s Den, if you like. Lots of wedding industry businesses are not, as you say, giant companies, so they’ll also benefit from our plans to reform business rates to remove the unfair burden that currently falls on smaller businesses.

Our thanks to Nick Clegg for taking the time to answer our questions. If you’d like to find out more about the Liberal Democrats then have a look at their website. 

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