Author Archives: NewsHound

NewsHound

LibLink: Menzies Campbell – Europe is the glass jaw of the Tory party. It has taken a hit

By NewsHound | Mon 5th November 2012 - 4:54 pm

In the Independent, Sir Menzies Campbell gives his perspective on the latest Tory shenanighans on Europe:

Europe is the glass jaw of the Tory party. Some of their dissidents have been heard to say that Mr Cameron should behave like Margaret Thatcher. But it was her “No, no, no” to Europe which was the straw that

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NewsHound

LibLink: Vince Cable – making the transition to low carbon economy

By NewsHound | Mon 5th November 2012 - 3:53 pm

Writing in the Telegraph, Vince Cable says that a green economy is fully compatible with a competitive and efficient manufacturing industry:

Green sectors have outperformed the wider economy since the economic downturn. The UK share

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NewsHound

LibLink: Sarah Ludford MEP – ‘US Presidential Election – What will be the impact on EU/US relations?’

By NewsHound | Sat 3rd November 2012 - 5:25 pm

Over at the Endeavours Public Affairs blog, Lib Dem MEP for London Sarah Ludford looks at this Tuesday’s presidential election and what it means for Europe. Here’s an excerpt:

The Obama administration has in any case been perceived as not very interested in Europe, except as a source of financial and economic worry, with a strategic shift of US focus to the Asia-Pacific region distracting from relations with the EU. It’s a sobering cause for reflection that neither candidate has talked about Europe in their campaigns, even in the televised debate devoted to foreign affairs.

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NewsHound

‘Tories snub Lib Dems over Trident future’

By NewsHound | Mon 29th October 2012 - 10:07 am

From today’s Guardian:

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, will reignite the argument over Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent on Monday when he announces a further multimillion-pound contract for a new generation of nuclear missile submarines, making it clear he plans to press ahead with a Trident replacement.

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NewsHound

Lib Dems raised concerns about withholding Prince Charles’ letters

By NewsHound | Mon 22nd October 2012 - 10:23 am

From the Sunday Times (£):

A CABINET rift over the Conservatives’ decision to block the release of letters from the Prince of Wales to government ministers has raised fresh questions about the government’s openness agenda.

Liberal Democrats have claimed that not allowing the letters to be released could breach the spirit of freedom of

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NewsHound

LibLink: Ed Davey – Our £1,000 giveaways will help with rising bills

By NewsHound | Sun 21st October 2012 - 1:15 pm

On the off-chance that Voice readers missed The Sun’s interview with Lib Dem energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey on Friday, here’s an excerpt:

In a grim admission to millions of hard-pressed Brits, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said ministers cannot reverse rising global fuel prices. But he insisted that they can help to ease the blow for millions of households hit by the global trend. In a bid to placate furious consumers, he today

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NewsHound

Osborne: Employees, exchange your rights for shares

By NewsHound | Mon 8th October 2012 - 3:36 pm

In the Tory hothouse of Birmingham, this has to be the most delicate flower which has bloomed so far. Politicshome.com reports:

Employees could be able to buy shares in the companies they work for if they give up their employment rights, George Osborne has said.

In a speech to the Conservative party conference the Chancellor announced a consultation on the plan, which could also see the shares being immune to capital gains tax.

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NewsHound

Spotted outside Labour Conference – a reminder of how Lib Dems cut taxes for poorest

By NewsHound | Wed 3rd October 2012 - 1:23 pm

Labour conference delegates and Manchester residents will see an interesting sight as they pass the Conference Centre.

With many thanks to Liberal Democrat Kat Dadswell for tweeting the picture, the Voice brings to you:

 

After Ed Miliband’s “one nation” speech yesterday, the Liberal Democrats fight back with a graphic demonstration of how much income tax has been cut for those earning the minimum wage. Struggling low paid workers handed £1018 to Alistair Darling in 2010. Their tax bill will be just £573 in 2013.

