Liberal Democrat Voice

The LDV Friday Five: 18 May 2012

By Helen Duffett | 18th May 2012 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

Posted in Friday Five | Leave a comment

Tim Farron MP writes… Send in your nominations for Party Awards 2012

By Tim Farron MP | 18th May 2012 - 3:53 pm

Each year at Autumn Conference, the Party President presents three awards to party members who have gone above and beyond for the party for longer than most of us can remember. There are three awards available:

President’s Award – this is an award for those party members who have been elected to public office at one point or another – for those who have been councillors or council leaders; for ex-MPs and MEPs. It rewards members who have given an overwhelming amount of time, effort, and support to the Liberal Democrats, and was last year won by Doris Ansari who

…

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Leave a comment

ELDR Council: between a rock and some very hard places indeed…

By Mark Valladares | 18th May 2012 - 2:52 pm

I’m not always the most prepared person in the world, especially when it comes to meetings. Usually, that doesn’t matter, because I’m surrounded by people who are prepared. But what happens if they don’t turn up on time?

The sun was shining in Armenia’s capital, in the shadow of Mount Ararat, and whilst one of the delegation’s Parliamentarians was meeting ‘Our Man in Yerevan’, I was off to attend the Resolution Working Group, where resolutions on a Common Consolidated Corporate tax base for Europe and on Cyprus were to be …

Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged armenia and eldr council delegation | Leave a comment

From today’s Lib Dem News

By Mary Reid | 18th May 2012 - 12:55 pm

By Howard of Lib Dem News

Posted in Humour | Tagged lib dem news | Leave a comment

Opinion: Pupil Premium. Extend the concept?

By Paul Reynolds | 18th May 2012 - 12:00 pm

The Pupil Premium (PP) is great politics. As a way of increasing funding for schools with more pupils from poorer backgrounds, with all the incentives that implies, is has laudable political features. It contrasts us well as ‘pro-poor’ relative to the Conservatives. It is a kind of remedy for the ‘student fees’ debacle. And it is simple – easy to understand and to implement.

It is worth having a closer look at its features and context. Are there any broader lessons for the Lib Dems?

First, what is it? In effect PP is an additional dimension to the way that central government …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged education, pupil premium and schools | 5 Comments

A postcard from… Brussels

By Mark Valladares | 18th May 2012 - 10:22 am

The capital of Europe is not exactly what a visitor from an alien civilisation would expect. There is little in the way of grand boulevards, monumental buildings, overblown statuary. Indeed, it all seems a little down at heel. I’ve always suspected that Belgians don’t waste money maintaining facades on the basis that, soon enough, someone will invade and do it for them.

In Howard Blake’s ‘New National Songbook’, he writes, “”Good heavens, look at that Empire!”, we thought. Most of us were thinking about trees and birds all the while.”. …

Posted in Europe / International | Tagged a postcard from and brussels | 3 Comments

Opinion: The future of the CAP – specific proposals by Liberal Democrats

By George Potter | 18th May 2012 - 9:02 am

This is the second of three articles, based on interviews with Lib Dem MEPs Phil Bennion and George Lyon, covering the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This article addresses the specific changes they want made to current EU plans for reform.

When I spoke to him, Phil Bennion explained to me that, while Lib Dem MEPs are broadly supportive of the Commissioner’s plans for reform (the key idea being to start spending 30% of ‘pillar one’ payments on environmental elements), they have serious concerns with the detail.

An example he gave was the proposal for farmers to have …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged common agricultural policy and europe | 4 Comments

LDVideo: Tessa Munt in fit of giggles in Commons as Minister sits on Davey

By Nick Thornsby | 17th May 2012 - 4:28 pm

Well, there’s a headline you probably didn’t expect to read today.

Enjoy.

Posted in Humour and YouTube | Tagged ed davey and tessa munt | Leave a comment

“We are not planning for a Greek exit” – Verhofstadt

By Nick Thornsby | 17th May 2012 - 2:56 pm

Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and current leader of the liberal grouping in the European Parliament, has rejected talk of Greece leaving the Eurozone. Interviewed on the Today programme yesterday he said such speculation was aimed more at influencing public opinion in Greece than it was a prediction of the likely outcome of the current crisis.

Verhofstadt warned that the EU is unprepared for the contagion that would result from a Greek Euro exit, saying:

There is no real firewall around the other economies of Europe, we only have a few fire extinguishers.

You can hear the full interview – including …

Posted in News | Tagged economy, europe and guy verhofstadt | 20 Comments

Lynne Featherstone to reform Equality and Human Rights Commission

By Caron Lindsay | 17th May 2012 - 12:53 pm

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is to reform the Equality and Human Rights Commission, cutting its budget and removing some of its responsibilities, most notably its obligation to assess how Government policies would affect the poorest.

