Commenting on Tony Blair's evidence to the Iraq Inquiry, Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell said:

"It is now abundantly clear that Tony Blair's evangelical determination to confront Saddam Hussein resulted in him quashing any objections to that goal, no matter how substantial they were.

"By refusing to acknowledge the legal difficulties of going to war, Blair denied Parliament and the British public the information necessary to make proper and informed judgements on the issue of Iraq."

Commenting on the appointment of Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, Stephen Williams, said:

"I wish Alan Johnson good luck for the future.

"The decision to appoint Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor shows that the Labour Party is now determined to carry on with the Gordon Brown economic plan that caused so much trouble for this country.

"Ed Balls isn't just a deficit denier, he's a deficit enthusiast."

Commenting on today's statement by the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, Sir Nicholas Macpherson, to the Public Accounts Committee that Labour had lost control of spending in the Ministry of Defence and in the Department of Education, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, Stephen Williams, said:

"This is evidence from the heart of Whitehall that Labour lost control of public spending and is yet another example that Ed Miliband doesn't know what he is talking about.

"The Labour leader is living in a fantasy-land where Labour never did anything wrong. Yet every day more evidence comes to light, which shows that Gordon Brown's spendthrift attitude was out of control and his financial managment a shambles.

"Labour has no regrets, no apologies and no answers on how to deal with the problems they left the rest of the country to deal with."

Commenting, Norman Baker said:

"Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for more money for local transport and today we are delivering on this with a £560m funding boost.

"Good transport options at a local level are a vital part of reducing our carbon emissions, reducing congestion on our roads and encouraging economic growth.

"Not only are we investing more money, we are also reducing bureaucratic burdens on local authorities to cut red tape so they can deliver a better and more integrated transport system, from cycle support schemes to car sharing and better bus lanes.

"Money invested wisely can achieve all of our goals and that is why today's announcement is a win-win for everyone."

Speaking at the launch of the report at the Swiss Re tower in the City of London, Nick emphasised the importance of investment in the early years of life and looked forward to Mr Allen's further report on how early intervention might be funded from the private sector through social finance.

Full text of the Deputy Prime Minister's speech:

I would like to thank Graham Allen, and his fellow reviewers George Hoskin and Michael Little, for their work in producing this first report on Early Intervention for the Government.

The Government will be responding formally to the Report in due course, and I am delighted that Graham will be presenting his report to my colleague Iain Duncan Smith, who is leading much of the Government's work in this area.

I would also like to thank Graham personally for his long-standing interest in the area of early years investment.

It is absolutely clear, as the report confirms, that investment in the early years of life leads to huge economic, social and emotional benefits later on, both for individuals and for society as a whole. The report helpfully highlights the importance of what it calls 'school-readiness'. The gaps that exists today in 'school readiness' mean that by the time they hang up their coats for their first day at school, children from different backgrounds are already on different tracks, already pointed to very different futures.

The Coalition Government has made a particular commitment to these critical, foundation years. This commitment can be seen in our additional investment in 15 hours a week of early years education for the poorest 2 year-olds in our society, on top of pre-school provision for all 3- and 4-year olds.

The foundation years are quite simply the foundation of a fairer, more socially mobile society. As a Government, we are committed to improving social mobility as the principal objective of our social policy. When inequalities are passed on from generation to generation, the divisions in society become fixed. That is when temporary inequality turns into permanent social segregation.

We also know as a Government that the investments we need to make now to create a fairer society will take many years to take effect. There is a time-lag, delay, that very often discourages the necessary investments.

This is an area where we need to think much more innovatively about the possibility of new funding mechanisms. And I know that Graham's next report will look in more detail at the complex, vitally important area of financing social projects - another area where he has been a pioneer.

Next month, the Government will set out our plans in this area in some detail when we publish our Social Investment Strategy paper. But I want to take the opportunity today to say a little more about the Government's thinking.

The Coalition is expanding our thinking on social finance. We are gladly building here on work undertaken by the previous Government. But we are determined to go further and faster, in terms of creating a genuine movement for social investment.

