Author Archives: Nick T

Nick T

LDVideo: Clegg takes to his soapbox on Lords reform

By Nick T | Thu 28th June 2012 - 10:54 am

To mark yesterday’s publication of the House of Lords Reform Bill, Nick Clegg delivered a “soapbox” speech in Victoria Tower Gardens, behind the Palace of Westminster, to urge legislators to get on and pass the Bill, which, he says “comes down to a very simple principle: democracy”. Here’s the video:

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Nick T

A longer read for the weekend: Baroness Kramer on how to kick-start economic growth

By Nick T | Sun 24th June 2012 - 9:45 am

Earlier this week, Baroness (Susan) Kramer moved a debate in the House of Lords on UK economic growth. Her speech covered the  background to the UK’s current economic position as well as a number of suggestions of what the government can do to encourage growth. Below is a slightly edited version of the speech.

In 2010 the coalition inherited a badly damaged economy. The previous Government had built their boom on the back of tax revenues pumped up by false profits from the banks – …

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Nick T

LibLink: Paddy Ashdown – Rio+20 is a chance to secure our children’s future

By Nick T | Thu 21st June 2012 - 6:54 pm

Paddy Ashdown – former Lib Dem leader and president of Unicef UK – has an op-ed in the Daily Telegraph setting out his hopes for the Rio+20 summit currently taking. Here’s a sample:

Right now an estimated 18 million people in the Sahel region of west Africa are being affected by drought, disease and conflict. In 2011 alone UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s organisation, responded to 292 humanitarian emergencies in 80 countries. Children are always the most vulnerable in such situations, typically representing over 50 per cent of those affected by disasters, equating to between 100 and 175 million children each

…

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Nick T

Shareholders to get binding votes on executive pay under Cable reforms

By Nick T | Thu 21st June 2012 - 3:24 pm

First up, here’s what Vince had to say in the House of Commons yesterday:

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Nick T

Andrew George joins Stephen Fry in support of returning the Parthenon Marbles

By Nick T | Thu 14th June 2012 - 3:57 pm

Andrew George, Lib Dem MP for St Ives, joined forces with Stephen Fry earlier this week to debate the return of the Parthenon Marbles. The Marbles – which were stolen acquired from Athens by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century – comprise a large portion of the Parthenon Frieze, the metopes and some of the statues that formed the east and west pediments of the building and are currently displayed in the British Museum. Most of the remaining marbles are displayed in the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.

Here’s how …

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Nick T

LibLink: David Laws – The Orange Book eight years on

By Nick T | Thu 14th June 2012 - 1:26 pm

The latest issue of the Economic Affairs journal contains a number of articles discussing the effect The Orange Book has had on the Liberal Democrats since its publication eight years ago. There are articles by CentreForum’s Tim Leunig and by one of the editors of the book, Paul Marshall, among others. Perhaps most noteworthy, though, is a piece by David Laws – the other of the book’s editors – which “examines the origins and impact of the book, and sketches out future directions for policy development”.

Here are some …

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Nick T

“I’d love to write a novel” – Clegg

By Nick T | Thu 7th June 2012 - 1:54 pm

Nick Clegg has revealed in an interview his “shockingly bad” attempts at penning a novel on his early twenties. But, as the Independent reports, despite this early setback the deputy prime minister is still keen to try again, spurred on by his passion for fiction:

In an interview with Easy Living magazine, he said he would still like to write one in the “simple, sparse” style of the double Booker Prize winning JM Coetzee.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he reads “religiously, every night before I go to sleep”.

He added: “I cannot think of a time when I have finished the

…

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Nick T

LDVideo: Tessa Munt in fit of giggles in Commons as Minister sits on Davey

By Nick T | Thu 17th May 2012 - 4:28 pm

Well, there’s a headline you probably didn’t expect to read today.

Enjoy.

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Nick T

“We are not planning for a Greek exit” – Verhofstadt

By Nick T | Thu 17th May 2012 - 2:56 pm

Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister and current leader of the liberal grouping in the European Parliament, has rejected talk of Greece leaving the Eurozone. Interviewed on the Today programme yesterday he said such speculation was aimed more at influencing public opinion in Greece than it was a prediction of the likely outcome of the current crisis.