Now, if ever there was a quango in need of reform, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission is that body. Dysfunctional seems to be the best word to describe the EHRC. Wasteful would be another. For three years running, the National Audit Office qualified its accounts. Last year was the first year since its formation in 2007 when it managed to …

Posted in News | Tagged EHRC, equalities, human rights, lynne featherstone, national audit office and socio economic duty | 13 Comments

Lib Dem policy goes viral as ‘Reform Section 5′ campaign launched

By Nick Thornsby | 17th May 2012 - 11:27 am

“It might surprise you to know that under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, the police and the courts can decide if you or someone else might feel insulted” states the front page of the Reform Section 5 campaign’s website.

But this is unlikely to surprise many Lib Dems, who just a couple of months ago, at our Spring Conference in Gateshead, passed a motion (pdf) which called for the right to free speech to be protected through:

The repeal of section 5 of the Public Order Act, which creates ‘non-intentional’ speech offences, and the removal of ‘insulting’ from Section 4A of

…

Posted in News | Tagged civil liberties, david davis, peter tatchell and public order act | 8 Comments

Individual electoral registration: welcome changes to the details

By Mark Pack | 17th May 2012 - 9:50 am

Over the weekend, I wrote about how welcome the ancillary details are in the newly published Electoral Registration and Administration Bill. Those are the “and Administration” part of the Bill, but the main act is electoral registration, with the Bill laying out details of the move to individual electoral registration across Great Britain, catching up with Northern Ireland.

I’ve written before about why individual electoral registration is a good policy, and hence has been long pushed for by the Electoral Commission and supported by all the main political parties. In brief, it is to do with principle (your right to vote shouldn’t depend on whether or not someone else fills in a form on your behalf), with fraud (individual registration will be a bit like putting window locks on, cutting crime by making it harder) and with the problem of landlords registering themselves rather than their tenants. You can read more about that in What’s the point of switching to individual electoral registration? but on to the Bill…

Posted in Election law and News | Tagged chris rennard, electoral registration and Electoral Registration and Administration Bill | 9 Comments

Willie Rennie’s first year as Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader

By Caron Lindsay | 16th May 2012 - 8:47 pm

Tomorrow it’s a year since Willie Rennie became Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader. What have been the highlights of that first year?

Well, on his first day, I interviewed him for Liberal Democrat Voice and you can still listen to that here. He said that his priorities for his first hundred days were to work out what our message was, to sort out our organisation and to get out there and meet people, members and ordinary people on their doorsteps. So how has he done with these things and more?

Willie leader launch crouching in front of bridge …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged alex salmond, equal marriage, nick clegg, rupert murdoch, snp, soctland and willie rennie | 7 Comments

Liberal Democrats reject Steve Hilton’s £25 billion welfare cuts call

By The Voice | 16th May 2012 - 6:47 pm

David Cameron’s adviser Steve Hilton heads off for a sabbatical in California, where he will be learning more about governance.

However, he is reported in several newspapers to have left a wee parting present, a paper calling for a further £25 billion cut in welfare spending. He wants to see people, particularly single parents, encouraged into full time rather than part time work. No mention is made of how the resulting child care costs would be met, of course. Maybe he hadn’t thought of that.

The Times (£) reported that these plans had not been shared with the Liberal Democrats but, …

Posted in News | Tagged steve hilton, telegraph, the times and welfare reform | 26 Comments

Lynne Featherstone’s honeycomb surprise

By Caron Lindsay | 16th May 2012 - 2:24 pm

MPs’ offices get stacks and stacks of mail. Every day all manner of things arrive, from invitations, to big glossy brochures from various organisations, to letters from constituents, to replies from letters written to various Government bodies on behalf of local residents, to thank you cards when problems have been resolved.

Today, Lynne Featherstone’s constituency office received a special surprise in the post. Ben and Jerry’s, in conjunction with Stonewall, had produced a specially designed ice cream tub, complete with the Equality Minister’s photograph and the title Lynne Honeycomb, to show the company’s support for Equal Marriage. Sadly for her office …

Posted in News | Tagged ben and jerry's equal marriage, lynne featherstone, Scotland, snp and stonewall | 4 Comments

Liberal Democrat MPs fight for blind people hit by welfare changes

By Caron Lindsay | 16th May 2012 - 12:23 pm

The Independent reports that Liberal Democrat MPs are trying to change the new assessment process for the Personal Independence Payments which will replace Disability Living Allowance. They believe that they may lead to blind people being denied the help that they need. This is a measure introduced by the Welfare Reform Act. The MPs are concerned that the new assessment process focuses on mobility and does not sufficiently take into account the ways in which being blind or partially sighted can affect everyday life.