There are a wide range of proven social investments in areas such as early years investments - as today's report points out - as well as work with repeat offenders, or intervening with problem families. And there is a huge opportunity to draw on the considerable pools of capital outside government to provide funding for many of these projects.

I do not want to understate the complexities in this area, many of which Graham and his team have already noted in their first report. How best to capture the economic returns from social investments, which are inevitably spread over different services, and often over very long time scales? What are the right institutional arrangements for managing both the projects themselves, and the investments?

But these difficulties, real though they are, should not blunt our ambition in this area. There is the potential to open up genuine new opportunities for social investments - and we must seize them.

There is already a successful project in Peterborough, financed by social capital, working with offenders to reduce rates of re-offending - saving money and transforming lives. It is early days, but the signs are encouraging.

The ten local authorities that make up Greater Manchester are working with the Government on the possibilities of a social investment for problem families, including schemes such as the family nurse partnership.

We know that intervening with families with multiple problems is expensive - in some cases, up to as much as £20,000 a year. But we also know that over the long term, the savings generated can be far greater. If we can help youngsters stay out of care, and out of trouble, and out of jail, the social and economic benefits are huge. The long-term savings from helping the families with the deepest problems far outweigh the upfront cost.

The challenge is to find creative ways to bridge the gap between the initial investment and the long-term returns. But right here, in the City of London, we have one of the most innovative financial services centres in the world. Social investment is an area where the expertise of the financial services industry could be usefully deployed.

The Coalition Government has said clearly that we need a new social contract between the financial services industry and broader society. Financial services do not exist in a social vacuum, indeed no single commercial sector can operate in isolation from the values of wider society. The financial institutions of the City have an important role to play, not only in rebalancing the economy, but also in rebalancing society in a fairer direction.

So, I want to see social investment move from the margins to the mainstream. That requires imagination and hard work on the part of government, local institutions and financiers. I can assure you today that the Coalition Government is willing to play our part.

Thank you.

As the Lords continue their debate, Liberal Democrat Party President, Tim Farron, today wrote to party members asking them to write to Labour peers and MPs to call on them to end the Labour filibuster of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill.

Commenting, Tim Farron said:

"Labour peers are holding the democratic process hostage by blocking any progress of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill.

Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has outlined plans to give couples more freedom to organise their parental leave after the birth of a baby.

Nick confirmed that from April fathers will be able to take any unused maternity leave themselves if their partners go back to work early, as well as announcing plans to consult on further reforms to the current system of parental leave.

Simon Hughes MP, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons, speaking at a CentreForum sponsored debate at the Fabian conference today said:

"Liberal Democrat supporters should resist the blandishments of the Labour leader and his Labour colleagues.

"In Oldham East and Saddleworth this week Labour held a seat that has always been Labour with no bigger share of the vote in opposition than they won when Labour was in government. Liberal Democrats in government increased our share of the vote from that which we won last year when we were in opposition.

"Last May, the electorate walked away from Labour and Labour walked away from government. Liberal Democrats took up the challenge - and decided that Liberal Democrats in government would achieve far more towards a liberal Britain by joining and making more progressive the government rather than stepping back and allowing Britain to be run again by the Conservative Party on its own. We are content to be judged by our results after five years in office. But we are determined to fight for the important Liberal changes which Britain needs. We are determined to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor; to take poorer people and families out of tax; to require the better off to pay a larger contribution; to build a green economy driven by long term security not short term greed; and to give youngsters a more equal start before and during school and better opportunities to obtain the apprenticeships, the skills and training or the academic qualifications they will need in later life.

"Radicals and progressives are alive and well in the Liberal Democrats and alive and well in the new Coalition Government. As in any coalition we will not achieve all of our objectives all of the time. But we have already made much progress and we will make much more progress. The immediate tasks of progressives in Labour and elsewhere in British politics is to campaign to win the referendum for more powers for Wales in March and for a fairer voting system across Britain in May. It is time for progressives in Labour to make sure that the old guard do not set the agenda and determine the result."