This is part of the Fairer …

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NewsHound

LibLink: Stephen Tall – The Lib Dem Conference That Didn’t Bark

By NewsHound | Wed 26th September 2012 - 7:55 am

Over at the Huffington Post, LibDemVoice co-editor Stephen Tall assesses the party conference. His verdict? What’s significant is what hasn’t happened. Here’s how his piece starts:

On the face of it this has been a pretty tepid, even dull, Lib Dem conference. No rows, cock-ups or defeats. But it’s probably been the most important party gathering since the special conference in May 2010 when the party dipped its hand in blood to sign the Coalition Agreement.

Why do I say that? Because of what didn’t happen. Political commentators, especially of the left (yes, I’m looking at you, Polly) – the folk whose

…

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NewsHound

LibLink: Ming Campbell – Afghanistan: We have to see it through till 2014

By NewsHound | Mon 24th September 2012 - 5:00 pm

Former Lib Dem leader Sir Ming Campbell has taken to the pages of the Independent to set out his views on British troop involvement in Afghanistan, and the need to be realistic about the speed at which British troops can be withdrawn from Helmand. Here’s an excerpt:

It is naive to suggest that, even if we began today, we could be out by Christmas. Withdrawal of nearly 10,000 troops and their equipment is not achieved by waving a wand. During any withdrawal, forces are at their most vulnerable. What additional protection measures would be required? What equipment would we be able

…

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NewsHound

Featherstone: 0.7% aid target will stick

By NewsHound | Sun 23rd September 2012 - 8:55 am

Interviewed by The Independent, new International Development minister Lynne Featherstone stood by the target of giving 0.7% of GDP in international aid, and moreover setting that target in law:

Featherstone is adamant that the 0.7 per cent figure will be enshrined in law “as soon as we can get a legislative slot” and that Greening is “absolutely committed to it”.

Having been shuffled out of an equalities role in the UK, she will instead by taking up many equalities issues internationally in her new department:

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NewsHound

LibLink: David Laws – No more “nothing for nothing” politics

By NewsHound | Sat 22nd September 2012 - 3:20 pm

Over at The Sun newspaper, the Lib Dems’ new schools minister David Laws has written an article arguing that the Coalition parties are keen to put the summer’s tensions behind them and to to-boot the Government in the weeks to come. Here’s an excerpt:

Some people even started to speculate that the Coalition would end. Or that we would be in for years of drift and dither. But I believe that both leaders have looked over the edge of the Coalition cliff — and neither likes what he sees. A break-up of the Coalition would be an economic disaster. And the

…

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NewsHound

LibLink: Paul Burstow – Why is the Coalition failing to tackle our broken care system?

By NewsHound | Sat 22nd September 2012 - 11:45 am

Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow, until the reshuffle the Lib Dem health minister, has written an article in today’s Telegraph with a plea for the Coalition to ‘be bold and take the decisions needed to fix our broken social care system’. Here are a couple of excerpts, first looking at why Paul fears the reforms he pushed in government might not go anywhere:

The Coalition understood the “urgent need for reform”, and has been wrestling with these issues since May 2010. In July the White Paper I drafted was published. It tackles much that is wrong with care. Widely welcomed, it

…

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NewsHound

Vince Cable: No to Tory plans for further spending cuts

By NewsHound | Fri 21st September 2012 - 8:25 am

Posted in News | Tagged and | 16 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Mark Pack – The Home Office has got it wrong about online snooping ‘safeguards’

By NewsHound | Thu 20th September 2012 - 9:25 am

The Voice’s Mark Pack has taken to the (web)pages of The Spectator to dispute the case put by Home Office Minister James Brokenshire about the Draft Communications Data Bill:

What do you do if a regulator has failed? Leave them unreformed and instead give them greater powers? That is the line Home Office Minister James Brokenshire is arguing.

The regulator in question is the Interception of Communications Commissioner and the powers relate to online monitoring. For the Draft Communications Data Bill would not only give the government far more scope to monitor what we do online, but Brokenshire also argues we should be

…

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NewsHound

FFAC chair Greenland acknowledges LDV accreditation article was “unhelpful”

By NewsHound | Wed 19th September 2012 - 10:55 am

The chair of the Federal Finance and Administration Committee, Duncan Greenland has written an article in the Conference edition of Liberator on the highly controversial issue of Conference accreditation. A Liberal Democrat Voice poll in June, consistent with every other test of party opinion on the issue, showed that a majority of respondents opposed the system, which requires conference attendees to undergo police checks.

