Author Archives: NewsHound

NewsHound

LibLink: Danny Alexander – “Every day the Coalition continues is a day Britain’s economy gets stronger”

By NewsHound | Wed 1st January 2014 - 2:00 pm

Over in the Telegraph, Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander has welcomed the start of 2014 by highlighting the ways the Coalition is helping individuals and businesses to help get the economy growing fir everyone. Here’s an exerpt:

There is a lot more work to be done, but the recovery wouldn’t be happening without the Liberal Democrats. Every day the Coalition continues its work is a day that Britain’s economy gets stronger.

For the first time there are more than 30 million people in work and unemployment is at its lowest level since April 2009. It is those hard-working

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NewsHound

LibLink: Richard Reeves: The Clegg Factor

By NewsHound | Tue 31st December 2013 - 4:51 pm

Remember Richard Reeves, Nick Clegg’s former head of strategy? He left about 18 months ago but has written a couple of pieces in recent days, one for the Guardian and another for the Centre Forum blog. In his Guardian piece, he suggests that it’s after 2020 that the Liberal Democrats will really reap the rewards of our performance in Government. His theory is that we’ll do well enough to stay in government in 2015 and by 2020 we will have killed “the presumption of  one-party government.”

At Centre Forum’s blog, he concentrates on Nick Clegg and his achievements and opportunities:

 Clegg’s

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tavish Scott MSP: Scots should put money on devo plus.

By NewsHound | Sun 29th December 2013 - 11:59 am

Tavish Scott has been writing for the Scotsman, comparing the necessary treaty for a currency union which would be required between an independent Scotland and the UK, and the idea of “Devo Plus” which, he argues, would give the Scottish Government more powers than independence.

First he tackles the realities of that treaty for currency union:

With the removal of political representation at Westminster following a Yes vote, the flexibility of a parliament will need to be replaced with a treaty. This will be neither flexible nor short. It will have to cover all aspects of monetary union starting with the role

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NewsHound

Vince tells Andrew Marr: Immigration panic does damage – politicians should give facts, not resort to harmful populism

By NewsHound | Sun 22nd December 2013 - 4:20 pm

Vince Cable went on the Andrew Marr Show this morning and echoed what Nick Clegg had said about the Tory immigration plans to cap EU migration. Here are some of the highlights.

Nick Clegg is saying what absolutely has to be said. The 75000 cap is illegal and impossible to implement in any event. The Conservatives are in a panic about UKIP , reacting in the way they are. It’s not going to help them politically but it’s doing a great deal of damage…

The responsibility of politicians in this situation is to look at the facts. The simple point is that …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: Ukraine – why they want to be in

By NewsHound | Sat 21st December 2013 - 11:07 am

Tim Farron, who’s chair of the European election campaign as well as party president, has been writing all over the place on all sorts of EU issues at the moment. The other day it was fish, and now he’s taking a look at why many in the Ukraine are protesting in the streets for closer ties with the EU.

It is easy to get lost in the hysterical UK debate and lose perspective on the EU but we must remember that Europe remains a beacon for hope for millions of people in countries like the Ukraine and in autocratic Belarus.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tessa Munt: “You don’t have to love the Tories to work with them”

By NewsHound | Fri 20th December 2013 - 10:18 am

In the Daily Mirror, MP for Wells, Tessa Munt (and potential candidate to be Deputy Leader?), has been taking our case to its readers;

We’ve delivered more policies we’ve been working on for some time – like free school meals for primary school children, a supermarket Ombudsman and shared parental leave.

Most importantly of all, we’ve done even more to make our tax system fairer – taking the low paid out of paying income tax altogether and nailing an agreement to give workers a bonus of over £700 in April next year by raising the point when you start paying tax.

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Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged | 19 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Sir Nick Harvey MP: Time to reform EU defence policy and make Britain safer

By NewsHound | Thu 19th December 2013 - 3:59 pm

Over at British Influence, Sir Nick Harvey has been writing about today’s EU meeting on defence co-operation and what he thinks could be achieved from it.

