Tag Archives: telegraph

Caron Lindsay

Tory marriage tax break back on the table, says Cameron

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 27th April 2013 - 11:20 am

From the Telegraph:

The Prime Minister categorically said he will recognise marriage in the UK tax system within the next two years after receiving heavy criticism for his failure to assist traditional British families.

Speaking in Carlisle, where he was answering questions from workers at a Pirelli factory, Mr Cameron piled pressure on the Liberal Democrats to allow the policy to pass through Parliament.

Asked whether he still has plans to recognise marriage in the tax system the Prime Minister said: “Yes I do, we set them out at the last election in the Conservative manifesto. The Coalition agreement specifically said that

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Caron Lindsay

Vince Cable, One Direction, and a minimum wage rise for apprentices

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 17th April 2013 - 1:58 pm

There was a significant amount of chortling in LDV Towers over the Telegraph’s report of Vince Cable’s comments about One Direction’s earnings. One member of our team even suggested photoshopping his head onto this photo of the boy band wearing onesies.  Mercifully, copyright and lack of photoshopping skills on my part spares you that sight.

Vince thought he was being asked about, I presume, a director’s £5 million salary, which he described as “mad”, “downright immoral” and “grossly offensive”.  It would be hardly surprising that he would take that view given his actions to curb executive pay. He added, …

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink… Steve Webb: A straightforward pension scheme for all

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 14th January 2013 - 2:45 pm

Liberal Democrat Pensions Minister Steve Webb, the man who has already delivered the “triple lock” system for ensuring a decent annual rise in the State Pension, writes in today’s Telegraph about the Coalition’s plans to simplify pension provision and ensure that the basic state pension increases from £107 to £144 from as soon as 2017.

First, he outlined the problems with the complexities of the current system:

In Britain today, we have not one but two state pensions. The first is a basic state pension based on 30 years of National Insurance contributions, with complex rules for people who are divorced or

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Caron Lindsay

Rennie: SNP’s assertions blown apart by fact

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th October 2012 - 4:02 pm

Scotland has had its share of political drama these past ten days. First there was the Edinburgh Agreement which saw Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore given an honourable mention by CentreForum. Then the Scottish Liberal Democrats unveiled their vision for Home Rule and a federal UK. Then last Friday, the SNP abandoned their opposition to NATO membership ahead of the Independence Referendum, a decision led to the resignation of two of their MSPs. This leaves Alex Salmond’s Government with a tiny single vote majority in Holyrood. In practice, though, the two MSPs will mostly vote with the Government.

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Caron Lindsay

Tory Loughton slams Liberal Democrats for blocking Tory marriage tax break

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 10th October 2012 - 2:29 pm

We know that the Tories went on and on before the election about how they were going to reward marriage in the tax system.

We know that Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats don’t think much of this idea.

We know that since the Coalition Government was formed that no such marriage tax break has been introduced.

It was therefore not unreasonable to conclude that the Liberal Democrats have stopped the Tories from implementing their prized policy.

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Caron Lindsay

SNP MP’s Twitter tirade against Moore and Swinson

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 4th September 2012 - 8:09 am

One of the problems faced by the SNP is the army of so called cybernats who spew nasty, insulting bile across the internet at anyone who dares to question SNP policy or independence – which, of course, are one and the same thing. Alan Cochrane from the Telegraph wrote earlier this year about these toxic, often anonymous individuals.

Those who cannot take part in this great debate without questioning the patriotism, and often the parentage, of those who don’t agree with them are much more accurately described as Cyberscum. As such they are, of course, a legitimate target for those

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Matt Hemsley

Opinion: Why schools should be allowed to sell their playing fields

By Matt Hemsley | Wed 22nd August 2012 - 2:25 pm

As the Olympic Games concluded, the debate on school sports has risen to the fore. The Prime Minister, it seems, is a big fan of competitive sport being played in primary schools. This, he says, will lead to a real Olympic legacy.

Since the Prime Minister started outlining his plans, the government has come under pressure to defend the sales of school playing fields – a robust defence of the 21 sell-offs was put forward by the Department for Education. Then it became 30. The media – and the Daily Telegraph in particular – has launched campaigns to save school …

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: David Laws – I still believe the Coalition can last the course

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th July 2012 - 3:03 pm

Writing in the Telegraph, David Laws has been giving his thoughts on how Cameron and Clegg can breathe new life into the coalition, not by a new Agreement as he says the one we have is the most effective and bold programme of any peacetime government in the last 100 years. He adds that it’s vital that the Coalition does continue because the consequences of failure for the country would be unpalatable for the country.

