Author Archives: Jenny Pennington

Jenny Pennington

The Independent View: A strong agenda for the most disadvantaged – an opportunity for Liberal leadership?

By Jenny Pennington | Mon 24th December 2012 - 9:50 am

Rough sleeper, Embankment, London - Some rights reserved by Dedly SiriusFifteen years ago this month New Labour heralded their intent to tackle complex and intractable social problems by launching a dedicated social exclusion unit within government. Fifteen years on, the challenges facing people with complex problems such as mental health issues, homelessness and substance misuse are still very real. In fact, there are indications that these problems are on the rise. Last year saw a 14 per cent increase in the number of homeless households. Rough sleepers are growing in number – up 43% across last year in London. There is a need for

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 5 Comments
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  • David S
    The goal of a representative electoral system is not to ensure that this or that party gets elected. The goal should to be to ensure that every voter, or as clo...
  • Paul R
    Jana - There is no mention of any form of “political union” anywhere in the EU Treaties. Indeed, this was explicitly clarified by the other leaders in t...
  • Daniel Walker
    @theakes "first past the post was a winner for us in 2024. Suggest we keep our heads down and live with it." If your opinion on an electoral system—...
  • Paul Holmes
    Rob, you also say that we can't be the party of the NHS or the Environment because Labour and the Greens have those. Surely it is a mistake to abandon whole are...
  • Paul Holmes
    Rob, you offer two possible groups of key target supporters for the Liberal Democrats. However, both are, as you note, just subsets of the affluent middle class...