During a raucous and packed town hall meeting at the Pitville Pump Room, /u/bloodycontrary fielded questions from members of the public and advertised the Liberal Democrat manifesto. One member of the crowd asked the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader about the budget.

You’re right to ask about the budget. You may ask, too, why we, who fiercely opposed the monstrous labour-backed and Tory-led Grand Coalition in opposition, supported the budget.

Well, the answer is pretty simple. And there are two parts to it.

One part is the country needed a budget. The previous budget failed, and we were straining to run on an older version of the budget. Whitehall was in chaos, in all honesty. Not only were departments unsure what they’re own budgets were, but the Government, hopelessly divided as it was, couldn’t give any direction. The Grand Coalition’s own chancellor, remember, was instrumental in splitting his own Government!

So, something needed to be done. To an extent, party differences needed to be swept aside, so that a budget of some kind could be agreed and pass through Parliament.

And that is what we did when we, with our colleagues in the Classical Liberals, went into discussions with the Chancellor and Prime Minister. They realised the gravity of the situation and implicitly had to admit they needed our help.

Which brings us to the second reason we voted for the budget. It is, ultimately, a liberal budget. Three years ago I passed a budget - the most radical for a hundred years - and you’ll all notice that the budget that just passed, while being a little more bland (because we just wanted it to pass, not be exciting), is pretty similar.

Once again, the Liberal Democrats have ensured the people of this country have a basic income, don’t have to pay council tax and have a well-funded health service.

Remember this. The budget wasn’t a Tory budget. They presented it to the House, but in all its fundamentals the budget was a liberal one. Just think of all the good things we all could achieve with a liberal Government!