Tag Archives: fiona hall

This week in Europe: 20-23 May

By Mark Valladares | Thu 23rd May 2013 - 8:25 am

As attention turns towards next year’s European Parliamentary elections, Liberal Democrat MEP’s continue to work for jobs and growth, and against some of the more ludicrous bureaucratic excesses…

“EU must get tough on tax” says Sharon Bowles MEP

Ahead of yesterday’s EU Summit in Brussels, the European Parliament backed a common European strategy to combat tax fraud, evasion and havens.

UK Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles, who chairs the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, said:

It is totally unacceptable that corporate tax avoidance is now the norm in Europe, aided and abetted by aggressive tax planning and tax consultancy firms.

I have been fighting

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged chris davies, energy, george lyon, sharon bowles, stupid bureaucracy and trade | 5 Comments

LibLink…Fiona Hall MEP: Lawson’s EU lunacy is a recipe for economic disaster

By NewsHound | Fri 10th May 2013 - 8:55 am

Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament Fiona Hall has responded to former Chancellor Nigel Lawson’s call for Britain to leave the EU.

Writing in the Independent, she spelled out some of the economic consequences of such a move:

We are currently on the cusp of a game-changing trade deal between the EU and the US, which will bring billions of pounds to the British economy and create tens of thousands of jobs. The US has also made it quite clear that our ‘special relationship’ would cease to be special were the UK outside the EU. Major trade agreements with India and

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Posted in Europe / International and LibLink | Also tagged eu, nigel lawson and the independent | 29 Comments

Liberal Democrat MEPs lobby for fair distribution of EU funding

By Mark Valladares | Thu 28th March 2013 - 9:20 am

Lib Dem MEPs have welcomed the Coalition Government’s commitment to ensure that cuts to European funding from 2014 onwards will be shared in a fair manner across the UK.

The Coalition Government has announced that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be subjected to an equal percentage cut of around 5% compared to the current 2007-2017 EU funding levels.

MEPs and national governments are currently negotiating the next long-term EU budget for 2014-2020. Although a final deal has yet to be reached, the EU’s budget is expected to be cut in real-terms for the first time in its history.
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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged catherine bearder, edward mcmillan-scott and european union | 22 Comments

This week in Europe: 17-20 December…

By NewsHound | Fri 21st December 2012 - 2:51 pm

EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement signed

Catherine Bearder, the Liberal Democrat European spokesperson on international trade, has welcomed the EU trade deal with Singapore as a potential gateway for the UK’s insurance and banking sector into the Asian market.

This free trade deal with Singapore will bring huge benefits to the UK’s financial services sector in particular. Negotiating as a block of 27 countries with the biggest single market in the world has given Brussels the necessary weight to insist that European banks will enjoy a level playing field with US competitors. Britain on its own would have struggled to achieve

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged catherine bearder and latvia | 1 Comment

Ed Davey MP writes … There will be no public subsidy for nuclear

By Edward Davey MP | Fri 20th April 2012 - 8:47 am

Liberal Democrats were at pains in the negotiations for the coalition to insist that if nuclear power stations were to be built in the UK that there should be no public subsidy. This position was reiterated by Chris Huhne in a statement to the House of Commons on October 18^th 2010 as reported in his article on Lib Dem Voice. So I would like to allay Fiona Hall concerns expressed on Lib Dem Voice yesterday by clarifying that there has been absolutely no change in this position.

As Chris Huhne outlined in October 2010 this means that “there will …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged chris huhne, coalition agreement, department for energy and climate change, ed davey and nuclear power | 22 Comments

Phil Bennion MEP takes up seat in European Parliament

By Helen Duffett | Wed 15th February 2012 - 4:42 pm

Phil Bennion has been officially confirmed as the new Lib Dem MEP for the West Midlands region at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg this week.

The Staffordshire farmer and economic policy expert takes over from Liz Lynne who stood down from Parliament earlier in February after more than 12 years due to the extensive travelling required in the job. He was elected to second place on the Lib Dem list of candidates at the last European elections in 2009.

Phillip Bennion said of his new role,

I am determined to fight for the vital interests of the whole of the

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged liz lynne and phil bennion | 5 Comments

Spring Conference 2012: registration now open

By Andrew Wiseman | Tue 6th December 2011 - 1:21 pm

I am pleased to announce that registration for Spring Conference 2012 is now open.

For the first time, conference will be hosted by NewcastleGateshead. The Liberal Democrats have a proud history in the North-East. We control Northumberland County Council and Ian Swales MP, Sir Alan Beith MP and Fiona Hall MEP represent the Region in London and Brussels respectively.

Fiona said, “Conference is going to be a great boost for the area ahead of vital local elections in May. The region is gearing up to make it a fantastic weekend for everyone. I hope representatives also take …

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Posted in Conference | Also tagged alan beith, ian swales, newcastle and nick clegg | 4 Comments

LibLink | Alan Beith: “Road safety is not an optional extra”

By Helen Duffett | Wed 18th May 2011 - 2:54 pm

Sir Alan Beith MP, who is presenting the Road Safety Bill to the House of Commons today, has a piece over at ePolitix urging the Government to do all it can to reduce the number of road deaths – because of their social, emotional and financial cost:

I want to see better protection for pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users, along with better support for HGV drivers who face being involved in fatal accidents because of blind spots on their vehicles. A family in my constituency approached me for help after the death of their much loved daughter and

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged alan beith, eilidh cairns, epolitix and road safety bill | 1 Comment

“Conservative MEPs have consistently voted against a string of measures to protect women’s rights”

By Mark Pack | Sun 28th March 2010 - 8:21 pm

So reports the Independent on Sunday:

Conservative MEPs have consistently voted against a string of measures to protect women’s rights.