Verhofstadt warned that the EU is unprepared for the contagion that would result from a Greek Euro exit, saying:

There is no real firewall around the other economies of Europe, we only have a few fire extinguishers.

You can hear the full interview – including …

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Nick T

Lib Dem policy goes viral as ‘Reform Section 5’ campaign launched

By Nick T | Thu 17th May 2012 - 11:27 am

“It might surprise you to know that under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, the police and the courts can decide if you or someone else might feel insulted” states the front page of the Reform Section 5 campaign’s website.

But this is unlikely to surprise many Lib Dems, who just a couple of months ago, at our Spring Conference in Gateshead, passed a motion (pdf) which called for the right to free speech to be protected through:

 The repeal of section 5 of the Public Order Act, which creates ‘non-intentional’ speech offences, and the removal of ‘insulting’ from Section 4A of

…

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Nick T

The Weekend Debate: Bank of England independence – an economic success story or a well-intentioned failure?

By Nick T | Sat 12th May 2012 - 12:27 pm

Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

The Liberal Democrat 1997 manifesto said the following:

We will turn the Bank of England into a UK Reserve Bank, free from political interference. We will charge the Bank with keeping inflation low and make it accountable to Parliament for achieving this goal.

Of course after Labour’s landslide victory in that election, one of Gordon Brown’s first decisions as chancellor was to borrow this Lib Dem policy and essentially transfer responsibility for monetary policy to the Bank of England.

Most Labour politicians look back on …

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Nick T

LDVideo: Boris Johnson – Night Mayor

By Nick T | Thu 19th April 2012 - 7:26 pm

Here’s a really rather good (but unofficial) video promoting Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick:

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Nick T

Lib Dems fight to halt extradition of Richard O’Dwyer

By Nick T | Thu 19th April 2012 - 3:57 pm

The Guardian reports:

The government is coming under cross-party pressure from within the coalition to stay the extradition of a Sheffield student who founded a website sharing links to TV shows, and to review the US extradition treaty in the wake of the case.

The home secretary Theresa May signed an extradition order last month for Richard O’Dwyer, 23, to be sent to the US, where he faces 10 years in high-security prison.

O’Dwyer founded a website, tvshack.net, in 2007, which acted as a search engine for people to find out where they could watch and in some cases download popular TV shows, typically programmes

…

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Nick T

“We’re doing good things which I believe will last” – Nick Clegg on Today

By Nick T | Thu 19th April 2012 - 1:54 pm

Nick Clegg joined James Naughtie yesterday in the Today studio, for the programme’s first of a series of interviews with the party leaders before the elections on 3 May.

Clegg talked about the budget, the compromises of coalition and Lib Dem electoral prospects, among other things.

You can listen to the interview in full over on the Today website here, or read a transcript of the interview below.

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Nick T

Richard Reeves to step down as Clegg’s director of strategy

By Nick T | Thu 19th April 2012 - 8:23 am

Nick Clegg’s director of strategy, Richard Reeves, has announced that he is to step down from his position after deciding to move to the United States. Reeves was instrumental in establishing the 5-year Lib Dem coalition strategy, which he famously represented on a graph plotting “Lib Dem identity” and “Government unity and strength” over the five year parliament. Reeves was previously the head of Demos, and biographer of John Stuart Mill.

The Guardian has more on Reeves’ resignation:

and his American-born wife, Erica, are to depart for the US in the summer to give a chance for

…

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Nick T

LDVideo: David Laws on the future of the coalition

By Nick T | Thu 29th March 2012 - 2:54 pm

A couple of weeks ago, David Laws made a speech at Parliament, organised by the Bright Blue think tank, expressing his views on the future of the coalition.

You can watch the very interesting speech below, or on YouTube here.

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Nick T

LDVideo: The sage of Twickenham returns

By Nick T | Sun 25th March 2012 - 2:15 pm

During the financial crisis and subsequent recession it was rare to go a weekend without Vince Cable making an appearance on our television screens to share his thoughts on the latest piece of economic news. Since entering government as the coalition’s business secretary, though, he has kept his wider economic analysis more-or-less to himself, concentrating instead on the important task of running his department.

