Author Archives: The Voice

The Voice

The 12 Op-Eds of Christmas (Day 1)

By The Voice | Fri 25th December 2009 - 11:30 am

Throughout the festive season, LDV is offering our readers a load of repeats another chance to read the 12 most popular opinion articles which have appeared on the blog since 1st January, 2009. The twelfth most-read LDV op-ed of 2009 was by LDV co-editor Mark Pack, and originally appeared on 17th October …

Jan Moir: the dilemma for the PCC (and what you should say in your complaint)

The reaction to Jan Moir’s article about the death of Stephen Gately has been widespread and swift. Fuelled primarily by Twitter and Facebook, complaints about homophobia flooded in on the Daily Mail, …

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The Voice

Merry Christmas!

By The Voice | Fri 25th December 2009 - 8:00 am

Christmas tree

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The Voice

Mandelson forcing universities to offer less choice and lower standards, says Stephen Williams

By The Voice | Thu 24th December 2009 - 5:20 pm

As early Christmas presents go, Lord (Peter) Mandelson’s announcement of swingeing cuts to university budgets lacked something of the festive spirit – the BBC reports:

The government is to cut university funding in England by a total of £398m for 2010-11 compared with this year, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said. In a letter to the Higher Education Funding Council For England (Hefce), he also asks universities to protect quality and access to higher education. His letter confirms efficiency savings of £180m and £83m – and makes a further £135m budget reduction.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Universities Secretary, Stephen Williams, is none too …

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The Voice

Wonderful news for Matthew Taylor and his family

By The Voice | Wed 23rd December 2009 - 2:40 pm

Six months ago, Lib Dem Voice reported the sad news that Arthur Taylor, – the two year-old son of Lib Dem MP Matthew Taylor and his wife, Vicky – had been admitted to hospital after doctors found a tumour on his spine.

So it was wonderful to read on Alex Lanson Folkes’s blog that Arthur has been given the provisional all-clear by doctors. Here’s an excerpt from the Taylors’ statement:

The last eight months have seemed an eternity of worry, and especially the last two weeks. The operation brought a real risk of disabling Arthur, and we could not

…

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The Voice

Anna Werrin RIP

By The Voice | Tue 22nd December 2009 - 10:20 am

Sad news has reached us here at Lib Dem Voice that Anna Werrin has died of a stroke. Anna worked for Charles Kennedy from the year he was first elected to Parliament, in 1983, and was his head of office until his resignation as leader of the Lib Dems in 2006. She was subsequently Chris Huhne’s campaign manager in his second leadership attempt, in 2007.

On behalf of the team here at LDV, we extend our sympathies to Anna’s family and friends. Please do leave your tributes in the comments thread, below.

Posted in Obituaries | Tagged and | 6 Comments
The Voice

Televised election leaders’ debates are on

By The Voice | Mon 21st December 2009 - 5:30 pm

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The Voice

Inequality: the enemy between us?

By The Voice | Mon 21st December 2009 - 11:21 am

Richard Wilkinson, Emeritus Professor of Social Epidemiology, University of Nottingham and Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology, University of York are co-directors of The Equality Trust and authors of The Spirit Level: why more equal societies almost always do better.

There is a long list of health and social problems which tend to be more common in the most deprived areas of Britain. The further down the social ladder you look, the more common they are. The pattern is the same whether you look at heart disease, homicides, teenage birth rates, mental illness, imprisonment, drug abuse, obesity, poor maths and literacy scores, low levels of child wellbeing, life expectancy or infant mortality.

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The Voice

And it’s a happy Christmas from the Clegg family

By The Voice | Thu 17th December 2009 - 7:15 am

The Guardian yesterday compared the Christmas cards sent by the leaders of the three main parties, so we thought LDV readers might appreciate seeing the festive missive despatched from Nick Clegg to those lucky people who’re on his list.

Here’s what The Times had to say about it:

…Nick Clegg’s card, drawn by his sons Antonio, 8, and Alberto, 5, is so touchy-feely and brimming with yuletide innocence that one worries it might be delivered with a free hug from the Liberal Democrat leader himself. Is the man in the red suit Uncle Vince?

“It is very sweet,” mused Mr

…

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The Voice

Tory councillor in Cheltenham defects to Lib Dems

By The Voice | Wed 16th December 2009 - 6:57 pm

Here’s the text of the press release from Cheltenham Lib Dems just received by The Voice – the defection of Cllr Klara Sudbury from the Tories to Lib Dems takes Cheltenham Borough council from Lib Dem minority control (20 seats out of 40) to overall control.

County and borough councillor Klara Sudbury has today announced that she will be leaving the Conservative Party and applying to join the Liberal Democrats and the party’s groups on the county and borough councils.

