Author Archives: George Kendall

George Kendall

Opinion: Why Labour members should defect to the Liberal Democrats

By George Kendall | Thu 14th April 2011 - 10:27 am

If you’re Labour, and want to be an MP in a safe seat, switching to the Lib Dems would be a bad move. Perhaps you like authoritarian policies on law and order, and prefer to avoid difficult decisions on the deficit. If so, the Lib Dems isn’t the party for you.

But maybe you think politics isn’t black and white, that there is good and bad in all the parties, and so working together is a good thing. Perhaps you think that the government should do what will work on law and order, rather than pander to the tabloid press, and …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 74 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: How to respond to the hate

By George Kendall | Tue 29th March 2011 - 11:30 am

News on the internet can be depressing: protesters chant hate-filled slogans at the party conference, there is violence at anti-cuts demonstrations and a sea of cynical contempt on internet forums.

The raw facts aren’t encouraging either. The most regular opinion pollster, YouGov, gives us rock bottom ratings. Although our share of the vote went up a bit in the Oldham East and Saddlesworth by-election, we did appallingly in Barnsley Central.

But I’m not discouraged, because there’s another way to find out what voters think. Go and ask them.

I’ve canvassed in Oldham East and Saddlesworth, Cambridge, and Barnsley. The response varied, but where …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 36 Comments
George Kendall

What the think tanks are saying: Is this the end of National Insurance?

By George Kendall | Thu 24th February 2011 - 12:25 pm

The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a Conservative think tank, founded by Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph in 1974. In November last year, it published an article by David Martin entitled Abolish NICs – towards a more honest, fairer and simpler system .

In the forward, Jill Kirby (at the time Director of the CPS), said: “National Insurance (NI) has become income tax by another name. Yet… it is riddled with inconsistencies”

Do the arguments presented in David Martin’s paper indicate the beginning of the end for National Insurance Contributions? Certainly, the arguments are pretty compelling.

The paper summarises …

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Posted in What do the academics say? | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
George Kendall

What the think tanks are saying: The IFS on the Universal Credit

By George Kendall | Tue 22nd February 2011 - 10:27 am

The Welfare Reform Bill was introduced to Parliament on the 17th February. It involves the biggest changes to the welfare system in at least 20 years, probably a lot longer. It includes the Universal Credit, intended to significantly reduce the poverty trap, by making it clearer to those on benefits that they would be better off in work.

A month ago, the IFS published “Universal Credit: much to welcome, but impact on incentives mixed”. Well worth reading. Here is a brief overview of what they say:

  • benefits will remain the same as under the present system

…

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Posted in What do the academics say? | Tagged , , , and | 22 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Interesting proposal, Mr Assange, but when will you let us vote on it?

By George Kendall | Fri 11th February 2011 - 1:47 pm

Wikileaks has a theory, that “if acting in a just manner is easier than acting in an unjust manner, most actions will be just.”

Their argument has been strengthened by what has been hailed the “first Wikileaks revolution” in Tunisia. For those who want the corrupt autocracies in the middle East replaced with democracies, this may be seen as a ringing endorsement of Wikileaks.

But is it as simple as that?

Wikileaks talks about the “unintended consequences of failing to publish”, but, of course, there can also be unintended consequences to publishing.

When diplomats of a democratic country send frank briefings …

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George Kendall

What the think tanks are saying: The IPPR on “How much is Labour to blame?”

By George Kendall | Wed 9th February 2011 - 4:46 pm

(On 14 January 2011, the IPPR published a paper by Tony Dolphin, Senior Economist and Associate Director for Economic Policy at the IPPR entitled Debts and Deficits: How much is Labour to blame?)

Tony Dolphin makes a key point in his paper, that Labour did not seem to realise how much it was relying on revenues from sources associated with rampant lending, such as the City and the housing market.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t develop this point.