However, yesterday Vince took part in a talk at the Guardian Open Weekend, in conversation with Observer columnist Will Hutton, where he shared his thoughts on the economic recovery, the future of the banking system and – perhaps most interestingly – on changing the focus of the Bank of England. Here are the highlights, courtesy of the Guardian:

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Nick T

Budget 2012: A strategic and substantive victory for the Lib Dems

By Nick T | Thu 22nd March 2012 - 2:56 pm

The big substantive Liberal Democrat wins that yesterday’s budget contained will be familiar to regular readers by now. However, I think it’s worth highlighting once again just how big a deal the increase in the personal allowance announced yesterday is. A rise of £1100 is unprecedented, and means that those earning the minimum wage and working full time will have seen their income tax bills halved because of the Liberal Democrats.

Before Nick Clegg intervened publicly back in February to call for the threshold to be raised faster than previously anticipated, the working assumption was that it would be raised by …

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Nick T

The Independent: Lib Dems should “make peace and move on” from the Health Bill

By Nick T | Sat 10th March 2012 - 10:54 am

Today’s Independent has an editorial with some friendly advice for the Liberal Democrats. The paper praises the party for the amendments made to the Health and Social Care Bill but advises that it’s now time to “make peace and move on” by passing the Bill:

With the Liberal Democrats in Gateshead for their spring conference this weekend, NHS reform is once again top of the agenda. And once again grassroots activists are threatening rebellion. It would be a mistake – for the NHS and also for the party. It is time to make peace and move on.

Last year’s conference was a

…

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Nick T

Why Conservatives should back Lords reform

By Nick T | Thu 1st March 2012 - 7:56 am

There’s a certain irony to the fact that it seems to regularly escape the memory of Conservatives that they failed to win the general election in 2010. Despite Tory MPs having to negotiate on a daily basis with a rival political party just to keep their leader in Number 10, no substantive discussion seems to happen among Conservatives about why, in such conducive conditions, they failed to win a majority.

One reason for that is perhaps that would involve some rather uncomfortable truths.

It’s a fairly uncontroversial statement to say that more Britons share the fundamental beliefs of the Conservative party than …

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Nick T

The Tories’ tax problem

By Nick T | Thu 23rd February 2012 - 3:27 pm

Cut national insurance contributions, says Liam Fox. Cut capital gains tax, says David Davis. Give tax breaks to married couples, say Stewart Jackson and others. Back wealth taxes to cut taxes on “families and employers”, says Tim Montgomerie.

There’s no shortage of Tories suggesting taxes for George Osborne to cut when he delivers his budget. Yet it’s the junior party in the coalition which is leading the debate on tax cuts – a curious situation which no doubt shocks Tories as much as it infuriates them.

The reasons the Lib Dems are leading the way on tax cuts are straightforward. First, the …

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Nick T

Laws and Hughes up pressure on Osborne to cut taxes for the lowest paid

By Nick T | Mon 20th February 2012 - 4:58 pm

Yesterday’s Independent on Sunday carried the news that Lib Dem MPs will this week step up the pressure on the chancellor, George Osborne, to move more quickly to raise the income tax personal allowance to £10,000. This follows Nick Clegg’s speech last month in which he called publicly for the upcoming budget to go faster than previously anticipated in implementing the policy.

As the Indy reports:

This week the Lib Dems will mount a major campaign to persuade Mr Osborne to agree to a sharp increase in the allowance. Simon Hughes, the party’s deputy leader, has urged all members and

…

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Nick T

Government win in human rights tuition fee challenge

By Nick T | Fri 17th February 2012 - 5:25 pm

The government has today successfully defended a judicial review challenge against its decision to raise university tuition fees. The case – brought by two students – alleged that the government acted in breach of various provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and/or numerous pieces of equality legislation when it took the decision to raise fees. On virtually all the points, the government – and Vince Cable as the relevant minister – were vindicated, both on the substantive effects of the policy and the way in which the decision was made.

You can read the full judgment in the case here (pdf) (and it’s worth doing so to read the arguments of both sides and conclusions of the judge on the likely impact of the tuition fee increase). However, here are a few key from Lord Justice Elias’s judgment:

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Nick T

Chris Huhne makes first court appearance – but what happens next?

