Author Archives: Nick T

Nick T

LibLink: Lynne Featherstone in Zambia, part 2

By Nick T | Thu 29th November 2012 - 9:18 am

Lib Dem international development minister Lynne Featherstone is currently on a trip to the southern African country of Zambia. Her first visit was to the capital, Lusaka, and to a UK-funded empowerment programme for adolescent girls.

Over to Lynne:

This programme is supporting more than 1,500 of the most vulnerable girls, providing safe spaces and mentoring to help build their confidence and life skills.

The girls I met told me they were learning about their rights as women. One 16 year old girl said she now felt more confident to say no to unwanted approaches from boys. Another said the girls now

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Nick T

The Justice and Security Bill goes back to the Lords with last-minute amendments

By Nick T | Mon 19th November 2012 - 1:24 pm

One of the government’s most controversial bills of this session – the Justice and Security Bill – goes back before the House of Lords today for Report Stage consideration. The second part of the Bill makes provision for civil cases to be heard in a ‘closed material procedure‘, with one side (and the public) barred from hearing the evidence of the other if a judge deems that it would be damaging to national security if it became public.

Liberal Democrat members, of course, overwhelmingly passed

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Posted in News | Tagged | 19 Comments
Nick T

Chris Heaton-Harris and the Tories’ discipline problem

By Nick T | Thu 15th November 2012 - 9:40 am

One of the increasingly notable (and in many ways remarkable) things about the coalition is the stark difference in the levels of party unity and discipline in the two parties. While Liberal Democrat MPs and members have committed – often selflessly – to the implementation of the coalition agreement, the same cannot be said of the increasingly fractious Conservative party. Old wounds over Europe have clearly not healed, and the salt of equal marriage and the prime minister’s commitment that this should be the greenest government ever are making many on the Conservative fringes increasingly uncomfortable.

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Nick T

The living wage is fine as far as it goes, but the Lib Dems can be bolder

By Nick T | Mon 5th November 2012 - 8:00 pm

There we have it. Miliband’s big idea: the living wage. Only it is not Miliband’s idea. And more to the point it is not a very big idea. In fact, it seems to me extraordinarily unambitious.

We presently have a system in which somebody earning the national minimum wage – which for most is not sufficient to live in any comfort even before tax – and working full time pays income tax at 20% on about a third of their salary, national insurance, VAT on the goods they buy, fuel duty and road tax on the car that gets them to …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 16 Comments
Nick T

“Standing up for the people of Britain by standing tall in our own backyard” – Clegg on Europe

By Nick T | Thu 1st November 2012 - 5:57 pm

Nick Clegg made a speech earlier today setting out his vision for the role the UK should play in the European Union.

You can read what Clegg had to say (minus, unfortunately, the “party political” segment which has been removed by the Cabinet Office) below, and what the Voice’s Stephen Tall thinks he should have said here. And here’s his fellow co-editor Mark Pack’s take on the speech.

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Posted in Europe / International | Tagged | 12 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Matthew Oakeshott – Osborne isn’t working – how do we rebuild the economy?

By Nick T | Thu 1st November 2012 - 2:48 pm

Writing in the Guardian, Lord (Matthew) Oakeshott is typically forthright in his assessment of the chancellor’s performance and the changes he would like to see:

What we need instead is a far bolder plan for economic recovery. I call it plan C for construction and capital investment rather than plan B but we can all agree at least, on this side of the debate, that Osborne isn’t working. We must be mad to treat our record low long-term interest rates as some sort of virility symbol, instead of an unrepeatable opportunity to finance desperately needed investment.

The pension funds and insurance companies

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 8 Comments
Nick T

Justice and Security Bill: some recommended reading

By Nick T | Thu 11th October 2012 - 1:39 pm

As the distinction in much of the news media between straight reporting and comment becomes increasingly less clear, and in-depth analysis is replaced by instant comment, reliable, neutral and well-informed analysis of big policy issues becomes more difficult to lay one’s hands on. That is even more true when it comes to Parliamentary business.

