By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . Former Lib Dem minister Jeremy Browne uses a new book to attack his own party for being too timid and not being bolder on tax and spending . Voters do not know what the Lib Dems stand for because Nick Clegg is too focused on trying to please his critics, a former minister has claimed. Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne warned people with liberal views do not see his party as their 'natural home' as he urged Mr Clegg to be more radical in the last year of the coalition. The Taunton MP called for the top rate of tax to be cut to 40p, said state schools should be able to make a profit and says the NHS should not be protected from spending cuts. In a new book, he claims the coalition has been paralysed by 'political procrastination'. He also takes a swipe at both coalition parties for indulging in a 'Dutch auction' of expensive, vote-winning policies at a time when the public is also being told to face many more years of austerity. Mr Browne, who was sacked last autumn, has written Race Plan to counter the idea that the Lib Dems stand for nothing more than being equidistant between the Tories and Labour. The former Foreign Office and Home Office minister warns that Britain is failing to prepare for the 'Asian Century' when China, India and other emerging economies in the East will dominate. In a preface to his book he said: 'We cannot afford the political procrastination that is too often our default mode when faced with big decisions. 'Instead of a new hub airport, we have a new hub airport commission.  Instead of returning the top rate of tax from 50p to 40p, we uneasily split the difference at 45p. 'Instead of addressing the real causes of low wages - low productivity and educational failure - we pretend that artificial distortions of the labour market will painlessly make everyone wealthier.' And in an interview to promote the publication he went further, and suggested the Lib Dems risk appealing to fewer voters by trying to please everyone. 'I regret if people don’t think the Liberal Democrats are liberal and I think that is a real challenge for my party, of why a lot of people who have liberal views don’t see the Liberal Democrats as their natural home,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He also suggested that Mr Clegg has failed to convince voters that he is a liberal, because he has sought to placate critics on the left of his party. 'I do think Nick Clegg is a natural liberal; I think he has sometimes felt forced to meet his detractors halfway and that has blurred his liberalism, but I think he is at heart a natural liberal and I think people who exhibit natural liberal tendencies tend to have the right answers to our national predicament.' His comments will be seen as a direct challenge to the authority of Mr Clegg, who is thought to have personally vetoed a further reduction in the top rate of tax. Mr Browne's comments will be seen as a direct challenge to Nick Clegg, who he warns has 'felt forced to meet his detractors halfway' obscuring his liberalism . Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander, the party's leading voice on economic policy, has ruled out a further cut in the top rate of tax. Speaking . in February he said: ‘I think it is right at 45 per cent. I wouldn't go . to cutting below 45 per cent. I would say that would happen over my . dead body.’ In the last weeks of the Labour government then-Chancellor Alistair Darling increased it from 40p to 50p. Tory Chancellor George Osborne then cut it to 45p in 2012, claiming the measure had raised ‘next to nothing’ for the Treasury. Ed . Balls has vowed to return it to 50p if Labour wins the next election, . but Tories are pushing for it to be reduced further to 40p. Lib Dem Treasury minister Danny Alexander has insisted the top rate of tax will be cut 'over my dead body' But Mr Browne says opposing a further . cut was a major mistake which has left Britain with a top tax rate that . is 'still too high'. 'Authentic liberals should feel uneasy about confiscatory levels of taxation,' he writes. 'If a 40p top rate of tax was high . enough for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown (until his last few weeks in . office) then it should surely have been high enough for David Cameron . and Nick Clegg. 'At a time . of real economic difficulty, the Government's priority has been to cut . income tax for people with low and middle rates of pay. 'It . has made commendable progress, but the timing of the cut in the top . rate was regrettable, and suggests the Government has a tine ear for the . politics of austerity and shared sacrifice.' He . says that the decision to cut the top rate of tax should have been . delayed until this year, when it could have been tied to the increase in . the personal allowance for ordinary workers. He also warns that it is 'unnerving' to see both sides of the Coalition unveiling costly spending pledges in the run-up to the next election despite the continuing need for austerity. He says Mr Clegg's plan for free school dinners for all infant children and David Cameron's introduction of a marriage tax break send out a 'confusing' message that the need for spending cuts is over. 'What would be a terrible let down now would be for the Government to wobble,' he says. 'It is confusing for the public to see child benefit and the education maintenance allowance being cut on the grounds of affordability, only for the Government to then announce a couple of lavish spending commitments.' Mr Browne is on the Right of the Lib-Dems, but denies he would consider defecting to the Conservatives.
Jeremy Browne urges his party to be more radical in last year of coalition .
Warns Nick Clegg has lost his liberalism by trying to placate critics .
Backs a hub airport, 40p top tax rate and NHS being unprotected from cuts .