Mr Greenland felt that the Liberator coverage on the issue had been “misleading” and wanted to put the record straight about the process by which accreditation was approved. He stated that FFAC had become involved after …

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NewsHound

Riddle, mystery, enigma – Grant Shapps and the internet

By NewsHound | Mon 10th September 2012 - 10:24 am

The Guardian has been busy digging into three internet episodes revolving around the new Conservative party chairman, Grant Shapps:

1. Google blacklists websites run by family of Grant Shapps

Google has blacklisted a network of websites run by the family of the newly promoted Tory party co-chairman, Grant Shapps, for breaching its rules on copyright infringement. A string of at least 19 sites run by the wife, sister or 75-year-old mother of Shapp

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NewsHound

LibLink: John Pugh MP – With hindsight, Cable’s deficit reduction plan looks better than Osborne’s

By NewsHound | Tue 21st August 2012 - 1:20 pm

Lib Dem MP John Pugh has written a thoughtful, balanced piece on economic policy for the New Statesman website. He freely admits he has voted for every part of George Osborne’s economic strategy brought before the Commons (“I did not know if it would achieve all its major objectives but I certainly did not know it would not”) but says the facts are plain: it’s not working. Here’s an excerpt:

Yes, jobs are being created in the private sector, unemployment is not moving upwards, the deficit is down, our export markets are engaging with the emerging economies, inflation is low and

…

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NewsHound

LibLink: Mark Pack – Give people power over the sharing of their data

By NewsHound | Thu 16th August 2012 - 12:25 pm

The Voice‘s Mark Pack has been writing about individual electoral registration for the IPPR’s website:

If I were to move, I would be quite happy to let the gas company, the TV Licensing authority, the local council’s tax department, the electoral registration services and many others know, all in one go.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Mark Pack – Voters get to choose how they think

By NewsHound | Wed 15th August 2012 - 11:50 am

Over on the Biteback Publishing website, The Voice‘s Mark Pack has been writing about how voters make their decisions:

One of the findings increasingly coming out from research into how we make decisions is that often we make a decision using our subconscious and only afterwards come up with a justification for it. Our subconscious decides, our conscious rationalises.

It is an intriguing – and in some ways, scary – finding, that is best illustrated by a clever experiment where people were shown photographs of two similar, but different, people and asked to pick which one was the most attractive. They were then given that photograph and asked to explain the reason for their decision.

Except that what the researchers did was try out a bit of sleight of hand, so sometimes the person was actually given the photograph of the other person.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tavish Scott – Clegg’s stance gives Lib Dems new hope

By NewsHound | Mon 13th August 2012 - 9:15 am

Former Scottish Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott has an article in The Scotsman this week looking at what he terms hyperbolically Nick Clegg’s “ripping up the UK government’s coalition agreement” after the Tories’ decision to block Lords reform:

For the party, this was a bitter pill to swallow. Many people were attracted to the Lib Dems because of constitutional reform. A Scottish Parliament, a Bill of Rights and elections using fairer voting systems are the DNA of most Lib Dems.

Getting rid of the unelected House of Lords is part of the package of moving Britain into the 21st century. Reform has

…

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tom Papworth – why Norman Baker is my Liberal Hero

By NewsHound | Sat 4th August 2012 - 11:20 am

Over at liberal think-tank CentreForum’s blog, Tom Papworth has nominated Lib Dem MP and transport minister Norman Baker for the honorary title ‘Liberal Hero of the Week’. The reason? Norman’s libertarian stance on the proposal that wearng cycle helmets should be compulsory:

I think anybody who rides a bike without wearing a helmet is taking an enormous risk. I’ve fallen off my bike in the past and had my helmet (rather than my head) bounce off the tarmac. I also know that cycling can be very dangerous; the chair of one the neighbouring constituency party was killed a few years back

…

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NewsHound

LibLink: Chris Rennard – Failure to deliver Lords reform will not threaten the coalition