He sets out why co-operation is a good idea

EU defence cooperation has a crucial role to play in achieving security around the globe and preventing an onslaught of failed states. This is clearly in the UK’s national interest since failed states create a series of associated and interlinked problems which impact on the UK, such as severe poverty, irregular migration and terrorism – as we have seen in the case of Al-Shabaab in Somalia.

There have

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Posted in Europe / International and LibLink | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg: Kick the crooks out and drag the Lords into the 21st century

By NewsHound | Wed 18th December 2013 - 10:53 am

Nick Clegg has written about the need to reform the House of Lords in today’s Mirror in response to the latest mini-scandal concerning Lord Hanningfield. When I read the first sentence, my blood pressure hit the roof:

What’s worse than a greedy Lord clocking in to work for just a few minutes a day to pocket hundreds of pounds from the taxpayer?

What’s worse is when the same peer – caught red handed as a result of the Mirror’s excellent investigative efforts – shrugs their shoulders and tells you: everybody’s doing it.

But there are lots of good ones who work really hard, …

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NewsHound

Mary Reid sums up Liberal Democrats’ year on The Week at Westminster

By NewsHound | Sat 14th December 2013 - 12:14 pm

BBC Parliament’s The Week at Westminster had a review of 2013, with Conservative Home’s Andrew Gimson, Labour tweeter and blogger Paul Richards and our own Mary Reid.

What was striking was that none of the three of them were particularly optimistic. Richards felt that Labour were being too complacent and there isn’t enough in the way of bold policy ideas to seal the deal with the electorate. He was also none too chuffed with his party’s actions over Syria. Gimson was candid that the Tories found it difficult to persuade people that they were on their side.

Mary gave a very balanced …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Davies MEP – Why I’m backing Verhofstadt for Commission President

By NewsHound | Thu 12th December 2013 - 6:16 pm

Over on his blog, North West MEP Chris Davies explains why he is backing former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt to continue leading the ALDE grouping and be the group’s nominee for president of the European Commission.

Over to Chris to explain why:

He is a man who can provide the European Union with a degree of leadership and inspiration that it has been missing.

I am seriously concerned that Europe is stagnating while countries elsewhere gain greater economic influence.  Verhofstadt is absolutely right in saying that we must break free of our self-imposed shackles and move forward.

National governments should retain control

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron – Only a fool could trust in the ‘oversight’ provided by the intelligence committee

By NewsHound | Thu 12th December 2013 - 9:18 am

Over on Politics.co.uk party president Tim Farron has a piece on the ramifications of the story that has dominated much of the past year: the extent of the powers held by states to snoop on our communications. Tim sets out some thoughts about the oversight of these systems, which he thinks are presently inadequate.

Here’s an excerpt:

Our democratic process is built upon a system of checks and balances. Those who exercise power over the individual are held to account by others. For all the faults of the Westminster bubble (and there are many), the quiet revolution in the way select committees

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: European fisheries vote shows that EU can be reformed

By NewsHound | Wed 11th December 2013 - 9:07 am

Tim Farron has been writing in the Huffington Post about a crucial vote in the EU to reform the way in which fish are caught. This might seem tedious to many of us, but this has positive, practical implications for anyone who catches fish and anyone who likes to eat it.

Tim first set out the issues with the current situation:

The situation right now is drastic. Job losses within the UK fishing sector continue to rise as fish stocks fall, and it tends to be the small-scale fishermen who are hardest hit. The total amount of fish caught in the EU

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NewsHound

LibLink: Stephen Tall: The agony of the Tory modernisers

By NewsHound | Sun 8th December 2013 - 3:29 pm

In his latest column on Conservative Home, Stephen Tall feels the pain of those who wanted a modern, inclusive Conservative Party. When they had their way, the Tories actually did quite well. When the nasty lot take hold, their poll ratings plummet and they don’t appeal beyond their hardcore supporters. And that’s not enough to win a general election, especially when the Liberal Democrats are keen to woo those who would once have been called the “wets.”

