30 years ago, the leader of the Liberal Party Jo Grimond, argued that a centralised, bureaucratic "welfare State", treating people as passive recipients of benefits, had to be replaced by a "welfare society", in which people engaged as active citizens in promoting their own welfare, and the welfare of others. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg argued today that this vision is long overdue.

In an article published in The Times, Nick argues:

"Instead of turning the system from a "safety net" into a "trampoline", as Labour promised, people have been stuck on benefits year-in, year-out. One and a half million people have been receiving out-of-work benefits for at least nine out of the past ten years. Almost two million children are growing up in households where no one is in work.

Labour presided over a shambolic tax credit system that left too many people receiving paltry rewards for making the brave leap into work. More than half a million people face an effective tax rate of more than 90 pence in the pound, as benefits are withdrawn and tax kicks in.

While there have been cries of pain about the effect on work incentives of the new 50p tax rate, there has for too long been an unforgivable silence on the rates paid at the other end of the income scale."