Tag Archives: norman baker

Norman Baker responds to tar sands campaigns

By Norman Baker MP | Published 2nd December 2011 - 9:00 am

Over the last week or so, visitors to the Lib Dem Voice may have seen articles purporting to outline my position, and that of the government’s, on the EU Fuel Quality Directive and the treatment of tar sands within it. These articles have been misleading to say the least. We in the Lib Dems have a proud history of fighting climate change and campaigning for environmental causes. This is no different in the coalition and no different to the approach I am taking on the Directive. I wanted to take this opportunity therefore to provide some facts which

…

Posted in News | Also tagged climate change, tar sands | 16 Comments

Opinion: Green light for Light Rail

By Paul Rowen | Published 30th November 2011 - 9:24 am

Six years ago amid a huge amount of controversy, the then Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced the scraping of several “tram schemes” designed to serve Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Hampshire. In doing so he effectively scrapped plans outlined by the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott for a network of 30 Light Rail schemes to serve our major conurbations. The reason – escalating costs.

Light Rail was deemed too expensive in this country compared to costs on the continent.

Despite a subsequent report from the Transport Select Committee on what could be done to reduce costs little was done by the Department …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged alistair darling, trains | 5 Comments

Opinion: Saving School Transport

By Sarah Osborne & Antony Hook | Published 11th November 2011 - 8:55 am

County councils all over England are making deep cuts to school transport that Liberal Democrats are right to fight against. School transport cuts are bad for child safety, bad for working parents and bad for congestion on local roads.

The cuts, which mostly have come into effect this term or will over the next 12 months are, in most cases, to reduce school transport to the very least permitted by statute. That means it is being axed for everyone who is not on free school meals or who lives more than 3 miles (2 for primary children) from their nearest …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged annette brooke, michael gove, schools, tim loughton, transport | 4 Comments

Liberal Democrats Conference round-up and preview: Sunday/Monday

By Mark Pack | Published 19th September 2011 - 8:21 am

What happened on Sunday in Birmingham at Liberal Democrat conference and what to watch out for today, Monday:

(To find out more about any of the motions I mention, or indeed the others I’ve not highlighted, see the full agenda for the Liberal Democrats conference.)

Posted in Conference | Also tagged drugs, ed davey, tim farron, vince cable | Leave a comment

Julian Huppert MP writes: 20mph – A local say on local safety

By Julian Huppert MP | Published 5th July 2011 - 10:25 am

Liberal Democrats are passionate about localism. We want decisions on local issues to stay where they belong. Giving towns and villages the ability to establish 20mph speed zones empowers local communities and allows them to set speeds that are best for local people.

Unfortunately, the system in place until recently focused much less on local government than on micromanagement from Westminster. The story of the parish council of Whiteshill & Ruscombe illustrates this well. The council representing these two Gloucestershire villages paid £1000 out of its own budget to have several “20 is plenty” signs set up. But Whitehall, working from …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged julian huppert, localism, speed limits | 12 Comments

LibLink: Norman Baker – Despite the doomsayers’ predictions of failure from Day One, the Coalition has bedded down well

By NewsHound | Published 26th December 2010 - 2:40 pm

Over at the Mail on Sunday, Lib Dem transport minister Norman Baker talks about his own experiences of being on the wrong end of the Telegraph’s ‘sting’ operation, in which the paper targeted MPs’ constituency surgeries to entrap them into confessions of Coalition discord. Here’s an excerpt:

Over the years, I have seen thousands of constituents at my surgeries. Many have had big problems. Many have been in a highly emotional state. Some have even been crying. Every week, up and down the country, constituents like this access their MP for help. They come along because they trust their MP to

…

Posted in LibLink | 3 Comments

Lib Dems plan rail expansion by cutting road projects

By Mark Pack | Published 5th April 2010 - 12:20 pm

So reports the BBC:

The Liberal Democrats have set out plans to reopen thousands of miles of railway tracks and stations.

The scheme would be funded by cutting capital spending on roads by £3bn.

Its new Rail Expansion Fund would lead to the biggest expansion of the rail network since the Victorian era, the party claims.

Motorists’ group the RAC Foundation said it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money when only 7% of UK journeys were made by train, compared to 90% by car.

However, Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker said the plan would “make our railway great again”…

Although exact decisions on

…

Posted in News | Also tagged trains | 26 Comments

Baker: time to refund passengers forced on to rail replacement buses

By The Voice | Published 27th January 2010 - 6:50 pm

Ah, the joy of train travel – you buy your ticket, possibly costing you a small fortune unless booked in advance, only to discover you’re chucked off the train and onto a bus if there are repairs being made to the line. Well, no more, says Norman Baker, the Lib Dems’ shadow transport secretary.

