Poorer regions will not be left high and dry by spending cuts, Nick Clegg promises

The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, today said regions heavily dependent on state sector jobs would not be "left high and dry" as public spending is slashed. The Liberal Democrat leader outlined the planned measures as a ComRes poll for the Independent underlined the dangers for his party of going into coalition with the Conservatives. Two-thirds of respondents said it was now "difficult to know" what the party stood for, though a narrow majority of voters believed Britain was better off as a result of the power-sharing deal. Clegg said the Lib Dems' fingerprints were on the government's legislative agenda as he outlined the party's priorities of reforming the tax, education and political systems and developing a "new approach to the economy". He said these priorities were "right at the centre of this coalition agreement". In an interview with the Independent, Clegg said special measures were being prepared to ease the impact of cuts on parts of north-east and north-west England, South Yorkshire and London. He said initiatives could include job creation schemes, although the emphasis would be on encouraging private companies in those areas to expand in the hope they would take on redundant public sector workers. "I am as aware as anyone else of the dangers of the disproportionate impact on those areas of the country which are very dependent on public sector employment," he told the newspaper. "What you will see over the next few weeks and months is a series of measures that we are taking to ensure that, as the black hole is addressed, it's done in a way which is sensitive – much more sensitive than in previous recessions – to the particular need of those parts of the country that are very dependent on the public purse." Clegg described the resignation of his Lib Dem colleague David Laws as the chief secretary to the Treasury over his expenses claims as "a tragedy", but added that the crisis had made the coalition stronger. Laws's resignation over the weekend is seen as a huge blow to the government, which has made cutting the deficit its priority in office. "The key thing is the government remains absolutely on track in what we set out to do in our coalition agreement, and that is unaffected by the weekend's events", Clegg said. "If anything, in a strange kind of way, the internal cohesion of a government – of any government, never mind a coalition – is often strengthened by how it reacts to unexpected setbacks, and I think that is probably true in this case as well." He insisted there could be a route back to office for Laws, provided the Yeovil MP wanted it and subject to a clean bill of health by the parliamentary standards commissioner, who is examining his expenses claim. Laws said yesterday that he would spend the next few weeks assessing whether he has the confidence of his constituents to continue in his role as an MP. On BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Clegg rejected suggestions that Laws's replacement, Danny Alexander, was only brought in to make up Liberal Democrat numbers in the higher echelons of government and might not be the best man for the job. His former chief of staff served as the Scottish secretary for three weeks before being catapulted into the No 2 job at the Treasury. "He has been appointed to that position because the view is he is genuinely the best person ... he is extremely gifted," Clegg said. "He will work well with George Osborne [the chancellor], understands how the coalition works so to make sure, as we are entering into this very difficult period of fiscal contraction, we also honour the things the coalition government has pledged to do. That's a very politically difficult balancing trick and I think he's ideally placed to do that." Questioned about planned reforms to capital gains tax, which have caused consternation among some Tory backbenchers, Clegg said a lot of work was being done on this "technically complex" problem ahead of the emergency budget on 22 June and he would not be drawn on exactly how the tax would be reformed. Options included tapering capital gains and indexation, which avoids taxing the increase of the value of assets through inflation. Clegg added: "I think the principle is not alien to the Conservative party, because back in the 1980s it was Nigel Lawson who said capital income should be taxed in the same way. "We all basically agree with the approach, and the dilemma we are trying to deal with ... second-guessing what is going to come out of the Treasury in the budget ... [is] good fun but, I think, slightly futile because some of that homework has not been fully completed." Saying that the discrepancy between capital gains and income tax encouraged tax avoidance on a large scale, Clegg said he wanted to see an end to disproportionate rewards for unearned wealth. The reform was necessary to raise money so that the personal allowance on income tax could be increased to make the tax burden lighter on those on lower incomes – something for which he had been campaigning for years, he added. He also insisted that another Lib Dem commitment, a referendum on electoral reform, would be decided "soon" by the government. Highlighting the merits of a fixed five-year parliament – one of the stipulations of the coalition deal – he said he hoped the AV form of voting would be in place for the next general election, alongside the boundary changes sought by the Conservatives. The Independent's ComRes poll found overwhelming support (78%) for replacing the first the past the post system, which saw the Liberal Democrats lose seats despite netting around 1m more votes than they won in 2005. Clegg is expected to be seated on the government frontbench when David Cameron faces his first prime minister's question time. The realities of coalition government mean PMQs will have an even stranger feel because Cameron will be answering on behalf of two parties, so there will be no questions from the "second opposition" leader. Discussing his relationship with Cameron, Clegg said: "We speak every day, if not several times a day. It's a very strong working partnership." Despite the inclusion of Lib Dem priorities in the coalition government, the partnership with the Conservatives has not necessarily played in the Lib Dems' favour. Three weeks after the deal was struck, the poll found only 78% of those who voted for the party at the election would do so again if an election were held tomorrow, with 17% saying they would vote for Labour instead.