People who have sight loss need the extra help to, for example, help with cleaning, ironing …

Posted in News | Tagged bob russell, jenny willott, jo swinson, mike hancock and welfare reform | 15 Comments

Five years in five posts – 2007-2011

By Caron Lindsay | 16th May 2012 - 11:28 am

I was wondering how I could amuse readers on my own blog yesterday and I came up with this amazing idea of going back and finding out what I was writing about around this time in previous years. It was only later that I realised that Helen Duffett does this for Liberal Democrat Voice every Friday in the Friday Five . I hope she doesn’t mind me borrowing her idea and adding in a little extra spot.

What was good about my post yesterday is that a few other Liberal Democrat bloggers got in on the act and I spent …

Posted in Best of the blogs and News | Tagged blogging, elephant, iain roberts, jennie rigg, liberal england, mark pack, millennium dome, neue politik and stephen tall | Leave a comment

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore MP | 16th May 2012 - 10:25 am

Every week Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland writes a column for local newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here is this week’s edition.

Queen’s Speech

Last week, we saw the State Opening of Parliament by the Queen. Her Majesty set out the legislation planned for the second session of Parliament following the formation of the Coalition. The legislation outlined in the speech supports our efforts to reduce the deficit, rebalance the economy and put the country on the path to sustainable growth. It also sets out our commitment to provide families, businesses and communities across the country with the support they …

Posted in News | Tagged banking, energy, grocery adjudicator, michael moore mp, queen's speech, state pension and Westminster Notes | Leave a comment

Police urged to investigate campaign against Labour and Lib Dem councillors in Milton Keynes

By Mark Pack | 16th May 2012 - 8:55 am

Milton Keynes Liberal Democrats are asking the police to investigate campaign leaflets put out during this year’s council elections which attacked both Lib Dem and Labour councillors for their views on providing space for Travellers.

A series of leaflets were put out during the election attacking named candidates from the two parties, accusing them of putting too much effort into housing Travellers compared to “the homeless, OAPs, and the disabled”. Although the leaflets contained a name and phone number, they did not contain the election imprint information required by …

Posted in Election law and News | Tagged milton keynes | 25 Comments

John Leech MP writes… It is not just the Leader’s job to sell the Pupil Premium

By John Leech MP | 15th May 2012 - 4:21 pm

The Pupil Premium is one of our biggest achievement in government, and helps the poorest children in our country bridge the gap when it comes to the quality of education they receive. Manchester has had an extra £19 million this year, and the overall spend is some £1.25 billion this year, increasing to £2.5 billion by 2014/15.

The Pupil Premium ticks all the boxes for the Party. It is designed to help the most disadvantaged, it allows schools to spend the extra money flexibly, and it is new money on top of the school budget.

So why are we not shouting about …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged nick clegg, pupil premium, sarah teather and twitter | 22 Comments

In praise of Councillor Neil Hughes – 56 Up

By Paul Walter | 15th May 2012 - 2:47 pm

If you missed it, it is worth watching the first episode of 56 Up on ITV Player. Aired last night, it is the latest in Michael Apted’s Seven Up series, which filmed a group of seven year olds in 1964 and has since caught up with them every seven years.

One of the group is Liberal Democrat Councillor Neil Hughes, who represents Shap ward on Eden District Council in Cumbria. Neil was previously one of our councillors in Hackney and is also a lay preacher. As you can see from last night’s film, the Seven Up series has …

Posted in News | Tagged Cumbria and Eden District Council | 10 Comments

Opinion: A letter to a constituent regarding equal marriage

By Tom Papworth | 15th May 2012 - 1:55 pm

The following is the text of an email that I sent to a constituent earlier today. He wrote to me to ask about my views of the government’s proposals “to re-define marriage”, which he believes “will have far-reaching consequences…[that] will have an adverse effect on the stability and flourishing of our local community.” I beg to differ.

Dear sir,

Thank you for your email regarding the government’s proposals to change the law on marriage in the United Kingdom. This is not a local authority matter, and so has no relevance to my role as a local councillor. However, as you have asked to know my views on this matter, I am happy to oblige.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged equal marriage | 27 Comments

Opinion: A message from Paddy over a decade later

By Chris Richards | 15th May 2012 - 12:10 pm

Back in September 1999 Paddy Ashdown gave his farewell speech to the Liberal Democrats’ Federal Conference. The speech set out some challenges for Liberal Democrats as we approached a new century. What is interesting to note, reading it almost 13 years later, is how prescient his speech is when looking at the credit crunch and the current Eurozone crisis:

Here is the inescapable fact. Power is now moving, increasingly, beyond the confines of the nation state and is rapidly making many of its institutions irrelevant.

He continued,

We must start taking global governance seriously. The nation states, their governments and their politicians are

…

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged paddy ashdown | 5 Comments

Opinion: Clutching at straws

By Bill le Breton | 15th May 2012 - 10:08 am

I have spent the day clutching at a couple of straws.

