Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Author Archives: Andrew Stunell MP

Andrew Stunnell writes … The fight against antisemitism isn’t over yet

By Andrew Stunell MP | Mon 9th February 2015 - 8:54 am

The findings of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism, launched today, make very sober reading.

MPs and Lords from across the political spectrum, including Navnit Dholakia and me, have spent six months following last summer’s Israeli- Palestinian conflict in Gaza assessing the evidence of the hate and discrimination it has triggered directed at Jewish institutions and people across Europe, and making recommendations about how to tackle its upsurge here in the UK.

Our recommendations cover key areas including work to reassure the UK’s Jewish community, which from the evidence we have received appears to be in a considerable state of anxiety and discomfort. The fundamental safety and security of our British Jewish (and indeed any other minority) community is critically important. Non-Jewish readers probably don’t know that every Jewish school in England already has high security fencing and (unarmed) security guards, supported by the Government. Unfortunately we now think it is time to enhance and improve measures to safeguard synagogues and other Jewish institutions, too. And we want to see clearer guidance for police, prosecutors and judges to make sure our response to antisemitism is as strong as it can be.

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Tagged antisemitism | 30 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes…Tackling anti-semitism at home and abroad

By Andrew Stunell MP | Thu 30th October 2014 - 6:52 pm

We may have had a peaceful summer at home but overseas the situation was anything but relaxed, not least in Gaza where the tension between Israel and Palestine spilled over into violence and bloodshed. Whatever your interpretation of events there, nothing can excuse the fact that the resultant anger and hurt felt by many was channelled by a few into violence against British Jews, leading to a 400% increase in recorded antisemitic incidents in the last quarter. That was a pattern repeated across Europe, which is why as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism I joined a delegation of MPs to Berlin and Paris in order to learn the lessons of the summer. Our findings will help to inform a new parliamentary report into antisemitism now being drawn up.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged anti-semitism | 10 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes…Keep free EU movement and end the dodges

By Andrew Stunell MP | Wed 27th November 2013 - 11:12 am

I signed up to the ‘European project’ a decade before I joined the Liberals. It was an instinctive reaction to working on refugee resettlement schemes in Germany and Austria. Even in the early ’60s there were still a million “displaced persons” living in camps in western Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. That should remain a stark reminder to complacent euro-sceptics that spending time grizzling about straight bananas risks a lot more than a million or two British jobs and our country’s shrinkage to a world micro power. That’s what makes being the Party of “In” a …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged benefit tourism, eu migration and welfare | 12 Comments

Andrew Stunell writes … Removing discrimination from electoral campaigns

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 5th November 2013 - 3:34 pm

Last week the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Electoral Conduct published its recommendations. The Liberal Democrats played a leading part in this inquiry and we are pleased to report that our approach to tackling discrimination is rightly credited in the findings of the all-party panel.

Electoral campaigning in Britain is, the Inquiry found, generally a positive and democratically enriching process. There are however a number of areas in which better frameworks for action could be introduced which would make Britain not just a responsible democracy but one that is world-leading in facing down discriminatory electoral conduct.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged discrimination and electoral conduct | 10 Comments

Andrew Stunell writes: Empty homes – the Lib Dem success story

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 29th May 2012 - 12:05 pm

As avid readers of Lib Dem Voice will know, tackling the scourge of empty homes has been high up my agenda since entering government. Empty Homes bring down communities, and doing something to tackle this growing problem was one of our big housing “asks” in the coalition negotiations. Previous governments hadn’t paid empty homes much heed at all, with the numbers left to soar, peaking in 2008 at 783,000. Labour’s failed Pathfinder scheme had set out to demolish thousands of homes, but ran out of cash, leaving some families marooned on what had become “ghost streets”. I was determined that this government was going to be different.

Continue reading »

Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged empty homes | 16 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes… Launching the Liberal Democrats’ local election campaign

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 4:18 pm

Local Election Day is now exactly a month away for most of Metropolitan England as well as across the whole of Scotland and Wales. Nick Clegg was in my own area of Stockport earlier today to officially launch the Liberal Democrat local election campaign, visiting a local business and speaking with councillors, business owners and local people.

I’ve no doubt that many of you have been out on the doorstep over the last few months, talking to people and showing them what we are achieving both nationally and locally.

You will already have your big messages in place. Number one has got …

Continue reading »

Posted in Local government | Tagged council tax, local elections, pensions, pupil premium, raising tax threshold, richard kemp and youth contract | 8 Comments

The Local Government Slot: Coalition boost to English Language funding

By Andrew Stunell MP | Wed 29th February 2012 - 11:29 am

Going down the road to the Post Office, the supermarket, or just chatting at the school gates are things we take for granted in our everyday life. But they are only really possible because we have a shared language – English – that enables us to communicate what we want effectively. That’s not true for everyone, though. And if you speak no, or very little, English, it’s not just your social life that’s cramped. You can’t help the children with their homework, and you’ll find it very hard to get a proper job. A high proportion of the people who …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Tagged english language funding and local government slot | 4 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes… “Creating the Conditions” – the Coalition’s Approach to Integration

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 21st February 2012 - 1:12 pm

