VOTERS accept that political parties will not deliver all of their manifesto pledges, Scottish Secretary Michael Moore has said.
The LibDem MP also said Nick Clegg's tuition fees apology was "brave and right".
In an interview with The Herald, he said: "The apology is a very important statement that recognises for Nick, and for the rest of us, how difficult the decision was on tuition fees two years ago."
Mr Moore said the LibDem brand had been damaged not just by the tuition fees U-turn but also because the party is in government at a time of economic crisis.
"There will be some for whom the apology will not be sufficient but there's a group of people who have been looking for a public acknowledgement of exactly what it was that happened then. This acknowledgement is a really brave and right thing to do by Nick and the rest of us."
He added that the public understood politicians did not always follow through on all of their manifesto pledges, saying: "With manifestos, some bits get delivered, other bits don't ... that's been true of governments through the ages."
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