By NewsHound | Sat 4th August 2012 - 9:05 am

Over at the Guardian, former Lib Dem chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard has argued that the fall of Lords reform would be a blow to Lib Dems, but that it was not the key aspect of the coalition agreement to voters:

Failure to deliver on the most important aspects of constitutional reform would, of course, be a bitter blow to Liberal Democrats. But the party will also recognise that the constitutional package within the coalition agreement was not the most important aspect of it to the voters, nor was it nearly as important as the state of the economy as

…

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NewsHound

LibLink: Mark Pack on how party leaders should be speaking this autumn

By NewsHound | Tue 31st July 2012 - 4:50 pm

Over on the Biteback Publishing website, The Voice’s Mark Pack has been penning some words of advice for those planning party leader conference speeches:

Technological change has frequently altered the speaking styles of political orators. The exaggerated hand movements and booming voice projections of the pre-electrical era were essential for being seen and heard. As film footage spread, that approach increasingly came over as histrionic. The total distanced travelled by the hands and arms of politicians during their speeches therefore declined, thanks to the adoption of a more homely, direct style. Radio and TV both brought about their own changes, followed by the impact of the teleprompter in the 1980s…

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NewsHound

Romney – a candidate with a serious wimp problem

By NewsHound | Mon 30th July 2012 - 11:53 am

The reaction in the US to Mitt Romney’s gaffes in London has been widespread and damning.

Perhaps, the most emblematic media condemnation of Romney is a Newsweek cover story which asks if Romney is a wimp:

ROMNEY: THE WIMP FACTOR – IS HE JUST TOO INSECURE TO BE PRESIDENT – by Michael Tomasky

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NewsHound

Nick Clegg meets Ban Ki Moon

By NewsHound | Sat 28th July 2012 - 3:50 pm

Yesterday Nick Clegg had a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. He said:

Secretary General Ban and I discussed the encouraging progress that has been made in talks in New York towards agreeing an Arms Trade Treaty.

The UK has led the way in arguing for a treaty to raise standards across the world and to reduce the impact the illicit arms industry has on countless millions of people. Global rules govern the sale of everything from bananas to endangered species to weapons of mass destruction,

…

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NewsHound

Jeremy Hunt rings in a gaffe-free Olympics

By NewsHound | Fri 27th July 2012 - 3:55 pm

Have you recently suffered an accident which wasn’t your fault?

Were you nonchalantly strolling past the Culture Secretary on HMS Belfast one sunny morning when you were abruptly hit on the head by a heavy brass bell?

If so, please contact “Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne” as a matter of urgency….

Jeremy Hunt is 97.

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NewsHound

Bogdanor: Cable has exposed the Liberal Democrat divide

By NewsHound | Mon 23rd July 2012 - 4:38 pm

Over on Comment is free, Vernon Bogdanor says that Vince Cable’s ‘hat in leadership ring throw’ reflects a fundamental divide within the party:

Cable’s intervention, therefore, should not be seen solely in personal terms, but as bringing to the surface the conflict between the social and the economic Liberals in his party. No one can predict how this conflict will be resolved. But it is probably safe to assume that the instincts of most Lib Dems remain on the left, and that they continue to regard Labour as a competitor,

…

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NewsHound

Leaked letter shows Osborne is pressurising Ed Davey on green energy

By NewsHound | Mon 23rd July 2012 - 12:23 pm

Jim Pickard in the FT carries details of a leaked letter from Gerge Osborne to Ed Davey laying down the law on crucial green energy issues. The letter includes the demand that Davey sends a “strong signal” that the government is in favour of “unabated gas”:

…I have been handed a letter from the chancellor to Ed Davey, energy secretary, which suggests that the wind subsidies are only

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NewsHound

Clegg: ‘I’d form a new coalition with Ed Miliband’

By NewsHound | Mon 23rd July 2012 - 10:23 am

There was an interesting interview with Nick Clegg in yesterday’s Sunday People:

Nick Clegg would form a coalition with Ed Miliband in the next government, he told The People.

The Lib Dem leader could even stay on as Deputy PM if a general election ­replaced one governing party with another.

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