Statement by county and district councillor Klara Sudbury

‘After giving it a great deal of thought I have decided to leave

…

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The Voice

Cambridge Liberal Democrats publish shortlist

By The Voice | Wed 16th December 2009 - 11:09 am

The Cambridge shortlist has now been published and, contrary to some hopes and wild rumours, has neither a nationally known media star nor a BME candidate on it. But then no member of either group applied.

The candidates are all councillors or former councillors in Cambridge but, as the Returning Officer said, “The shortlisting committee was chosen by the local party and I was happy that it was a balanced one. They drew up the selection criteria and marked the applications independently of each other. We only came together to total the scores, the result of which showed that the 6 shortlisted candidates were well clear of the rest”.

This press release has gone to the local paper giving a mini biog of the six:

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The Voice

McNally on the Lords: “it must not just be for the rich, the retired and the London-based”

By The Voice | Tue 15th December 2009 - 12:05 am

The report of the Senior Salaries Review Body was being debated in the House of Lords on Monday – and Lord (Tom) McNally was there to put forward the Lib Dem view that, whatever and however peers are paid, the second chamber becomes a place which is open to those of all backgrounds, income and geography.

The Lib Dems in the Lords submitted evidence to the SSRB which recommended replacing the attendance allowances and all office costs with a single taxable daily rate with a specific receipted overnight allowance. The SSRB recommended reforms to expenses which would see the introduction of a £200 daily allowance and £140 overnight receipted expense while the Lords is sitting.

Here’s Lord McNally’s speech to the Lords in full:

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The Voice

Cornwall Tories accused of ‘duping’ charity choir

By The Voice | Mon 14th December 2009 - 3:00 pm

ThisIsCornwall.co.uk has the story:

THE Conservatives in Cornwall have been accused of “duping” a charity choir into taking part in a Christmas carol concert to raise money for party funds as well as charity.

Members of Helston Chamber Choir were delighted when they were invited to sing at the festive event next week, believing it was in aid of St Julia’s Hospice, part of Cornwall Hospice Care, alone.

However, when promised publicity material and tickets failed to materialise, and then e-mails went unanswered, the choir investigated further – only to find the concert was also raising cash for the Tories in West

…

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The Voice

Top Tory Jeremy Hunt repays £9,500 over expenses claim breach

By The Voice | Sat 12th December 2009 - 10:25 am

Last month, the Economist labelled the Tories’ shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, one to watch … a label which also clearly applies to his expenses claims, as the BBC reports:

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt is to repay more than £9,500 after he was found to have breached expenses rules. The Standards and Privileges Committee criticised an arrangement under which the MP’s agent stayed rent-free in his taxpayer subsidised home. … If the MP “promptly” repaid half of his claims on the home over the period, it said he would face no further action. …

The matter was referred to

…

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The Voice

Tory post ‘a misjudgement’ by Gen Sir Richard Dannatt

By The Voice | Fri 11th December 2009 - 1:50 pm

From the BBC:

Ex-Army chief Gen Sir Richard Dannatt has been accused of a “terrifying misjudgement” in agreeing while still in service to be a Tory adviser.

Former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown told BBC Question Time the appointment had broken the convention that the military should be independent of politics…

Lord Ashdown said the UK had to face up to the fact that it would be engaged in Afghanistan for “decades”, while stressing that this did not mean troops would be based there indefinitely.

“It takes a lot of time to build peace after war,” he said.

Full story here, and video here:

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The Voice

Government U-turn leaves thrifty families better off

By The Voice | Wed 9th December 2009 - 6:23 pm

The Government has today made a U-turn over plans that could have left low-income families £780 a year worse off, after proposed changes to the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) were scrapped in today’s Pre-Budget Report. 

Quietly sneaked into the last budget was a proposal to claw back £780 per year from some of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable families. At present, households receiving Local Housing Allowance (LHA) are able to keep up to £15 a week if they choose a home with a rent below the maximum payment for their area.  Alistair Darling’s plan to prevent this excess payment being kept by the claimant would have left some of those already struggling to get by on the lowest incomes losing up to 20% of their income. The Government’s own figures calculated that around 300,000 of the poorest households would have been affected.

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The Voice

Vince on the PBR: “A good budget for bingo and boilers but not much else.”

By The Voice | Wed 9th December 2009 - 3:00 pm

Here’s what Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable had to say in response to Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report statement:

What we needed was a national economic plan but what we got was a weak party manifesto. There has never been a deficit like this and we need a sensible and coherent plan for dealing with it.

“The Chancellor has ducked the hard choices on spending and cuts. Instead of facing up to reality he has chosen to move the goal posts by relying on fanciful growth forecasts. He could have used this Budget to make the tax system fairer. But

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The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Wed 9th December 2009 - 10:20 am

The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.

