Hay Festival Crowd Calls on Cable to be Chancellor

9.01.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 1st Jun 2009

Vince Cable MP & Sarah Carr

Over 1000 people packed out the largest auditorium at the Hay Festival on Sunday 31st May, to hear Vince Cable MP, the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, talk about the financial and political crisis. Cable has won widespread respect for his early warnings about the global financial crisis, his calls for increased regulation of banks and reform of Parliament. There were repeated passionate calls from the audience for Cable to be appointed Chancellor immediately.

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner Sarah Carr joined the audience and secured a question to Cable on the subject of university tuition fees and impact of young people being in debt. Sarah is passionately opposed to tuition and top up fees as they bar many younger people from University and saddle them with tens of thousands of pounds of debt.

After the debate Sarah said,

"Vince Cable received a rapturous reception at the Hay Festival. He spoke clearly about how close the British financial system had come to collapse. He spoke about the roots of the crisis citing irresponsible lending, huge levels of personal debt and Conservative government policies dating back to the early 1990s. Vince also spoke about what the government should be doing now to get Britain out of recession.

"Like so many people in the audience, I want to see Vince Cable appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer - with a Liberal Democrat government."