Unbeknown to many outside the Parliamentary Estate (or at least to me until fairly recently!) are the documents produced by the Commons and Lords libraries. All the documents produced …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
Nick T

LibLink: Guy Verhofstadt MEP – Crisis shows why EU must renew its vows

By Nick T | Thu 11th October 2012 - 9:24 am

Writing in the Financial Times, liberal leader in the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt and his colleague and fellow contributor to this new book Daniel Cohn-Bendit (leader of the Greens) set out their vision for the future of the EU after the Eurozone crisis:

The crisis has shown up the key weaknesses in economic governance at EU level where a monetary policy was introduced without a parallel fiscal policy. Unlike other global currencies such as the

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Nick T

There are no easy choices when it comes to reducing the deficit

By Nick T | Tue 9th October 2012 - 12:11 pm

George Osborne’s statement that senior Liberal Democrats have agreed in principle to a further £10bn of welfare cuts in 2015-16 has prompted a strong reaction from many party members and a TV rebuttal from Nick Clegg.

But the issue is one worth pausing on, for it raises some important questions for Liberal Democrats.

Starting at the beginning, the first question raised is how we wish to close the deficit that will now exist in the first years of the next Parliament following the Chancellor’s decision in last year’s autumn statement to push back the period in which the

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 30 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Richard Reeves on One Nationism

By Nick T | Thu 4th October 2012 - 4:37 pm

Over at the CentreForum blog, Richard Reeves, former Director of Strategy to Nick Clegg and now associate director of CentreForum, has a post discussing the “political movement that now sweeps all before it”: One Nationism.

Here’s an extract:

All the main political parties have now made their claim to be the true heirs to “One Nation” politics.

The Conservatives were ahead of the game by a century or so, of course. But in more recent years, non Tory leaders have turned to One Nationism to pitch for the centre ground: though none as audaciously as Ed Miliband this week.

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
Nick T

“14 out of 15 trades unions fail the transparency test”

By Nick T | Thu 4th October 2012 - 2:55 pm

News reaches the Voice from Unlock Democracy, who have been carrying out investigations into the practices of the 15 unions currently affiliated to the Labour party. The research shows that 14 out of 15 trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party fail to explain to their prospective new members about affiliation and inform them that they have a legal right to opt out on their membership forms and website.

The top lines from the research are as follows:

  • Just 1 union (UNISON) mentions affiliating to the Labour Party.
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Nick T

Manchester Labour’s “crazy” decision to spend £425k on pop concert

By Nick T | Thu 4th October 2012 - 10:56 am

The decision of Manchester’s Labour-run Council to spend almost half a million pounds on a pop concert starring Alicia Keys has been branded “crazy” by Lib Dems in the city. Manchester City Council is currently in the process of making £296m of cuts to its budget over a two year period – cuts condemned as “ideological” by the Labour Council Leader Sir Richard Leese.

Here’s what the Lib Dem group leader on Manchester City Council, Simon Wheale, had to say about this use of scarce public money:

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Nick T

The Justice and Security Bill: an important point that’s been missed

By Nick T | Thu 27th September 2012 - 1:06 pm

The debate at this year’s Liberal Democrat conference on the Justice and Security Bill was one of the highest quality of the whole conference, particularly on the part of those supporting the motion (and opposing the party leadership’s amendment). It was no wonder after hearing those fantastic speeches that the motion was passed so overwhelmingly.

It is true that significant amendments have been made to the Bill by Liberal Democrats since it first arrived in Parliament. It has undoubtedly been improved. One of the main improvements was to remove inquests from the scope of the closed material procedures that are at …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 7 Comments
Nick T

David Heath: I’m doing all I can on live exports

By Nick T | Thu 27th September 2012 - 11:15 am

A couple of weeks ago on these pages I called on the new Lib Dem minister for farming, David Heath, to ban the live exports of farm animals following a terrible event at the last port to allow the practice, Ramsgate.

Since I wrote that post, another port – Ipswich – has begun live exports.

One of the fantastic things about Liberal Democrat conference, particularly now we’re a party of government, is the ability to question our MPs about the issues important to us. And that’s exactly what I did when I spotted David Heath.

He made it clear he is no fan …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Nick T

David Laws and Vicky Pryce on the crisis in Europe

By Nick T | Thu 27th September 2012 - 9:28 am

Monday evening at conference saw a discussion between David Laws, economist Vicky Pryce and Simon Tilford from the Centre for European Reform entitled “Europe: from crisis to growth”.

This wasn’t an event that one went to if one needed cheering up: the overall message coming from all the speakers was a downbeat one, even if they all picked out some small shards of positivity.