By Nick T | Fri 17th February 2012 - 12:14 pm

Chris Huhne made his first appearance before a court yesterday, following the news earlier this month that the Crown Prosecution Service planned to bring charges against him and Vicky Pryce, his former wife, of perverting the course of justice.

Given the vague way in which matters of legal procedure are reported in the media, there now follows a bit more detail about the procedure of what will happen next and when we might expect the case to be resolved, for those not familiar with the details of the system.

The offence of perverting the course of justice is one which can only …

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Nick T

LibLink: Brian Paddick – London is increasingly policed by force not consent – thanks to its mayors

By Nick T | Thu 9th February 2012 - 5:17 pm

Lib Dem London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick had a piece on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website yesterday on what is his undoubtedly his strongest issue – policing.

Here’s a sample of what Brian had to say:

Crime will be far more of an issue in the election of the mayor of London on 3 May because the mayor is now the elected crime and police commissioner for London. He alone sets police priorities and the police budget and he alone will hold the Metropolitan police to account. Far from holding the police to account, to date

…

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Nick T

Lib Dem members launch group opposed to the coalition

By Nick T | Thu 9th February 2012 - 1:51 pm

The Guadian reports:

The first Liberal Democrat group openly opposed to the coalition is to be launched at the party’s spring conference in Gateshead next month with a warning that the coalition has been a political disaster for the party, as well as a denial of its radical roots.

Launching a website on Wednesday, the group Liberal Left said it hoped to become a rallying point for members opposed to the coalition and those who see the party as a centre-left organisation seeking common cause with Labour, Greens and others on the centre left.

One

…

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Nick T

Clegg signals new approach to individual voter registration in evidence to Parliamentary committee

By Nick T | Thu 9th February 2012 - 11:28 am

Last Wednesday saw Nick Clegg return for his annual appearance before the  House of Lords Constitution Committee. As one might expect, a whole range of political reform and constitutional issues were covered in the 90 minute evidence session.

One interesting answer by the Deputy Prime Minister which caught my attention was on the topic of individual voter registration. Asked by Liberal Democrat peer Lord (Chris) Rennard whether there would be changes to the government approach as set out in the earlier White Paper when we see legislation on the issue soon, Clegg had the following to say:

The short answer is ‘yes’….We

…

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Nick T

The IFS’s verdict on Labour’s deficit argument is in – and it ain’t pretty

By Nick T | Thu 2nd February 2012 - 3:54 pm

Yesterday saw the publication by the Institute for Fiscal Studies of its annual ‘Green Budget‘, which looks generally at the global and UK economic picture as well providing a detailed analysis of the UK fiscal position. The document is fascinating in many respects, but one of the parts that particularly caught my eye was its devastating take on Labour’s position on the deficit.

Since the Autumn Statement, when figures for the estimated size of the budget deficit in future years were revised upwards, one of Labour’s main arguments has been that by cutting “too far, too fast” the government has …

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Nick T

Clegg’s call for income tax cuts for the low paid is welcome, but will the Tories back him?

By Nick T | Thu 26th January 2012 - 6:54 pm

It’s no secret that Nick Clegg is personally very committed to the Lib Dem – and now coalition – policy of raising the threshold at which people begin to pay income tax. It was one of the first big policies he argued for at conference after becoming leader, and was a key message during the 2010 election campaign. Clegg returned to the theme this morning, though, to call for the implementation of the policy to be speeded up.

Personally I think this intervention is very welcome, not only because the policy is a good and liberal thing in itself, but …

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Nick T

LibLink: Mark Pack – Nick Clegg turns media weakness into media strength

By Nick T | Thu 26th January 2012 - 4:23 pm

Over on his work blog, The Voice’s Mark Pack has a post looking at the extremely successful media coverage of Nick Clegg’s speech on tax policy, with the party using the fact that much of the media is still surprised by the idiosyncracies of coalition to our advantage.

Here’s a sample:

In a country used to coalitions, having the leader of one of the parties in government talk about their tax priorities a few months ahead of a budget would not be remarkable. With the British media habits, it had made today’s speech from Nick Clegg to banner news – lead story

…

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Recent Comments

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