Charles Kennedy People Quotations

I think we owe it really to those forces, and to their families back home, to make quite clear what the position is and to reassure people by making quite clear that the government and parliament are thinking in terms of a safe homeward strategy for the forces.

Liberal Democracy is all about extending choice. Give people the option to decide their retirement age, and you immediately extend their freedom in a very significant way.

I know from my own parents how important active older people are to a local community.

To involve young people and make sure that the system is more relevant to them in Scotland, we have a clear obligation to implement a policy of home rule.

When power is exercised exclusively at the centre, the result is rigidity of rules and alienation of the people subject to those rules.

Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive - and then being able to take people with you.

Political parties need to look at the different kinds of support that people may need, suited to their way of life, and provide cost-effective solutions.

As I spread my wings in politics, I discovered many Thatcher voters down south who were the same kind of people who loathed her in Scotland. They were puzzled by the Scots' antipathy, given the Falklands war and the strong militaristic history of the Highlands and elsewhere.

My approach is always to try to be straight with people, especially about what my party can achieve.

It is true that I entered parliament at the age of 23, and have now been representing the people of my constituency for over twenty years.

You mustn't confuse the need for effective chairmanship, which is part of the job of the boss, along with the ability to take tough decisions and to lead people.

This country has a proud history of opening its doors to generations of people fleeing personal persecution, civil unrest and war.

Many people want to scale back their working hours as they near the end of their careers, but not necessarily to give up work altogether.

During my campaign, people of my age and younger said consistently that they would not vote because their votes simply no longer matter and because no government or member of Parliament cared a whit about their problems and their striving for employment.

Some ministers are fond of talking about a return to Victorian values. We must realise that those Victorian values are being expressed by some of the younger people in this society in shameful and disturbing disregard for other members of their generation who are not as fortunate as they are in having a job.

We believe that government in Britain is there to protect people from terrorism and from the worst criminality, but never at the expense of our civil liberties and the basic tenets of our legal system.

A perennial problem that has faced the Scottish Highlands is that, time and again, too many of the more talented young people have had to move elsewhere - even abroad - through a lack of opportunities that should have been available.

In my view, nations together are stronger than when they are isolated. And because they are stronger, their people are more free, not less.

People have a huge desire to be listened to, for politicians to take the time to understand their problems.

We'll need to revise the tired assumption that people automatically become more conservative as they grow older.

History will certainly judge Tony Blair on Iraq, but first the British people will judge him on Thursday, ... Blair's judgment on the Iraq war was fatally flawed.

We need less theoretical debate and more practical application and acknowledgment of what Europe can and does do so that it is brought home to people in a relevant way.