Simon Tilford began by giving some reasons why on the face of it the past month has been a rather good one in the ongoing saga of the Eurozone crisis: we had the announcement from Mario Draghi, head …

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged , and | 19 Comments
Nick T

David Laws’ speech to conference: no soaring rhetoric but a clear determination to deliver

By Nick T | Sat 22nd September 2012 - 3:42 pm

David Laws is no Tim Farron. It’s hard to imagine him rousing the passions of the party faithful as the party president does.

But what he lacks in crowd-pleasing rhetoric he makes up for in two things: first, a clear passion for education and secondly a seemingly effortless grasp of his brief.

There was little in the way of new announcements in his speech to conference, though he did confirm that the pupil premium would rise to £900 per pupil in 2013 and that by 2015 the Lib Dem pledge to dedicate a total of £2.5bn a year to the policy will …

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Nick T

One of David Heath’s first decisions should be to ban live farm animal exports

By Nick T | Thu 13th September 2012 - 8:27 pm

Tens of thousands of live animals – mainly cows and sheep – are exported, alive, from the UK every year. Sometimes the animals have relatively short journeys – veal calves off to live in intolerable conditions in France or Italy, for example – and sometimes they are exported much further – to Russia, or beyond. Most of the animals are ready for slaughter, and will be killed as soon as they arrive in their destination countries.

This often involves unimaginably long journeys for hundreds of animals at a time, crammed into lorries. Animal welfare campaigners have long condemned the practice as …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 5 Comments
Nick T

LDVideo: Chris Davies MEP – MEPs’ kindness will kill the fishing industry

By Nick T | Thu 13th September 2012 - 10:31 am

Speaking at a plenary session of the European Parliament yesterday, Chris Davies, European Parliament member for the North West, urged his fellow MEPs to look beyond the short term to vote to restore fish stocks:

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Nick T

Jo Swinson appointed new Equalities Minister

By Nick T | Tue 11th September 2012 - 8:41 pm

In an email to party members this evening, Nick Clegg delivered the following news:

Tonight I’ve been hosting a reception to celebrate the Coalition’s commitment to equal marriage, an issue I’m very proud that Liberal Democrats are delivering on in Government.

I was delighted to be joined at the reception by Jo Swinson MP – who I’m pleased to announce is our new Equalities Minister, in addition to her role as Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs.

This news, I suspect, will be greeted with a very deep sigh of relief by many Lib Dems, not only because it means a Lib Dem …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 19 Comments
Nick T

The reshuffle – who’s in and who’s out

By Nick T | Tue 4th September 2012 - 6:30 pm

We’re still updating our reshuffle live blog but now we’re starting to get a clearer picture of who’s in and who’s out, here’s a list of Lib Dems who we know are members of the government. This list will be updated when further appointments are confirmed.

Cabinet

With no changes to Lib Dems at Cabinet level, the line-up remains:

– Nick Clegg – Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council

– Danny Alexander – Chief Secretary to the Treasury

– Michael Moore – Secretary of State for Scotland

– Vince Cable – Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills

– Ed Davey – …

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Posted in News | 15 Comments
Nick T

A response to Peter Kellner: yes the Lib Dems need a narrative, but they should reject the tired left/right division

By Nick T | Thu 30th August 2012 - 12:24 pm

Peter Kellner, the President of polling company YouGov, has written a typically thought-provoking piece analysing – using recent polling figures – what he believes to be the reasons behind the Lib Dems’ current difficulties, and suggesting some solutions to overcome them.

The piece is a good one, and worth reading in full, though I have some reservations, not primarily about his conclusions but about how he reaches them. One of the key polls he cites asks voters to place themselves, the main parties and the party leaders on a spectrum of right to left. And while voters overall place both …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 34 Comments
Nick T

Clegg starts Public Negotiation: Phase 2

By Nick T | Thu 30th August 2012 - 9:21 am

Public Negotiation: Phase 1 kicked off on Thursday 26 January 2012. It ended on 21 March 2012. The deputy prime minister’s first demand was to allow the lowest paid to keep more of the money they earn next year by implementing more quickly the Lib Dem policy of raising the income tax personal allowance to £10,000. However badly the budget was presented, Clegg’s stance can only be judged a success: the policy was implemented significantly more quickly, with the threshold being raised by £1100 next April.

