Tag Archives: general election manifesto

Paul Burstow MP writes: Let’s end this silent scandal

By Paul Burstow MP | Published 2nd November 2011 - 12:53 pm

1,800 people with dementia are dying every year having been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, and I am determined to end this silent scandal.

For more than a decade I have been campaigning to reduce the number of people whose lives are cut short thanks to the routine long-term prescribing of drugs by GPs. These drugs have sedative effects which makes it easier to ‘manage’ dementia patients. But they are effectively a chemical cosh which have side effects and can have devastating consequences.

Last year, as minister for care services, I set an ambitious target to reduce the number of patients routinely given anti-psychotic …

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Julian Huppert MP writes: High Speed Rail no longer the transport of the future, but a logistical imperative

By Julian Huppert MP | Published 18th October 2011 - 11:53 am

Birmingham in 49 minutes, Leeds in 80, and 45 minutes shaved off the journey to Scotland’s major cities. For some, this is reason enough for the Government’s new High Speed Rail line (HS2) – stretching from London in the South, to Manchester in the North-West and Leeds in the North-East.

Many, including myself, would love to see the line extended all the way up to Scotland, providing a real boost to domestic tourism and sustainable growth.

But in amongst the disputes over cost benefit analyses and NIMBYism, there are some startling figures which remind us why High Speed Rail is vital …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , | 31 Comments

Opinion: Themes for a radical manifesto

By George Potter | Published 31st May 2011 - 11:52 am

Yesterday, George Potter blogged about the need for the Liberal Democrats to have a radical manifesto for the 2015 General Election. Today he sets out his suggested themes:

I suggest that we limit our 2015 manifesto to two main themes. The first should be the proper implementation of community politics – and we need to emphasise what this means. Community politics is not just a strategy for winning elections; it is a philosophy for empowering communities and giving people control over their lives. It is about giving people freedom from dependence on the council, and the government and the rest. And it doesn’t just apply to geographical communities, it applies to other communities as well, such as workplaces. We need to develop the ideas of community politics and emphasise how they can be implemented. This policy, as it happens, isn’t too hard to develop. There is a wealth of thought and writing about community politics in the party’s collective memory so we need merely look around us for ways in which community politics can be translated into a manifesto.

The second theme, however, should be something far more radical.

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Posted in Op-eds | 22 Comments

Opinion: The need for a radical manifesto

By George Potter | Published 30th May 2011 - 11:52 am

In 2015, as we approach the general election, it will be exactly 70 years since the 1945 general election. When we draw up our 2015 manifesto, we need to remember the lessons of 1945.

That election saw the Labour party, after several years in a coalition government for reasons of the national interest, cast aside the memories of the wartime government to win a landslide majority based on a radical, optimistic manifesto that laid out a glowing vision of the future. Say what you like about the Labour party of old, at least they could not be accused of lack of …

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Posted in Op-eds | 50 Comments

Nick Clegg’s delivery diary

By Helen Duffett | Published 3rd April 2011 - 1:53 pm

Nick Clegg’s article in the Indy today is a spare, evidential piece, as neatly sliced and lacking in rhetoric as an appointment diary.

But what a diary. Flip back a year, and Gordon was driving to the Palace to call the General Election, as the Liberal Democrats prepared to launch their manifesto.

Now, Nick writes,

…something is happening that, for the Liberal Democrats, is a new experience: the policies we championed during the election are becoming reality. I don’t mean that consultations are being announced, votes held, or papers published. Over the next few days, lives will be changed for

…

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LibLink… Danny Alexander: We are on course to deliver all four of our manifesto priorities

By Helen Duffett | Published 21st March 2011 - 8:55 am

Four key Lib Dem manifesto commitmentsAt the start of Budget week, Danny Alexander writes at Comment is Free that the coalition government is about more than balancing the books, but about enacting reform with a foundation of economic recovery.

He returns to the commander’s intent of the Liberal Democrat General Election manifesto, restating its four key policies -

  • Fair taxes that put money back in your pocket
  • A fair chance for every child
  • A fair future, creating jobs by making Britain greener
  • A fair deal for you from

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

More of the Liberal Democrat manifesto in practice

By Helen Duffett | Published 11th March 2011 - 8:02 am

Just before Christmas, I blogged the Liberal Democrats’ achievements in Government. Since then, even more of the party’s manifesto has been enacted.

For example, the ID card database was publicly destroyed on 11th February 2011 and Project Merlin has ensured that the UK has the most transparent banking pay disclosure scheme in the world.

Sarah Teather’s SEN Green Paper has proposed key reforms to the way Special Education Needs are diagnosed and the support that children and parents receive.

The National Curriculum is under review, with the aim of replacing the current system with a slimmed-down and more competitive version.