Last week in the tractor factory Nick Clegg appeared to confuse the ‘deficit’ with the National Debt when he said, “We have a moral duty to the next generation to wipe the slate clean for them of debt. We have set out a plan – it lasts about six or seven years – to wipe the slate clean to rid people of the deadweight of debt that has been built up over time.”

It sounded like a fail in GCSE Economics. But suppose he wasn’t mistaking the policy to eliminate the structural deficit by 2017 for a moral crusade to wipe the slate clean by removing the deadweight of the National Debt, all £1,300 billion of it.

At the other end of my straw was the realisation that Nick Clegg might have become an extreme Market Monetarist and was revealing his plan to re-establish Nominal GDP back to its trend line, even if that meant buying in the whole of the National Debt in the mother of all quantitative easing exercises.

Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged bank of england, deficit, federal reserve, national debt and quantitative easing | 34 Comments

The Independent View: Clegg’s Pupil Premium could be wasted

By Rick Muir | 15th May 2012 - 8:56 am

Keen to move on from the poor headlines of the last few weeks, Nick Clegg has sought to re-focus attention on his flagship social mobility agenda with a speech on the Pupil Premium.

The Pupil Premium is the government’s main policy for reducing educational inequality in schools, meaning that schools get extra funding for every child on Free School Meals (£488 this year, £600 next year). IPPR has always welcomed the Pupil Premium but have expressed concerns that it will not be spent directly on providing extra support for the children who need it. Under the current model, schools are free to spend it on whatever they like – and the majority of heads say they are using it to plug gaps in existing budgets.

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged EBacc, pupil premium and schools | 15 Comments

Norman Lamb MP writes… Fairness: from the farm to the shopping trolley

By Norman Lamb MP | 14th May 2012 - 5:05 pm

The Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday. This is an issue which the Liberal Democrats in general, and Andrew George in particular, have campaigned on for many years. I can remember meeting with farmers shortly after I was first elected back in 2001, and hearing from them the difficulties they faced as suppliers for the biggest supermarkets. A commitment to introduce “a powerful independent regulator of Britain’s food market” featured in our last manifesto (in fact, …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged farming and Supermarkets | 4 Comments

Opinion: Corruption – We can do better than this

By Simon Beard | 14th May 2012 - 3:54 pm

The UK is more corrupt than Qatar. That’s not my judgement, but that of the World Bank and their Control of Corruption Index. This places the UK 18th in the world, behind not only Qatar but Iceland, Chile and Liechtenstein.

It’s easy to sound jingoistic with this sort of comparison, and I really don’t mean to. So here’s an even more worrying comparison. In 2010, the latest year the World Bank has collated its figures for, the UK received a control of corruption score of +1.48 (on a …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged corruption | 10 Comments

Which of the five Lib Dem reshuffle options will Nick Clegg pick?

By Mark Pack | 14th May 2012 - 2:23 pm

Five scenarios for your delectation:

The Lib Dem night of the long beards

The drastic, dramatic and painful option. Clegg says the Liberal Democrats need David Laws’s expertise and media savvy at the heart of economic decision making, restoring him to Chief Secretary to the Treasury and expressing tearful regret that Danny Alexander is off out of the Cabinet, with a resting place as a new Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Cabinet Office where he will not have to handle quite so many tricky TV interviews.

Education, education, education

Too problematic to bring back Laws in a tax and cut role? Bring him …

Posted in Humour and Op-eds | Tagged andrew stunell, danny alexander, david heath, david laws, jo swinson, lembit opik, lorely burt, lynne featherstone, michael moore, nick clegg, nick harvey, norman baker and sarah teather | 41 Comments

Police investigate electoral allegations in Hyndburn

By Mark Pack | 14th May 2012 - 1:55 pm

The Lancashire Telegraph reports:

POLICE have launched an investigation into voting at this month’s local elections.

Labour officials have made a complaint about irregularities concerning proxy votes in Hyndburn.

A proxy vote is when votes are placed at the polling station on somebody’s behalf, usually when they are unable to leave the house or are on holiday and have chosen not to vote via post.

Police said they had also launched an investigation into claims constituency MP Graham Jones [Labour, Hyndburn] had intimidated voters.

They said this was not connected with the proxy votes allegations.

In three wards in Hyndburn there were more than fifty …

Posted in Election law | Tagged graham jones, hyndburn, hyndurn and proxy voting | Leave a comment

Opinion: Could the Lib Dems back a Financial Transaction Tax within the EU?

By Daniel Henry | 14th May 2012 - 12:54 pm

At Spring Conference we passed a tax motion that confirmed our manifesto pledge for support for a global Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

The implication was that we supported the FTT but only if the entire world agreed. The usual reasoning for this stance is that if we, or Europe, unilaterally institute an FTT it would disadvantage banks within the EU and encourage them to move their operations outside our borders, losing us jobs and …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged financial transaction tax | 22 Comments