I’ve written here before about the Lib Dems’ 17.5 per cent strategy, the optimistic end of the party’s share-of-the-vote forecast for 2015. To our

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 16 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Caron Lindsay – It’s time to get real people involved in the indyref debate

By NewsHound | Sat 7th December 2013 - 8:15 am

LDV’s Co-Editor, Caron Lindsay, has written for The Herald newspaper about 2014’s Scottish independence referendum. She’s a bit bored with the same old politicians serving up the same old rehearsed lines. She wants real people to start having their say:

Let’s have the next debate around the kitchen table with some ordinary people. Take my friends Anne and Stevie as an example. The referendum is on her birthday. If we become independent, that’ll happen on his. She’s pro UK, he’s pro independence, albeit with a slightly different and quirkier vision than that presented by the SNP. They care deeply

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NewsHound

Times: “The increasingly confident and powerful Mr Clegg”

By NewsHound | Wed 4th December 2013 - 4:45 pm

Anyone who watched Prime Minister’s Question Time or listens to Call Clegg regularly will know that Nick Clegg is often in relaxed, confident mood these days. He answers questions with ease and authenticity.

Writing in today’s Times, Alice Thomson writes about the “increasingly confident and powerful Mr Clegg” in a way that makes you think she doesn’t really like it.

But the bizarre paradox is that the more scandals they have overcome and the worse the Lib Dems do in the polls, the more confident their high command has become.

She doesn’t really take into account that national polls don’t really mean that …

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NewsHound

Jo Swinson talks to Cosmopolitan about the gender pay gap and equality in the workplace

By NewsHound | Tue 3rd December 2013 - 9:35 am

We’ve heard a lot from Nick Clegg and Jo Swinson over the past week on one great inequality in the workplace – the rules around leave after a baby is born. Thanks to the Liberal Democrats in government, parents will soon be able to share all but the first two weeks of a year of parental leave. For me, that policy sums up what we are about. It’s liberal, it’s about allowing people to make choices that are right for them and it does sing to both stronger economy and fairer society mantras.

However, that’s not the only issue of equality …

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NewsHound

Liblink: Lynne Featherstone on breaking the link between violence against women and HIV

By NewsHound | Mon 2nd December 2013 - 8:27 am

The UK is supporting HIV intervention in Malawi and others must help to break this tragic cycle, say Lynne Featherstone and Annie Lennox in the Guardian.

Tears may dry in seconds. Bruises may disappear in days – and scars might eventually fade. But of all the devastating consequences of violence against women and girls, there is one lasting impact that cannot be hidden underneath clothing or concealed behind a forced smile. In sub-Saharan Africa, every minute of every day a woman becomes infected with HIV, adding to the tragic and persistent spread of the HIV/Aids epidemic.

The brutal fact is that …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Willie Rennie – St Andrew’s Day: A proud Scot making the positive case for remaining within the UK

By NewsHound | Sat 30th November 2013 - 7:55 pm

Over at the Endeavour Public Affairs blog, Leader of the Scottish Lib Dems Willie Rennie marks St Andrew’s Day, 30th November, by reflecting on the importance of Scottish identity … within the UK. Here’s an excerpt:

It is because I am a proud Scot that I want to see a constitutional settlement which gives us the best chance to get on in life. 2011 was the first year where the number of people aged 65 and over was higher than the number of those aged under 15. When it comes to providing stability for pensions, welfare and our economy

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NewsHound

Baroness Alison Suttie’s maiden speech

By NewsHound | Fri 29th November 2013 - 12:52 pm

It is a tradition for LDV to bring its readers copies of our new MPs’ and Peers’ first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Last Wednesday, Baroness Suttie made her maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on human rights. Her words are reproduced below.