Today I was delighted to launch the long awaited Integration Strategy “Creating the Conditions” – the Coalition’s blueprint for improving community cohesion and developing neighbourhoods and communities across the country. Last summer’s riots gave a severe jolt to any thought that social alienation was a thing of the past. Couple that with the tide of marches and demonstrations by the far-right English Defence League and it is clear there are still enduring problems of cohesion and integration in communities up and down the land. If we fail to tackle those problems we not only face more flash points, we will …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Tagged community | 5 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes… The Building Regulations: Taking the next step towards zero carbon homes

By Andrew Stunell MP | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 10:53 am

As some of you may know from my previous postings, one of my responsibilities in Government is the Building Regulations. So far, so dull, right? On the face of it, you might be forgiven for thinking so, but the building regulations offer a number of key tools and levers to tackle the carbon emissions produced from our buildings. Yesterday, I announced a Government Consultation on the latest proposals for upgrading the building regulations, and they contain a number of key proposals to significantly improve the sustainability of our built environment.

The upgrading of the building regulations

…

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged building regulations, climate change and green deal | 6 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes… Tackling empty homes is shaping up to be a Coalition success story

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 13th December 2011 - 12:45 pm

As some of you will no doubt be aware, last week was National Empty Homes week. It managed to garner a lot more attention than normal thanks to a week of action from the Empty Homes Agency, who worked together with Channel 4 presenter George Clarke on a series of programmes that focussed on tackling the housing crisis, and in particular on empty homes.

George’s campaign is a welcome one, and comes at an important time. I regularly describe the number of empty homes we have in the UK as a national scandal. We have enough long-term vacant …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged empty homes, epmty dwelling management orders, george clarke, ian swales and new homes bonus | 8 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes… New Homes Bonus is rewarding communities that go for growth

By Andrew Stunell MP | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 11:53 am

Councils across England will receive a cash boost today with the provisional allocations of this year’s New Homes Bonus money being announced by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Now in its second year, the New Homes Bonus is proving to be a powerful incentive for local authorities to drive development and build the houses that we so desperately need.

Councils are rewarded for building new homes, and bringing empty homes back into use. Council tax on each home is matched by the Government for six years, with extra money for every affordable home.

The key things Liberal Democrats need …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged communities and local government, housing and new homes bonus | 11 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes… Today’s Housing Strategy will deliver the homes and growth we need

By Andrew Stunell MP | Mon 21st November 2011 - 2:23 pm

The long-awaited Housing Strategy was announced this morning by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. It’s an important document, and it sets out the coalition’s stall on how we intend to get the housing market – and in particular housebuilding – moving again.

It’s been a long-established view that we have a housing crisis in the UK. Although new starts were almost a third higher in 2010-11 than they were in 2008-09, there were just 103,000 new build housing completions in England last year. Meanwhile the latest household projections suggest that the number of households will grow by 232,000 …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged communities and local government, empty homes fund and housing | 25 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes: Lib Dems should welcome localist reforms of Council Tax

By Andrew Stunell MP | Mon 31st October 2011 - 4:23 pm

Liberal Democrats have long called for reform to local government finance. No matter what alternative systems we’ve proposed, the key element has always been that the revenue was raised locally, and decisions about how to spend that money were taken locally. As you would expect of a Government with a Liberal Democrat influence, the Coalition is adopting that same approach. The consultation on the relocalisation of Business Rates has just ended, and today’s announcement by DCLG of the Technical Consultation on Council Tax contains a number of positive news stories for Liberal Democrats.

Take second homes for instance. You …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged council tax, empty homes, housing, stephen gilbert and tim farron | 17 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes: Re-localisation of business rates will give councils real financial freedom

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 19th July 2011 - 2:21 pm

Yesterday’s announcement of our plan to re-localise business rates is one of the most significant reforms announced by the Coalition so far. Ok, not as newsworthy as the phone hacking scandal, but it’s big news for local democracy nonetheless. It marks another fundamental shift from central control to local responsibility.

Under the current local government funding system, Whitehall dishes out grant allocations to councils each year based on an incomprehensible formula that is far too complex and lacking in transparency. Most of this money is funded by the business rates, collected locally, but funnelled centrally, and then reallocated. Councils are left at the whim of the formula-setter in Whitehall, and there is no incentive to promote business growth either. All you get are the extra HGVs, but none of the rates income! All this is about to change.

So what are the main things that Liberal Democrats need to know?

Continue reading »

Posted in Local government | Tagged business rates and tax increment financing powers | 13 Comments

Andrew Stunell MP writes: Buildings are the key to reducing carbon emissions

By Andrew Stunell MP | Wed 15th June 2011 - 1:53 pm

We risk losing our battle against climate change unless we make the built environment more sustainable. That was the message I gave the audience at a Greening our Homes seminar arranged by the Policy Exchange Think Tank yesterday. It’s a stark message, but is backed up by the facts. Around half of all the carbon emissions the UK produces each year come from buildings, with our homes contributing 27% on their own. By contrast, only 15% come from our cars, so we could reduce our carbon emissions by a greater amount with a two-thirds cut in emissions from the residential sector than by taking all our cars off the road.