You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are three simple ways:

1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

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The Voice

Telegraph: Dr David Kelly – doctors start legal action for new inquest

By The Voice | Sun 6th December 2009 - 10:45 am

Two years ago, Lib Dem MP Norman Baker, in an article published here on Lib Dem Voice, asserted that the questions arising from the death of UN weapons inspector David Kelly – the BBC’s source for the allegations that the Government ‘sexed-up’ its WMD dossier in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq – would not go away because

… the conclusion that the government weapons inspector took his own life cannot be supported by the facts. … The key question was this: why was Dr Kelly’s such a strange death? Nobody would commit suicide that way, but nor can

…

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The Voice

Huhne on Goldsmith and Ashcroft: “the Tories see taxes as something that happens to other people”

By The Voice | Fri 4th December 2009 - 4:45 pm

Today’s Daily Telegraph reports that top Tory Zac Goldsmith did not tell his local party about his ‘non-dom’ tax status when he was selected to fight the next election against the Lib Dems’ Susan Kramer:

Earlier this week announced that he planned to surrender his “non-dom” status from the current tax year to defuse the row. However yesterday it was disclosed that Mr Goldsmith had failed to tell his local Conservative party about his tax status when he was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park in March 2007. Pamela Fleming, the association’s chairman, said the matter was not

…

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The Voice

Jackie Ballard appointed to Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority despite Tory opposition

By The Voice | Thu 3rd December 2009 - 2:20 pm

The House of Commons has confirmed the appointment of Jackie Ballard, Lib Dem MP for Taunton from 1997-2001 – and who stood to be leader in 1999 – to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, the new independent body which will now run the MPs’ expenses system. Jackie is currently Chief Executive of the RNID.

Her appointment was not without its controversy, though, as the BBC reports:

… some Tory MPs were unhappy at the choice of Jackie Ballard saying she had not been an MP for long enough. … Sir Nicholas Winterton and Christopher Chope … tried to introduce an

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The Voice

Chris Huhne tackles Alan Johnson on Gary McKinnon’s extradition

By The Voice | Tue 1st December 2009 - 8:50 pm

Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne today tackled Alan Johnson on his decision not to block the extradition of computer hacker Gary McKinnon, who has Asperger’s, to the USA. (LDV has previously covered the story here). Their exchange in the Commons today is recorded below, and you can read the whole Hansard debate here:

Chris Huhne (Eastleigh) (LD): The Home Secretary is, in my view, a very brave man to hold out his judgment of the medical condition—and of the worsening of the medical condition—of Gary McKinnon against such overwhelming evidence as we have heard from the hon.

…

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The Voice

Is the Lib Dem Euro-referendum pledge being dropped?

By The Voice | Tue 1st December 2009 - 4:00 pm

Cast your mind back a few months.  Speaking on Radio 4’s You and Yours on 16th June 2009, Nick Clegg said the only way to sort out the debate about EU membership was to

have a referendum in this country as to whether we stay in or stay out. What we can’t do is to be a member of a club and complain about it from the sidelines.

That Lib Dem policy may have started out as a quick fix to get the party out of a tight spot, but as it’s been stuck to, it’s become seen by many as …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged and | 25 Comments
The Voice

Nick: Government’s Afghanistan strategy “over-ambitious in aim and under-resourced in practice”

By The Voice | Mon 30th November 2009 - 5:05 pm

The BBC reports:

Gordon Brown has confirmed he will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, taking the total UK deployment to over 10,000. He told MPs all conditions had now been met to send the extra personnel and that eight other countries had also offered additional troops. The UK force level will reach 9,500 but special forces takes this to 10,000.

Here in full is Nick Clegg’s Commons response to Gordon Brown’s announcement:

I join the Prime Minister in recognising and commending the enormously impressive work of our Armed Forces in Afghanistan.
Finally it has become mainstream to talk about the need for a big shift in strategy in Afghanistan.
When I first questioned the effectiveness of our action there six months ago and called for this kind of step-change, I was told it was unpatriotic.
The Prime Minister’s change of tone since then has been dramatic – and welcome.
The Liberal Democrat approach to Afghanistan has always been simple: we should do this properly or not at all.

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The Voice

What’s up on Act?

By The Voice | Sun 29th November 2009 - 5:10 pm

Chris Keating and Sam Lockwood from party HQ have penned this piece about the new LibDem social network, Act:

Launching a social network is a step into the unknown. If you open something up to thousands of Lib Dems then, frankly, the only thing you can expect is surprises. So those of us in Party HQ who are involved with online campaigning and supporter relations have been watching closely to see the kind of use people are making of this new tool.

We’ve been pleased so far with the response – over a thousand people registered in the last week, and a …

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The Voice

‘Who is Nick Clegg?’ Find out tonight on BBC Radio 4

By The Voice | Sun 29th November 2009 - 3:45 pm

Tune in tonight, at 10.45 pm, to BBC Radio 4 if you want to hear Richard Reeves, director of think-tank Demos, examine the intellectual and philosophical roots of the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, for the Political Roots: Liberals programme. (Repeated on Wednesday 2 December at 8.45 pm).

