Cameron, Clegg to Restate Pledges After U.K. Election Losses

David Cameron and Nick Clegg will renew their commitment to reducing Britain’s budget deficit and “rebuilding” the economy as they seek to bolster their coalition government after losses in local elections last week.

At a joint appearance today, the Conservative prime minister and his Liberal Democrat deputy will say the dangers facing the economy underline the need to stick to the austerity plan agreed upon when their parties came to power two years ago.

“That was and remains our guiding task and in these perilous time it’s more important than ever for Britain that we stick to it,” Cameron will say, according to extracts released by his office. “I don’t hide from the scale of that challenge, or the message sent by voters in many places in last week’s elections. I’m listening. I’m leading. I get it.”

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats lost seats to the opposition Labour Party in municipal elections on May 4, triggering renewed tensions in the coalition. Their leaders will restate the case for their policies against a backdrop of market turbulence in Europe, where an anti-austerity revolt saw voters punish administrations in France and Greece.

Cameron and Clegg faced a backlash from voters after the economy slipped into its first double-dip recession since the 1970s. Labour says the government is holding back the recovery by trying to cut the budget deficit too quickly.

‘Answers Not Excuses’

“What people want from them is answers not excuses, not excuses blaming something else, not excuses blaming the euro zone, but answers about why they promised change and things have got worse not better,” Labour leader Ed Miliband said at a question-and-answer session today in Essex, north of London.

The coalition has also been hit by negative public reaction to the March 21 budget, which cut income taxes for the rich, and revelations during the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics. Former News Corp. executives Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are scheduled to testify this week, threatening to put a fresh spotlight on the Conservatives’ relationship with Rupert Murdoch. Coulson resigned as Cameron’s communications chief last year amid the public furor over phone hacking at the News of the World during his tenure as editor of the tabloid.

In elections in Greece this weekend, voters flocked to parties opposing austerity measures backed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, denying the two main parties a combined majority and spurring calls for policies to boost growth. In France, Francois Hollande defeated Nicolas Sarkozy, becoming the first Socialist to win the presidency in 17 years.

‘No Going Back’

Cameron will say today there can be “no going back on our carefully judged strategy” that aims to erase the bulk of a budget deficit of more than 8 percent of gross domestic product by 2017.

Unlike Germany and the U.S., Britain has failed to recover the output lost in the previous recession and is mired in the longest slump for a century. Gross domestic product fell for a second straight quarter between January and March, leaving the economy more than 4 percent smaller than its peak in early 2008.

Since the coalition took office in May 2010, the economy has grown 0.4 percent and unemployment has climbed above 8 percent to its highest rate since 1996, with government forecasters predicting further gains. Cameron will say the “unvarnished truth” is that the economy is in worse shape than anyone expected due to rising oil prices, high debt levels and a euro-region that “remains in extreme trouble.”

‘Heart Attack’

Clegg will describe the 2008 financial crisis as a “giant heart attack” and say the task facing the government is “nothing short of rebuilding a new economy out of the rubble of the old.” Both will say the government is striving to boost growth with policies to spur bank lending, cut corporate taxes and increase investment in infrastructure.

Their joint pledges come on the eve of the State Opening of Parliament, when Queen Elizabeth II will set out the government’s legislative program for the new parliament session. Reform of the House of Lords is set to be among the main proposals. The push for an elected upper chamber, a key objective for the Liberal Democrats, is opposed by many Conservatives who say it should not be a priority at a time of economic crisis.

Support for the coalition parties slumped as the economy struggled to emerge from the recession and spending cuts took hold, putting both Cameron and Clegg under pressure from their supporters to stress more distinctive policies.

Recently attacked as “arrogant posh boys who don’t know the price of milk” by a member of their own party, Cameron and Osborne have struggled to deal with Labour accusations that they are out of touch with ordinary voters.

The Conservatives also lost votes last week to the euro- skeptic U.K. Independence Party. That has prompted some Conservatives to demand the assertion of Tory policies such as a referendum on repatriating powers from the European Union and an expansion of academically selective state schools known as grammar schools.