Yet, when compared to sustainable transport, like electric cars, or renewable forms of energy, the built environment gets scant mention. But if we’re committed to being the greenest government ever, we need to do it in the most practical and cost-effective way we can. That means buildings.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged building regulations, carbon emissions, joseph rowntree foundation and policy exchange | 11 Comments

Andrew Stunell writes… We will have a greener, freer and fairer country than when we started

By Andrew Stunell MP | Sun 10th April 2011 - 2:27 pm

It’s less than a month to go until Election Day in England, and for the Parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales. Many of you have been out on the doorstep, talking to people and showing them what we are achieving both nationally and locally.

You should already have your big messages in place, and number one has got to be your local record of service – all year round, not just at election time.

But what about the coalition? I’ve been making visits to Lib Dem council groups up and down the country (Stoke, Warrington, Newcastle and Redcar in just the last …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured | 18 Comments

Andrew Stunell writes… Localism Bill and finance settlement are defining moment for local government

By Andrew Stunell MP | Tue 14th December 2010 - 2:26 pm

Yesterday was an important day in local government as I and my ministerial colleagues were able to announce the two big planks of our approach to local government over the coming years – the Local Government Finance Settlement and the Localism Bill. They are huge milestones in the Coalition’s programme of reform, and will impact on councils in many important ways.

The Local Government Finance Settlement was always going to be difficult. Cuts have to be made across all areas of government spending, and local government is no different. My top priority in this area has been to ensure that the …

Continue reading »

Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Tagged localism bill | 23 Comments

Andrew Stunell writes…Open Government is Better Government

By Andrew Stunell MP | Fri 15th October 2010 - 3:21 pm

Earlier in the year, my colleague Eric Pickles announced that local authorities would be required to publish details of all of their spending above £500. This reform will go hand in hand with a requirement from November for central government departments to publish monthly details of all spending over £25,000. The Department for Communities and Local Government, however, have decided to go one better, and join our local government colleagues and publish everything over £500.

Why is this important, I hear you ask? Won’t it just provide the opposition, and for that matter, organisations like the Tax Payers Alliance with greater …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged andrew stunell and open government | 17 Comments

Opinion: Big Society is a Big Opportunity for Liberal Democrats

By Andrew Stunell MP | Fri 1st October 2010 - 11:52 am

I write this having just got back from a very successful Lib Dem Conference in Liverpool. Everyone seemed to be in good heart, and keen to see what a Liberal Democrat government minister really looked like. Conference is a great occasion to talk and listen to activists directly, and so I really got stuck in. On more than one occasion I was “doing a Simon Hughes” and trying to attend multiple meetings at once! But, though we covered a diverse range of topics, there were two recurring themes – localism and the Big Society.

Localism shouldn’t need any explanation for Liberal …

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged big society and community politics | 12 Comments

Andrew Stunell at the Local Government Association conference: putting our ideas into practice

By Andrew Stunell MP | Mon 5th July 2010 - 12:20 pm

Three months ago, if I had said that the Liberal Democrats would be in government, and I’d be a Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government, you would have laughed at me. Yet here we are. I’ve fought no less than eight general elections and at the first seven, all we did was tell people what the Liberal Democrats would do if we got into power. This time we get to show them instead.

And with the Local Government Association Conference coming up this week, our priorities on local government will get their turn in the spotlight.

In …

Continue reading »

Posted in News | Tagged communities and local government, community politics, eric pickles, local government association and localism | 3 Comments

Opinion: Homes for All, starting now

By Andrew Stunell MP | Thu 28th February 2008 - 8:45 am

Everywhere you look, housing, that most basic of necessities, is in crisis. Having a safe and stable home is crucial for a child’s development and the welfare of any person, of any age. Yet in the world’s fourth largest economy, after 10 years of a Labour government, there are 95,000 homeless families and the number waiting for their own home on the social housing register has risen by 60%!

Liberal Democrats believe that every family should live in an affordable home. Meeting these current and future housing needs will mean building far more affordable houses each year than the Government has …

Continue reading »

Posted in Conference and Op-eds | 7 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Labour’s welfare cuts are a choice – Liberal Democrats choose compassion (Victor Chamberlain)
Tom Arms’ World Review (Tom Arms)
What is “biological sex”, according to the UK Supreme Court? (Em Dean)
The ridiculous war on headphone dodgers (Jim Coupland)
Observations of an ex pat: The big split (Tom Arms)

Advert

Recent Comments

Peter Martin
@ Simon R, Your response to Steve is entirely correct if 'spending' is interpreted to mean the allocation of scarce resources. It's usually taken to mean the...
Tristan Ward
Sorry. I can't see a word about where the money to pay for all this is coming from....
Simon Pike
I would be grateful if a Party spokesperson could respond to this post with a description of how they propose to define "loud". The most common measurement of a...
Simon R
@Steve - still trying to blame neoliberalism for everything? ;-) No, the decline of our defence forces wasn't because of neo- or any other form of liberalism. I...
expats
Perhaps Donald Trump (and Mike Peters) should read Kipling's 'Dane-geld'... And that is called paying the Dane-geld; But we've proved it again and again,...