The BBC website carries an article by Richard, trailing the programme, with some revealing quotes from Nick – for example on the influence of his family in creating a liberal within him:

There was something floating around in my family … I don’t want to make it sound as earnest as it does –

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The Voice

If Vince is the Lib Dems’ Santa Claus, what does that make the rest of our MPs?

By The Voice | Sat 28th November 2009 - 4:30 pm

That’s the contention of Helen Rumbelow in Friday’s Times:

… although Vince has been popping up in the news all week — as the Liberal Democrat’s Shadow chancellor has for most weeks of the year — soon his duties will take him to the North Pole. The children’s gain is our loss.

For in our turbulent times, Vince brings comfort. We put our collective faith in Vince. I see it everywhere. In worrisome debates on the credit crunch TV presenters get tetchy with bankers, party leaders and financial gurus. But as soon as the bald grandpa with the twinkly current

…

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The Voice

Lib Dem councillor expelled over police assault charges

By The Voice | Sat 28th November 2009 - 1:06 am

The Isle of Wight County Press Online has the story:

CALLS for a Lib Dem councillor to be expelled from the party have been made this week after it was confirmed 37-year-old Adrian Whittaker was alleged to have assaulted a police officer.

The calls were led by Island party vice-president and long-serving executive member Morris Barton. He said: “It is the party’s AGM tomorrow (Friday) and I am sure Cllr Whittaker’s expulsion from the party will be on the agenda. If Cllr Whittaker is subsequently convicted we will be seeking the Isle of Wight Council leader Cllr David Pugh’s support for

…

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Posted in Local government | Tagged | 11 Comments
The Voice

Vince: it’s time for a National Infrastructure Bank

By The Voice | Wed 25th November 2009 - 10:50 pm

The Lib Dems’ shadow chancellor Vince Cable today set out proposals today for the creation of what he’s calling a National Infrastructure Bank.

In his speech to The Civilisation Congress, Vince notes that the UK has one of the worst records for infrastructure investment in the OECD, and argues that there is an urgent need for a step change in infrastructure investment to create jobs, increase competitiveness, promote environmental sustainability and boost the economic recovery. Creating a National Infrastructure Bank – leveraging public funds with private capital – is, he argues, the best vehicle, especially with private investors beginning again to look for good long-term opportunities.

Here are the highlights from Vince’s speech:

There is a big hole in the prospects of the long-term recovery and growth of the UK economy.

Our infrastructure is currently rated 34 th in the world, which is poor by anyone’s standards. The Policy Exchange estimates that £500bn needs to be spent over the next decade on transport, energy storage, broadband and transmissions systems.

But in this recession, infrastructure investment is one of the first things to be squeezed and there is currently no prospect of investment on anything like the scale that is needed.

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
The Voice

£800k pay-out to victim of Tory spin chief’s “consistent pattern of bullying behaviour”

By The Voice | Tue 24th November 2009 - 1:08 pm

Today’s Guardian reports the news:

A News of the World reporter who suffered from a culture of bullying led by former editor Andy Coulson, who is now David Cameron’s head of communications, has been awarded almost £800,000 for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

Matt Driscoll, a sports reporter sacked in April 2007 while on long-term sick leave for stress-related depression, was awarded £792,736 by the east London employment tribunal. It is believed to be the highest payout of its kind in the media, and legal costs could take News International’s total bill well over the £1m mark.

The award will cause fresh

…

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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s speech to the CBI conference

By The Voice | Mon 23rd November 2009 - 2:55 pm

Nick Clegg addressed the CBI conference in London this moring, “set out how to foster a rapid recovery and shape a new competitive, sustainable economy.” Here’s the full text of what he said:

We are in the teeth of one of the most difficult and unpredictable recessions we have ever faced.
The origins of the recession, at the heart of the financial services sector on which we have relied too heavily for far too long, begs profound questions about how we can rebuild the British economy on a different, more sustainable footing in the future.
As the CBI said this morning – this recession can be a catalyst for positive change.
In the short time we have today, I want to run through the five main areas where I believe urgent action is required not only to foster a rapid recovery in the short term, but to shape a new competitive, sustainable economy for the long term.

  • First: stabilise, decontaminate and re-balance our financial industry.
  • Second: a strong, credible plan to sort our Britain’s finances, to maintain confidence in our credit-worthiness.
  • Third: invest in infrastructure, to create jobs now and the right environment for sustainable growth later.
  • Fourth: decentralise decision-making and business support to drive growth in industries and regions that have been left behind
  • And fifth: change our tax system to put money into the pockets of people who both need it and spend it, helping rebuild consumer demand.
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