Analysis of the record of 25 Tory members of the European Parliament this year shows they voted against, or abstained, eight times on issues relating to sexual equality, family-friendly working hours, maternity leave and reproductive health – often in clear defiance of official Conservative Party policy.

The MEPs also failed to back an EU resolution expressing concern about homophobic attacks in Croatia, which is seeking EU membership…

On 25 February, 22 out of 25 Tory MEPs voted against a resolution calling for the EU

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Posted in News | Also tagged conservative party and croatia | 2 Comments

Tories send advance party to reassure Brussels

By Helen Duffett | Mon 22nd February 2010 - 7:07 pm

The Telegraph reports that shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke is going to Brussels tomorrow for “secret talks” with members of the European Commission:

Mr Clarke, who will be accompanied by Mark Prisk and John Penrose, junior shadow business ministers, is expected to seek concessions on financial and employment regulations during the meetings, which are not listed on the European Commission’s official diary.

Fiona Hall MEP, Leader of the European Liberal Democrats, said,

The question is what deal will he do? Will he sell out his own beliefs or those of his anti-European colleagues?

and suggested that such secret talks meant that “the …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged european commission and ken clarke | 3 Comments

Leading Lib Dems’ approval ratings, as voted by party members

By Stephen Tall | Tue 16th February 2010 - 3:23 pm

A week ago, Lib Dem Voice invited the members of our private discussion forum (open to all Lib Dem members) inviting them to take part in a survey, conducted via Liberty Research, asking a number of questions about the party and the current state of British politics. Many thanks to the 200 of you who completed it; we’ve been publishing the results on LDV over the last few days.

LDV asked, How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats? And here’s what you told us (with results from September 2009 – the last …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged kirsty williams, mike tuffrey, ros scott and tavish scott | 3 Comments

D-Day in Copenhagen: Fiona Hall MEP’s update from Denmark

By Fiona Hall MEP | Fri 18th December 2009 - 3:10 pm

Well, it took a little longer than expected to get here. Being of a green disposition I opted for the overnight train from Strasbourg to Copenhagen, but heavy snow meant that it was more of a overnight-and-through-the-day train. Never mind – I’m here now, and we’ll soon know if the trip was worth the effort.

Today is – at least officially – the final day of COP 15. This evening we are due to find out whether the world’s leaders are prepared to go the extra mile and put in place the measures needed to keep global warming …

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Posted in News | Also tagged copenhagen summit | 3 Comments

Fiona Hall says: “Time to get out of the ghetto”

By Antony Hook | Fri 18th September 2009 - 1:50 pm

The new leader of the Liberal Democrat MEPs, Fiona Hall, has said that its time for MEPs to have an increased profile in the party and for the European angle to have a greater role in Liberal Democrat policy making.

In an interview with me on behalf of the Lib Dem European Group, Fiona said,

“We need to get MEPs out of the ghetto of “Europe”. MEPs do not do “Europe”. MEPs do crime, security, civil liberties, finance, climate change, energy, biodiversity, agriculture, fisheries, international development … with a particular emphasis on the European level of decision making in these areas. At …

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Posted in Europe / International | Leave a comment

LDV pre-conference members’ survey (2): leading Lib Dems’ approval ratings

By Stephen Tall | Thu 17th September 2009 - 2:25 pm

Over the last week or so, Lib Dem Voice has invited the members of our private forum (open to all Lib Dem members) inviting them to take part in a survey, conducted via Liberty Research, asking a number of questions about the party and the current state of British politics. Many thanks to the c.250 of you who completed it; we’re publishing the results on LDV over the next few days. You can catch up on the results of our exclusive LDV members’ surveys by clicking here.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the satsfaction ratings with the Lib Dem shadow cabinet; but today we’re going to focus on those leading Lib Dems beyond Westminster.

LDV asked, How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats? And here’s what you told us (with results from April – the last time LDV asked the question – in brackets):

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged kirsty williams, mike tuffrey, ros scott and tavish scott | 4 Comments

Jonathan Fryer’s Diary of a Euro-candidate

By Jonathan Fryer | Tue 3rd February 2009 - 10:04 am

Saturday
Most of the day is spent at the Keynes Forum Policy Conference at LSE, at which one of the sessions is specifically about the European elections, or at least the interlinked campaign themes of the economy and the environment. Both Sharon Bowles (South East) and Fiona Hall (North East) are MEPs who know their briefs intimately, which is reassuring and underlines the value of electing people willing to specialise in specific fields. But through conversations during coffee breaks it becomes clear to me that local activists are really thirsting for simply-worded, bite-sized Euro-items they can just slot into their Focuses. …

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Posted in News | Also tagged CAABU, delga, diary, european elections, gaza, keynes forum, paul holmes, reinventing the state, sharon bowles and tower hamlets | Leave a comment