Yesterday, Clegg signalled the start of Phase 2, and it’s tax …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 22 Comments
Nick T

Boundary reforms must now be dropped, but Lib Dems should avoid petulance over Lords retreat

By Nick T | Sat 4th August 2012 - 2:24 pm

The news that David Cameron has been unable to persuade Conservative MPs to support the House of Lords Reform Bill is disappointing, but unsurprising given the scale of the threatened rebellion. Liberal Democrats must accept this situation – frustrating as it is – and concentrate on what is now important: the party’s response.

Anger will be the natural reaction of many in the party – and understandably so. Liberal Democrat MPs have walked through the Aye Lobby more times than they care to remember to support Conservative measures from the coalition agreement. Yet when it comes to doing their bit …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 31 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Norman Lamb – How can we bring consumer law into the digital age?

By Nick T | Thu 2nd August 2012 - 12:53 pm

Norman LambWriting for Which? in his capacity as consumer affairs minister, here’s what Norman Lamb had to say about his hopes for improving consumer protection:

I want to develop a single, comprehensive set of shoppers’ rights, which sets out in plain English, all the rights and remedies that consumers have. The intention is to drive up business standards and help you settle issues much more quickly and easily.

At the start of July we launched a consultation seeking your views on proposals to strengthen the law on goods, services, and digital

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Stephen Williams – Where now for Lords reform

By Nick T | Thu 12th July 2012 - 5:45 pm

Over on his blog, Stephen Williams, Lib Dem MP for Bristol West, has penned his thought’s on Tuesday’s Lords reform result. Here’s a sample:

First the positive bit.  A vote of 462 – 124 in favour of a Bill that has a second chamber predominately elected by a proportional voting system is a major step forward.  This confirms the fact that there is a substantial majority of MPs who favour radical House of Lords reform.

But…the Bill may now be tripped up by petty party political games in the Commons.  The Bill will get nowhere without a timetable for consideration of 60

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 29 Comments
Nick T

Lords reform – what exactly have the ‘rebels’ achieved?

By Nick T | Thu 12th July 2012 - 2:28 pm

Here’s what I tweeted on Tuesday evening:

And I think this is still a pertinent question. There is one thing that the rebels clearly achieved, and that it to make Lords reform less likely to happen. Lords reform is by no means dead, but it would have been more likely had the programme motion been passed. But given that much of the rebellion wasn’t driven by hard principle (given …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 21 Comments
Nick T

LDVideo: Anne Marie Morris demonstrates her unique Commons speaking technique

By Nick T | Thu 12th July 2012 - 8:50 am

No comment required:

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Posted in YouTube | Tagged | 10 Comments
Nick T

Norman Lamb: “I am incredibly excited by the prospect of establishing a mutual Post Office”

By Nick T | Thu 5th July 2012 - 5:54 pm

Following a consultation, the government has announced its intention to press ahead with proposals to mutualise Post Offices. Here’s what Norman Lamb – who has previously set out his vision for the future of Post Offices here on the Voice – had to say, as reported by the Independent:

Post Office branches are relied upon by communities the length and breadth of the country.

That is why we have committed £1.34 billion of funding to the business and why there will be no closure programme under this Government. I want to make sure that the Post Office becomes a successful

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Nick T

The banking system was rotten to the core – Clegg

By Nick T | Wed 4th July 2012 - 5:56 pm

The deputy prime minister is interviewed in tonight’s Evening Standard, where he speaks about, among other things, his attitude towards the British banking system. Here’s an excerpt:

“There is no doubt in my mind that what we saw, what peaked in 2008, was rotten to the core,” he says. “We cannot afford as a society, as a country, to have a banking system that is like a cuckoo in the nest, which pushes everything else out and which causes huge costs for millions of  British taxpayers.

“Yet again the lid has been lifted on a culture which appeared to be permissive of

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Nick T

LibLink: Jeremy Browne and Edward McMillan-Scott – The EU can amplify our human rights pledge

By Nick T | Thu 28th June 2012 - 6:56 pm

Jeremy Browne, Lib Dem Foreign Office minister, and Edward McMillan-Scott MEP have a joint article in today’s Independent on how the European Union is helping to uphold the human rights if people around the world.

Here’s a sample:

Human rights, poverty reduction and the upholding of international law are essential to – and indivisible from – both EU and UK foreign policy objectives. We cannot achieve long term security and prosperity unless we uphold our values, and recognise that unchecked human rights abuses represent a threat to our own national security.

Although we must promote our values with conviction and determination, it must

…

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Posted in LibLink and News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
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