Baroness Suttie (LD): My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Alton, on securing this timely and important debate. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Finkelstein on his …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron – EU: The Liberal Democrats as the ‘Party of In’

By NewsHound | Sat 23rd November 2013 - 12:35 pm

With 6 months to the European elections, the Lib Dems are stepping up the party’s drive to be identified as the most pro-European party – in contrast to previous campaigns when the party has tended to downplay its pro-Europeanism.

There are two reasons. First, the Lib Dems believe we’re better off in. Secondly, the party’s private polling shows that those who aren’t current Lib Dem voters, but would consider voting for us, are generally pro-European and like the party’s stance.

Party president Tim Farron published an article on the Huffington Post yesterday making the Lib Dem case. Here’s an excerpt:

Of course,

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NewsHound

Clegg and Farron champion green issues after Cameron appears to backtrack

By NewsHound | Thu 21st November 2013 - 5:12 pm

Of course he hasn’t said this publicly, but the Telegraph reports that David Cameron has stated privately that he wants to “get rid of all the green crap” from Coalition policies.

Nick Clegg and Tim Farron are both quoted as robustly defending green measures and the jobs they create. Nick says that he doesn’t think the headlines portray David Cameron’s views.

On Call Clegg, Nick said:

Well, if I may use the word, it isn’t all crap, of course. It is worth remembering that a lot of the policies that we’ve got support tens of thousands of people who work in a

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NewsHound

Mark Williams champions a Private Members Bill on the emotional neglect of children

By NewsHound | Tue 19th November 2013 - 2:39 pm

mark williamsMark Williams, Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion, is promoting The Child Maltreatment Private Member’s Bill, which will have its second reading this Friday. It aims to make emotional neglect of children a criminal offence. The current law on child neglect, which has been in place for 80 years, only covers physical harm to children.

The Express carries the story with this quote from Mark:

The law, as it is, fails to protect some of the most vulnerable children throughout England and Wales. If the Government is really serious about safeguarding children, the law has to be changed.

The Bill has drawn support from Action for Children. Their research has shown that nearly 70% of police officers believe that the legislation should include emotional neglect.

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NewsHound

Sir Menzies Campbell: “I may be retiring from the House of Commons, but I have no intention of retiring from politics”

By NewsHound | Wed 13th November 2013 - 7:00 pm

Menzies CampbellWe try not to link to the Daily Mail if we can possibly avoid it, but on this occasion we reckon it’s worth it on this occasion. They have a video interview with former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell MP from the courtyard at Buckingham Palace. He was there to be admitted to the Order of the Companions of Honour at an investiture yesterday.

He speaks about how good it was to receive the honour from Prince William who had studied at St Andrew’s University where he’s the Chancellor. He said that the Prince had talked to him about the University’s 600th anniversary celebrations which he had helped to launch. Apparently they also discussed how Prince George was sleeping more.

It’s a very special day….nothing quite prepares you for the dignity and the splendour of the ceremony.

You can see the whole thing here and a lovely picture of Sir Menzies and his wife Elspeth after the ceremony on the British Monarchy’s Flickr site here.

Sir Menzies ended his special day by giving an interview to Scotland Tonight in which he talked about his life in politics and his retirement. You can watch it here – it’s the first item on the programme.

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NewsHound

Danny Alexander’s father criticises the Bedroom Tax

By NewsHound | Mon 11th November 2013 - 12:06 pm

From the Independent:

The father of Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has launched a scathing attack on the “bedroom tax” in the annual report of a Scottish housing association.