By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . Former Lib Dem minister Jeremy Browne uses a new book to attack his own party for being too timid and not being bolder on tax and spending . Voters do not know what the Lib Dems stand for because Nick Clegg is too focused on trying to please his critics, a former minister has claimed. Lib Dem MP Jeremy Browne warned people with liberal views do not see his party as their 'natural home' as he urged Mr Clegg to be more radical in the last year of the coalition. The Taunton MP called for the top rate of tax to be cut to 40p, said state schools should be able to make a profit and says the NHS should not be protected from spending cuts. In a new book, he claims the coalition has been paralysed by 'political procrastination'. He also takes a swipe at both coalition parties for indulging in a 'Dutch auction' of expensive, vote-winning policies at a time when the public is also being told to face many more years of austerity. Mr Browne, who was sacked last autumn, has written Race Plan to counter the idea that the Lib Dems stand for nothing more than being equidistant between the Tories and Labour. The former Foreign Office and Home Office minister warns that Britain is failing to prepare for the 'Asian Century' when China, India and other emerging economies in the East will dominate. In a preface to his book he said: 'We cannot afford the political procrastination that is too often our default mode when faced with big decisions. 'Instead of a new hub airport, we have a new hub airport commission.  Instead of returning the top rate of tax from 50p to 40p, we uneasily split the difference at 45p. 'Instead of addressing the real causes of low wages - low productivity and educational failure - we pretend that artificial distortions of the labour market will painlessly make everyone wealthier.' And in an interview to promote the publication he went further, and suggested the Lib Dems risk appealing to fewer voters by trying to please everyone. 'I regret if people don’t think the Liberal Democrats are liberal and I think that is a real challenge for my party, of why a lot of people who have liberal views don’t see the Liberal Democrats as their natural home,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He also suggested that Mr Clegg has failed to convince voters that he is a liberal, because he has sought to placate critics on the left of his party. 'I do think Nick Clegg is a natural liberal; I think he has sometimes felt forced to meet his detractors halfway and that has blurred his liberalism, but I think he is at heart a natural liberal and I think people who exhibit natural liberal tendencies tend to have the right answers to our national predicament.' His comments will be seen as a direct challenge to the authority of Mr Clegg, who is thought to have personally vetoed a further reduction in the top rate of tax. Mr Browne's comments will be seen as a direct challenge to Nick Clegg, who he warns has 'felt forced to meet his detractors halfway' obscuring his liberalism . Lib Dem Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander, the party's leading voice on economic policy, has ruled out a further cut in the top rate of tax. Speaking . in February he said: ‘I think it is right at 45 per cent. I wouldn't go . to cutting below 45 per cent. I would say that would happen over my . dead body.’ In the last weeks of the Labour government then-Chancellor Alistair Darling increased it from 40p to 50p. Tory Chancellor George Osborne then cut it to 45p in 2012, claiming the measure had raised ‘next to nothing’ for the Treasury. Ed . Balls has vowed to return it to 50p if Labour wins the next election, . but Tories are pushing for it to be reduced further to 40p. Lib Dem Treasury minister Danny Alexander has insisted the top rate of tax will be cut 'over my dead body' But Mr Browne says opposing a further . cut was a major mistake which has left Britain with a top tax rate that . is 'still too high'. 'Authentic liberals should feel uneasy about confiscatory levels of taxation,' he writes. 'If a 40p top rate of tax was high . enough for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown (until his last few weeks in . office) then it should surely have been high enough for David Cameron . and Nick Clegg. 'At a time . of real economic difficulty, the Government's priority has been to cut . income tax for people with low and middle rates of pay. 'It . has made commendable progress, but the timing of the cut in the top . rate was regrettable, and suggests the Government has a tine ear for the . politics of austerity and shared sacrifice.' He . says that the decision to cut the top rate of tax should have been . delayed until this year, when it could have been tied to the increase in . the personal allowance for ordinary workers. He also warns that it is 'unnerving' to see both sides of the Coalition unveiling costly spending pledges in the run-up to the next election despite the continuing need for austerity. He says Mr Clegg's plan for free school dinners for all infant children and David Cameron's introduction of a marriage tax break send out a 'confusing' message that the need for spending cuts is over. 'What would be a terrible let down now would be for the Government to wobble,' he says. 'It is confusing for the public to see child benefit and the education maintenance allowance being cut on the grounds of affordability, only for the Government to then announce a couple of lavish spending commitments.' Mr Browne is on the Right of the Lib-Dems, but denies he would consider defecting to the Conservatives.
he urged Mr Clegg to be more radical in the last 'Instead of a new hub airport, we have a new hub voters by trying to please everyone. 'I regret if because he has sought to placate critics on the left of his party. 'I do think Nick Clegg is a taxation,' he writes. 'If a 40p top rate of tax