Using the Treasury figures for the budget deficit, between 2007 and 2009, the deficit leapt from £37bn to £123bn. These figures are cyclically adjusted, …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 26 Comments
George Kendall

Action day in Barnsley this weekend

By George Kendall | Wed 9th February 2011 - 12:14 pm

The Barnsley Central by-election has been called for March 3rd. That’s just over three weeks away. As always, the earlier we help, the more help it will be.

So this coming Saturday, a few LibDemVoice readers will be going over to an Action Day, organised by the local activists.

The Action day is on Saturday 12th Feb 2011, from 10.30 am onwards, at Darton Parish Rooms, Church St, Darton, Barnsley, S75 5HQ. Teas/coffees will be provided.

As well as a chance to help the local campaign, it’ll be a chance to get to meet. I don’t know about you, but …

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged and | 9 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: what Ed Miliband should put on his blank sheet of paper – part 2

By George Kendall | Wed 22nd December 2010 - 9:10 am

Ed Miliband has invited Lib Dems to make suggestions for his 2015 manifesto. Though I’m suspicious of his motives, and I’m a supporter of Nick Clegg and the coalition, I think we should respond to this invitation with a public discussion of what Liberal Democrat policies should be from 2015.

If he takes up the suggestions, so much the better. If not, public discussion of Liberal Democrat ideas is always a good idea.

In part 1, I’ve already made suggestions on the economy, the deficit, and on local government finance. Part 2 covers other policy areas.

Reducing the poverty trap

Income tax is …

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George Kendall

Opinion: what Ed Miliband should put on his blank sheet of paper – part 1

By George Kendall | Tue 21st December 2010 - 9:15 am

Ed Miliband has invited Lib Dems to make suggestions for his 2015 manifesto. In doing so, he is treading a well-worn path: from Tony Blair, who borrowed Alan Beith’s proposal for an independent Bank of England and a chunk of our policy on constitutional reform, to David Cameron, who borrowed a lot of our policy on civil liberties.

Imitation is a form of flattery, but it isn’t always sincere. I believe Ed Miliband spoke from the heart in his campaign for the Labour leadership, when he said that he would like to make us extinct. I’ve no doubt he would like …

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George Kendall

Opinion: why I still support the Lib Dems

By George Kendall | Tue 14th December 2010 - 12:38 pm

This has been a hard few months, and there’s been a lot of discussion about why some people no longer support the Lib Dems. But there’s a lot of us who still do. I thought readers of LibDemVoice might be interested in a thread where a few of us explain the reasons why we are still enthusiastic supporters of the party.

Here’s why I am:

Many leftwing commentators write as if there weren’t a £150bn deficit. If the coalition give this as an excuse for the severe cuts, some sigh in frustration, as if this were a tired excuse.

But the …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 80 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: we shouldn’t blame the banks

By George Kendall | Wed 20th October 2010 - 3:17 pm

Conventional wisdom says that the deficit is all the fault of dodgy lending by the banks. But is it? If there had been no financial crisis, just a correction at the end of a credit bubble, would the deficit have disappeared?

The recession has certainly caused a temporary deficit. We’ve seen a reduction in GDP of about six per cent, and unemployment up to two and a half million. The temporary effects of the recession, a higher spending on benefits and reduced tax revenue, account for around £50bn of the deficit. But this will disappear as the economy recovers.

In response …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 117 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: so you want to be Chancellor?

By George Kendall | Fri 3rd September 2010 - 11:57 am

This thread is for you to say what you think should be done about the deficit.

  1. How much do we need to cut the deficit by?
  2. When should we start cutting?
  3. Over how many years should we cut it?

Let’s leave the detail of what taxes to raise, what services to cut, and what the ratio should be between tax rises and spending cuts. There are other threads to discuss those issues.

Let’s also leave the partisan politics to one side. These are difficult questions, no one really knows the right answer. And the answers aren’t necessarily leftwing or rightwing. So …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 17 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: the left should back the right on welfare

By George Kendall | Fri 20th August 2010 - 1:40 pm

Iain Duncan Smith is a right-winger. He was one of the first politicians to call for an invasion of Iraq, he is a eurosceptic. So, obviously, anything he’s proposing on welfare reform will be anathema to left-wingers. Right? Well, maybe not.