Di Alexander is the chair of the Lochaber Housing Association and in its annual report, he has this to say about the Bedroom Tax and other aspects of welfare reform:

The Association has also been facing up to the considerable challenges presented by Welfare Reform changes. The first of these to be implemented – the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ – is particularly unfair in that it penalises both our tenants and ourselves for

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NewsHound

Baroness Cathy Bakewell’s maiden speech

By NewsHound | Thu 7th November 2013 - 8:18 am

It is a tradition for LDV to bring its readers copies of our new MPs’ and Peers’ first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Last Thursday, Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville made her maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on housing. Her words are reproduced below.

My Lords, it is a privilege to be able to address your Lordships’ House on a subject so dear to my heart, and I thank the noble Baroness, …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 3 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron – Why has the plight of the overcrowded and the homeless not been prioritised?

By NewsHound | Wed 6th November 2013 - 11:45 am

In a hard-hitting article in today’s Guardian, Tim Farron hits out at David Cameron’s “lack of humanity in face of basic need” on housing while outlining what Liberal Democrats want to see done to make sure that there are enough affordable houses for people.

He outlines the scale of the problem first:

The real divide in modern Britain is not between strivers and shirkers, but between those who were lucky enough to buy homes before 1997 and those who were not. Unless we tackle the housing crisis, homelessness is going to become a mainstream problem. Working families can’t afford to buy, and

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NewsHound

Lord Brian Paddick’s maiden speech

By NewsHound | Wed 6th November 2013 - 8:20 am

It is a tradition for LDV to bring its readers copies of our new MPs’ and Peers’ first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. Last Tuesday, Lord Paddick made his maiden speech in the House of Lords during the debate on the Second Reading of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill. His words are reproduced below.

My Lords, I think the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede, was confusing my name with my current state of mind. …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 2 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Steve Webb – Issue of pension charges has been neglected for too long

By NewsHound | Wed 30th October 2013 - 8:48 am

The BBC reports on Steve Webb’s planned “full frontal assault” on the charges that pensions companies levy for management of pensions funds:

Pensions minister Steve Webb told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast that the move was just the start of a much broader review into pensions charges.

He said: “We do have powers to cap a much wider range of charges. The document today looks at banning something called active member discounts. That means when you leave a firm they jack your charges up – we don’t think this is right so we will probably ban those.”

Steve has written an article …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Stephen Tall – Lib Dems recontaminating the Tory brand? No, the Tories do it to themselves

By NewsHound | Wed 23rd October 2013 - 4:16 pm

Stephen Tall - resized - small - H&SOur Stephen Tall has been moonlighting over at Conservative Home again, this time pointing out that it’s the Liberal Democrats who are the good cops in the Coalition and that may not be the case in any future deal with Labour. Some of his comments will controversial amongst Liberal Democrats…

We’re lucky to be in coalition with the Conservatives:

Yet we are lucky and here’s why: we disagree with the Conservatives enough to protect our own identity within Coalition. The politicos call it differentiation. Most people would recognise it as “good cop, bad cop” politics. And it suits us Lib Dems down to the ground. It means that on many of the issues that matter most to the voters – especially tax-cuts for the low-paid and safeguarding the NHS, according to this YouGov finding– the Lib Dems are considered to have been a civilising influence on the Conservatives.

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Posted in LibLink and Op-eds | Tagged and | 11 Comments
NewsHound

Farron, Huppert & Sanders say: Time to take a tough stand on biofuels

By NewsHound | Wed 16th October 2013 - 11:10 am

Biofuel BusIt’s World Food Day and Tim Farron, Julian Huppert and Adrian Sanders have joined Zac Goldsmith, Caroline Lucas and other MPs in a joint letter to the Guardian to condemn EU policy on biofuels.

Taking land out of food production – which is increasingly happening in Africa – pushes up global food prices, while bringing new land into production leads to drained wetlands, ploughed-up grasslands and razed forests.

The writers are concerned that first generation biofuels, crops like wheat and oilseed rape, are being used for transport fuel. These crops are an essential food for a rapidly expanding global population. The letter gives a blunt message to the European Union, which is currently debating the cap on biofuel use in transport fuel.

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