Alongside the over-riding priority of the economy and stimulating economic growth, he gives an outline of what the Coalition could achieve over the next two and …

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The Voice

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

By The Voice | Wed 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, …

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Caron Lindsay

The story of the Cabinet Minister hiding behind a tree

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 26th April 2012 - 3:26 pm

Well, it’s hardly been what you’d call a slow news week, has it?

In case you are frazzled by the ever changing headlines, I thought I’d bring one of the more bizarre Jeremy Hunt related stories to your attention.

Iain Martin in the Telegraph writes about the night in May 2010, the second week of the Coalition, when he went to attend a lecture given by James Murdoch.

The events he describes are farcical and are if you feel in need of a break, go and get yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit and simply enjoy the story.

A little taster?

It was

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg’s mental health initiative provides treatment for half a million people

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 18th January 2012 - 10:55 am

One of Nick Clegg’s first major speeches as leader of the Liberal Democrats, as Lib Dem Voice reported way back in February 2008, was on the subject of mental health, of ensuring much faster access to therapy for those affected.

In Government, he is able to put his ideas into practice, last year allocating £400 million to talking therapies. I wrote then about why I was so pleased to see that much needed investment.

Today’s Telegraph reports that half a million people have entered treatment under the Coalition’s mental health strategy.

Last night, Nick Clegg held a reception in London …

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Helen Duffett

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – ‘I used to think the party of Gladstone would end with Ashdown’

By Helen Duffett | Mon 31st October 2011 - 2:23 pm

Today’s Telegraph has an interview with Paddy Ashdown, timed to promote his new TV documentary The Most Courageous Raid of WWII.

From the BBC:

Lord Ashdown, a former special forces commando, tells the story of the ‘Cockleshell Heroes’, who led one of the most daring and audacious commando raids of World War II… Lord Ashdown recreates parts of the raid and explains how this experience was used in preparing for one of the greatest land invasions in history, D-day.

As well as the documentary, Lord Ashdown’s Telegraph interview covers Europe, the Liberal Democrats and the art of compromise:

When Ashdown became leader

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Stephen Tall

Michael Brown and the Lib Dems: the bits the Telegraph missed out

By Stephen Tall | Sun 11th September 2011 - 5:57 pm

Today’s Telegraph splashes with the story, Revealed: secret new life of fugitive Lib Dem donor, devoting its first three pages to the tale of Michael Brown’s new life on the run in a Caribbean hideout.

Michael Brown, as our readers will not need reminding, donated £2.4m to the party just before the 2005 general election. His subsequent arrest and conviction on several counts of fraud have been an embarrassment to the Lib Dems ever since.

The Telegraph’s story is, shock horror, a little partial, though. Take this paragraph: ‘The Liberal Democrats have steadfastly resisted all attempts to force them to repay …

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Paul Walter

Telegraph: “The nation’s babies have begun to abandon the Prime Minister”

By Paul Walter | Sat 30th July 2011 - 11:52 am

You have to hand it to Telegraph journalists. It’s approaching August. Stories are thin on the ground. But trees must be killed. So stories must be concocted. And what a concoction this one was!:

New parents shun ‘Cameron’ and ‘Nick’ for baby names
David Cameron may feel he needs his Tuscan holiday at the end of a bruising first year in power.

There followed suitable snaps of Cameron and Clegg looking knackered, and this text:

After facing battles over spending cuts, a gloomy economy, and the phone hacking scandal, now it seems that even the nation’s babies have begun to abandon the Prime

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Alex Marsh

Opinion: Economic liberalism and public service reform

By Alex Marsh | Tue 22nd February 2011 - 3:33 pm

Are the Liberal Democrats a party of untrammelled ideology – sorry,“principles” – or do ethics and evidence also play a role in thinking? This question struck me forcefully when reading David Cameron’s article on public service reform in the Telegraph. It appears that the imminent Open Public Services White Paper has been formulated with collaboration from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Nick Clegg is fully ‘on side’. We await the details, but if Cameron’s article gives us an accurate sense of what is to come then I think there is – or should be – a significant …

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Chris White

Chris White writes: a chance meeting

By Chris White | Thu 23rd December 2010 - 2:39 pm

I bumped into a young council official yesterday. I was wearing an ID tag so she could see who I was and knew that I was a Liberal Democrat.

It turned out that she had voted Lib Dem in the General Election and had in fact joined the Party under Charles Kennedy because of our clear and unbending stance on the Iraq War. She had recently resigned over tuition fees (quite a rare event but still disappointing). One of the benefits of leaving was that she no longer receives the centrally produced emails to party members justifying (for instance) the position …

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