Under the current welfare system, many claimants aren’t interested in low paid work because they believe they’ll be worse off. This isn’t a guess, I’ve heard it with my own ears. This is outrageous. In the eighties, I was incensed when the Conservatives used to bang on about using …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 51 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: why we should wish Labour well

By George Kendall | Mon 16th August 2010 - 4:20 pm

Many Lib Dems are angry: at Labour popularism on immigration and law and order to wrong-foot their opponents . That they’ve left the country in such a terrible financial mess. And that as we engage in the awful process of cuts, they jeer from the sidelines, making political capital out of their own mistakes.

But we need to temper our anger. Labour lost their way, but they may find their way back.

And for all their faults, they have qualities we share. A desire to help the unfortunate. A commitment to the welfare state. A belief in internationalism.

At the last election, Nick …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 102 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Genuine progressives should suggest cuts

By George Kendall | Mon 19th July 2010 - 12:50 pm

When I think of the coming spending review, I’m reminded of a migraine I had last year, which continued, not for days, but months. These cuts will hurt, and they’ll last for years. But it’s one thing to acknowledge that the cuts will be excruciatingly painful, it’s quite another to treat any cut as right-wing and regressive.

Continuing to borrow more and more isn’t progressive, it’s deeply selfish. Every year we delay cutting, compound interest racks up our debt, and we leave a bigger deficit and deeper cuts to the future.

Some economists argue that, to help the recovery,

…

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Posted in Op-eds | 124 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Suggestions for the spending review

By George Kendall | Wed 7th July 2010 - 1:20 pm

This site gives people inside and outside the party a place to express their views. And what bigger subject than the cuts to be announced in this autumn’s spending review?

The coalition government have said that there will be consultation on the spending review, but many of us may want to test our thinking on a forum before writing to the government. This post is a place for us to get feedback on our ideas, and to think through the options the government faces.

It might be helpful to say some of the following:
– why your idea would save money
– …

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Posted in Op-eds | 16 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: A budget to make us angry

By George Kendall | Thu 24th June 2010 - 2:50 pm

Frankly, this Budget is ghastly. There are some consolations such as progress towards the 10k tax allowance, but overall it’s awful.

I don’t blame Labour for everything. While they made mistakes, they were right to bail out the banks. And it is true that most of the pain is due to the international economic crisis.

But Labour did make this crisis worse. After a few years of financial restraint, they flooded public services with money. They should have increased the spending more gradually, and coupled it with reform to improve productivity. Instead, productivity fell. This isn’t hindsight, the point was made at …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 63 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Enter the storm with our eyes wide open

By George Kendall | Mon 24th May 2010 - 12:20 pm

I’m excited about the coalition. I think it’s necessary, and I think it’s what the voters want. But it’s going to hurt.

When the coalition was announced, my heart was in my mouth. I was mentally prepared for the defection of hundreds of councillors. So far, we’ve come through remarkably unscathed. But it’s only the first stage.

June will see £6 billion of cuts and an emergency budget. We’ll survive that, but a much bigger test comes this autumn: the announcement of a programme of cuts that’ll make six billion seem like pocket change.

David Laws …

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Posted in Op-eds | 56 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Beware Mandelson bearing gifts

By George Kendall | Tue 11th May 2010 - 1:09 pm

The airwaves are full of siren voices: Ben Bradshaw calls for “a progressive coalition”, Peter Hain for “a new voting system, a new second chamber, a fixed term parliament”, the Prime Minister resigns to make a deal possible.

It’s heady stuff for a Liberal Democrat, so why isn’t Clegg beating down the door of number 10?

Years back I was newly elected to a hung council. The 25 Tories had gone into opposition, so we 24 Lib Dems tried to form a coalition with seven independents, themselves split into three small groups.

The Tories confidently predicted we’d fall apart in …

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