The Government are backing Lord Clement-Jones’ Live Music Bill, which aims to cut red tape for putting on live music, as set out on page 46 of the Lib Dem Manifesto.

For the full update, see below:

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The Liberal Democrat manifesto in practice

By Helen Duffett | Published 28th December 2010 - 6:09 pm

It’s an unnecessarily well-kept secret that the Liberal Democrats have already achieved much in Government since the General Election.

Despite the Guardian saying today that “the Liberal Democrats have rushed out a checklist of 67 party manifesto commitments already or nearly achieved in eight months in office” it’s not that easy to find the checklist online, nor to understand why the newspaper used the word “rushed” when the party has waited two thirds of a year before compiling and releasing it in a low-key way to Lib Dem campaigners.

Nonetheless, the list is impressive, and deserves to be shared widely. So I’m publishing it below,

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Posted in News | Also tagged , | 12 Comments

LibLink: Tim Farron – Tuition fees are the poll tax of our generation

By Helen Duffett | Published 12th November 2010 - 9:43 am

Over at the Guardian’s Comment is Free, Tim Farron MP reiterates his pledge to vote against tuition fees, calling them “the poll tax of our generation” – a reference to the angry scenes at Wednesday’s demonstration.

In his article, Tim makes the distinction between the NUS pledge against tuition fees, signed by Parliamentary candidates before the General Election (which he intends to abide by), the Liberal Democrat manifesto (which became a negotiating document) and the Coalition Agreement (which contains 65% of the Liberal Democrat manifesto).

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , , , | 34 Comments

Serious about fairness, serious about power

By Stephen Tall | Published 17th April 2010 - 8:45 am

I almost had an article published on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website on Wednesday, marking the launch of the Lib Dem manifesto. For convoluted reasons it never saw the light of web – but most of it stands the test of time. Except perhaps the line suggesting the party could never hope for Nick Clegg to be as well liked as his predecessor: that’s the power of television for you.

Quite rightly, many wise (and not necessarily old) heads have been counselling caution following the last 24 hours explosively positive headlines for the Lib Dems. The party has enjoyed polling …

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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments

Lib Dem general election manifesto: round-up of our coverage

By Mark Pack | Published 14th April 2010 - 7:50 pm

The launch of a party’s general election manifesto is a big story, so we’ve been covering it in a series of posts here on The Voice in the last 24 hours. If you’re just catching up on our coverage now, here’s a summary of the posts:

…

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Posted in General Election, Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , | 5 Comments

Lib Dem manifesto launch attracts media plaudits

By Stephen Tall | Published 14th April 2010 - 2:10 pm

Five years ago, I think it’s only fair to say, the Lib Dem manifesto launch was not without its hitches. Today’s was toruble-free. The website is slick and engaging, the Nick & Vince double-act showcased their complementary skills, and the media response has been almost surprisingly favourable.

In the New Statesman, James Macintyre assesses that the Lib Dems are on a roll:

The Liberal Democrats, who launched their manifesto this morning, are having an undeniably good week. … Nick Clegg, who held his own against Jeremy Paxman this week, has undoubtedly matured as leader, just in time for an

…

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Posted in General Election | 7 Comments

Liberal Democrat manifesto by numbers

By Mark Pack | Published 14th April 2010 - 9:35 am

The Liberal Democrat manifesto by numbers:

  • 9 different formats for the manifesto (hard copy, video, on screen, iPhone app etc.)
  • 6 photos of Nick Clegg
  • 5 pages of index
  • 4 pages of detailed costsing
  • 4 steps to a fairer Britain
  • 3 photos of Vince Cable
  • 0 mentions of chocolate
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Posted in General Election, Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Liberal Democrat manifesto: advance peek

By Mark Pack | Published 13th April 2010 - 10:00 pm

Tomorrow Nick Clegg is launching the Liberal Democrat manifesto, but tonight The Voice can give you an advance peek at what it will be saying. We’d like to report that this is due to our cunning radio controlled artificial pigeon which we have flown in to the roof of Cowley Street and used to point a webcam at the desk of the Director of Campaigns, but instead it’s thanks to the more prosaic method of receiving email, reading it and then blogging. Ah well, next time.

But back to the manifesto and let’s start with the cover:

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Posted in General Election, Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , | 12 Comments

General election manifesto update

By Mark Pack | Published 21st January 2010 - 12:20 pm

In the three months since I last blogged at length about the Liberal Democrat general election manifesto process, Danny Alexander (chair of the Manifesto Working Group) has won widespread praise for restoring a sense of peace, sense and order after the events around the party’s autumn conference.

On the two major flash points – mansion tax and tuition fees – hostilities have ceased and proposals been modified to win widespread support within the party. Tuition fees are still due to be scrapped, but over a longer timescale, and mansions are still due to be taxed, but with a narrower definition …

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Posted in General Election, Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , | 5 Comments