Stormin’ Norm is proposing that the Lib Dems would radically overhaul Network Rail, replacing its executives with a ‘Public Interest Board’ made up of representatives of customer watchdog Passenger Focus, the Local Government Association and independent experts. They would be charged with putting the interests of passengers …

Posted in News | Also tagged network rail, trains, transport | 4 Comments

LibLink … Norman Baker: Hutton was farcical, feeble and amateurish… so we MUST be told the truth next week

By NewsHound | Published 24th January 2010 - 3:30 pm

Over at the Mail, Lib Dem MP Norman Baker writes about the imminent appearance of Tony Blair in front of the Chilcot Inquiry into the war in Iraq – and makes a plea for the Hutton Inquiry’s inadequate questioning of how government scientist and former UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly really died. Here’s an excerpt:

… the fact that we, the British people, have had to wait seven long years for justice is a disgrace, and much of the blame can be firmly laid at the door of one man: Lord Brian Hutton. … when Lord Hutton finally reported in

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged chilcot inquiry, david kelly, hutton inquiry, iraq | 1 Comment

Telegraph: Dr David Kelly – doctors start legal action for new inquest

By The Voice | Published 6th December 2009 - 10:45 am

Two years ago, Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, in an article published here on Lib Dem Voice, asserted that the questions arising from the death of UN weapons inspector David Kelly – the BBC’s source for the allegations that the Government ‘sexed-up’ its WMD dossier in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq – would not go away because

… the conclusion that the government weapons inspector took his own life cannot be supported by the facts. … The key question was this: why was Dr Kelly’s such a strange death? Nobody would commit suicide that way, but nor can

…

Posted in News | Also tagged chilcot inquiry, david kelly, iraq | 3 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 27 November 2009

By Helen Duffett | Published 27th November 2009 - 10:26 am

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Do fathers have to be at the birth to bond?

Sara Bedford underlines the importance of personal choice, especially for an event as personal as birth.

Deep breath… Tarquin Fintim-Limbim-Whimbim-Lim Bus Stop-F’Tang-F’Tang-Olé-Biscuit-Barrel – 238 votes, but Shirley Williams (SDP/Liberal Alliance) 28,118… John Ault remembers Shirley Williams’ victory for the SDP in the Crosby by-election, 28 years ago yesterday.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Hacker Gary McKinnon to appeal after extradition blow
The BBC reports that Gary McKinnon’s lawyers are to make a “last-ditch” attempt to prevent his extradition to the US. They are issuing judicial review proceedings next week after Home Secretary alan Johnson decided not to block his extradition on medical grounds.

Glasgow-born Mr McKinnon, 43, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is accused of breaking into US military computers. He says he was seeking UFO evidence.

Now of Wood Green, London, he faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged gary mckinnon, john ault, sara bedford, shirley williams | 1 Comment

Follow the yellow brick road? The Liberal Democrats’ general election campaign

By Mark Pack | Published 25th November 2009 - 10:20 am

Here is my chapter from the Total Politics Guide to the 2010 General Election, looking at the prospects for the Liberal Democrats:

The 1997 general election turned out to be a once in a generation opportunity for many local Liberal Democrat campaign teams to gain a Parliamentary seat from the Conservatives. At the tail end of a by then deeply unpopular Conservative Government, the election saw unprecedented numbers of seats falling to the party. A few seats that were not quite gained from the Conservatives in 1997 did subsequently fall in 2001 and 2005, but it was the 1997 election with the Conservatives in government that was the main opportunity. Nearly every campaign that missed then did not subsequently win.

Posted in Books, General Election | Also tagged charles kennedy, chris fox, featured, hilary stephenson, john sharkey, nick clegg, paddy ashdown, vince cable | 7 Comments

The ban on MPs employing their relatives: two Lib Dems protest

By Stephen Tall | Published 30th October 2009 - 1:45 pm

The Telegraph reports today that two Lib Dem MPs – Malcolm Bruce and Matthew Taylor – are among the 17 MPs who have protested to Sir Christopher Kelly at the proposed ban on employing relatives:

Malcolm Bruce
Liberal Democrat MP for Gordon
Employs wife, Rosemary Bruce, as Office Manager and Diary Secretary
“Having my wife as office manager, diary secretary and constituency PA operating from an office in our home is invaluable not only to me but, I strongly believe, to constituents and other organisations I deal with as part of my parliamentary and constituency duties.”

Matthew Taylor
Liberal Democrat MP for Truro

…

Posted in Parliament | Also tagged malcolm bruce, matthew taylor, mps expenses | 18 Comments

The cost of pavement politics

By Stephen Tall | Published 25th August 2009 - 5:40 pm

What’s cost the taxpayer £82m over the last five years? Answer: compensation claims against county councils and unitary authorities by members of the public who have tripped on pavements. The figures from 90 local authorities were obtained by the Lib Dems under Freedom of Information requests; there are still 10,000 claims unsettled.

Here’s what the Lib Dems’ shadow transport secretary Norman Baker had to say:

With council and household budgets under more pressure than ever, the last thing the local taxpayer needs is to be paying massive compensation claims for injuries caused by dangerous pavements. This is money that could have been spent on improving pavements and preventing these problems in the first place.

Posted in News | Also tagged birmingham council, leeds council, liverpool city council, transport | 3 Comments

Stormin’ Norm: “One in seven MPs in luxurious Government cars”

By Stephen Tall | Published 16th July 2009 - 9:00 pm

Here’s the innocuous-enough sounding press release from the Deprtment of Transport, ‘Cost of Ministerial Cars for 2008′. But look at the bottom-line – well, you could do if they’d published one. What the bottom-line would show is that the cost of ministerial cars has increased to more than £6m, with the number of ministers claiming for cars also increasing.

As you might expect, Lib Dem shadow transport secretary Norman Baker isn’t going to let this one lie:

There are now nearly one in seven MPs enjoying Government largesse at the public expense. Ministers are happy to pump carbon out of their

…

Posted in News | Also tagged transport | 2 Comments

Tag Archives: norman baker

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

2 Big Stories

Search

Poll