Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: The hole in the “35 percent strategy” – the Lib Dem vote

By Nick Tyrone | Fri 21st March 2014 - 3:22 pm

It was Lib Dem spring conference, 2012. Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The crucial vote that weekend was on the NHS Bill. The pause was set to un-pause once more – if, that is, the Lib Dem membership voted it through. The mood was tense on both sides of the debate within the party. Just outside the secure zone, there was a gaggle of Labour supporters trying to convince Lib Dem members to vote the Bill down. Doing a very, very, very bad job of this, I hasten to add. Actually, if their aim was to get the members to vote for the Bill, they could not have done a more cracking job.

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27 Comments

Opinion: The East Midlands would suffer without Europe

By Issan Ghazni | Fri 21st March 2014 - 1:45 pm

If we needed reminding how vital Europe is to British jobs in regions like the East Midlands, the bosses of car giants Hyundai and Toyota spelt it out.

As a European candidate in May’s elections I was alarmed to read that Hyundai, who have a base in Corby, warned against leaving the EU saying that if the UK were no longer in the single market it would throw up ‘barriers’ to doing business. There was a similar message from …

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Tagged europe and jobs | 5 Comments

Opinion: Not a budget for green policy

By Duncan Brack | Fri 21st March 2014 - 12:02 pm

David Cameron may now view climate change as a serious threat, thanks to the winter floods, but you wouldn’t know it from his Chancellor’s Budget statement on Wednesday. What did the Budget do for green growth and the low-carbon agenda? –

Froze the carbon price floor (paid by large emitters) until the end of the decade. Introduced just last year at £16/tonne carbon dioxide, it was supposed to increase steadily to reach £30 in 2020 and £70 in 2030; now it’ll stick at £18. This makes coal more attractive and low-carbon energy less.
Ended Enterprise Investment Scheme tax breaks for investments in renewable electricity and heat (while retaining them for everything else).
Extended compensation for energy-intensive industries from the electricity bill levies funding renewable energy.

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Tagged green taxes and renewable energy | 13 Comments

Opinion: Let’s have real “power to the people” for those of us outside the UK

By George Cunningham | Fri 21st March 2014 - 10:40 am

There is a lot wrong or out-of-date with our current political system. The Lib Dem policy paper “Power to the People” passed at the spring conference in York, addresses those issues in a typically liberal, radical way. It is worthy of our support, as a step forward, even if some find parts of it imperfect.

“Power to the People” aims to explore the viability of overseas constituencies. This would be quite radical for the UK but would – I believe – benefit it a …

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Tagged europe, liberal democrats spring conference 2014 and power to the people | 5 Comments

A look ahead to Scottish Conference

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 21st March 2014 - 8:34 am

This time next week, I’ll be on a train on my way to Aberdeen along with lots of other Scottish Liberal Democrats for our Spring Conference. This is the party’s main Conference, held over 3 days. Here’s my pick of the agenda.

The debates

Part of the reason I’m getting up at such an ungodly hour on Friday is to get up there for the first two debates. Alison McInnes, our justice spokesperson, has done much to highlight the many iniquities of our Justice system under the illiberal regime of Kenny MacAskill.

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Tagged Alistair Carmichael, chris huhne and scottish lberal democrat conference | 1 Comment

The price of trusting people with their own money

By Joe Otten | Thu 20th March 2014 - 4:29 pm

The world of the private “Defined Contribution” pension is one that sees so many hidden fees it has been described as generating a greater return for the financial services industry than it does the saver. A large bite of this comes with the annuity purchase, where the pension pot, built up over the years, is spent on an annuity, converting a cash sum into a fixed (or index-linked) income for life.

Annuity purchase represents a kind of insurance against getting too old and running out of money.

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Tagged annuities, featured, pension reforms and pensions | 52 Comments

Opinion: Some facts about Ukraine and Crimea

By George Potter | Thu 20th March 2014 - 3:00 pm

Given some of the comments being widely made about the crisis in Ukraine, particularly those defending or minimising the actions of Russia, I thought it would be worthwhile to point out some facts about the situation and counter some of the popular myths. They doesn’t necessarily establish that one side is completely right or wrong but they are worth bearing in mind.

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Tagged crimea and ukraine | 57 Comments

David Laws says Councils should charge for bin collections. Or does he?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th March 2014 - 10:54 am

Today’s Telegraph says “David Laws: Councils should charge for bin collections”

It’s a headline designed to get you imagining piles of uncollected rubbish on the streets when people don’t pay. It’s designed to invoke all of your senses. The smell of waste left to putrify in the noonday sun, that tell-tale sound of scurrying little rodent feet, and then the sight of pink-eyed, hungry rats. Everywhere.

That unmistakeable smell of decay is already in your nostrils, isn’t it?

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Tagged bin collections, david laws and public administration committee | 16 Comments

Opinion: Ukraine is a crisis which we cannot back off from

By George Cunningham | Tue 18th March 2014 - 10:50 am

The insertion of Russian troops into the Crimea has profound implications for the security of Europe. It is like Europe has been awoken from a deep, snug slumber.

At I said in the emergency debate on Ukraine at the Spring Conference in York last weekend, events in Crimea have shown Russia breaking every principle in the international law rule book. The fact that it has intervened covertly, supposedly to protect Ukrainians of Russian origin, has profound security implications for the European Union’s Eastern borders – and in particular in the Baltic States …

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Tagged ukraine | 54 Comments

Opinion: We need a Cornish Assembly

By Simon Rix | Tue 18th March 2014 - 9:22 am

You won’t be surprised to learn that I am working day and night to win back Truro and Falmouth for the Lib Dems. You may also know that this year marks the 40^th anniversary of the first time David Penhaligon was elected as the MP for Truro.

Yes, he was a liberal hero to many people across the Country, but if ever there was someone who stood up for Cornwall and the Cornish people it was David Penhaligon.

He knew that Cornwall has its own language and its own vibrant culture but he …

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Tagged cornish assembly and cornwall | 29 Comments

Opinion: A fair tax revolution: Our most important manifesto commitment

By Gareth Wilson | Mon 17th March 2014 - 10:28 am

A highlight of last week’s Spring Conference for me was Friday’s consultative Q&A session on the next manifesto. Lots of great ideas were suggested, ranging from river based power generators in flood prone areas to encouraging home work to reduce traffic congestion and CO2 emissions.

What stuck with me was David Law’s appeal for ‘manifesto themes’. There were lots of good suggestions but the majority were small scale – great ideas but difficult to tie into a strong simple theme we can get across to voters.

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Tagged liberal democrat manifesto and tax | 12 Comments

Jenny Willott writes… How Lib Dems are giving families choice through shared parental leave and flexible working

By Jenny Willott | Sun 16th March 2014 - 8:55 am

As a mother with two small children myself, I know how hard it can be to balance work and family life. And as a Lib Dem, I firmly believe in equal opportunities for all and tackling discrimination, whatever form it takes.

So I am really excited that with Lib Dems in Government, we are shaking up the status quo to make it easier for parents with young children to arrange their work/life balance however best suits them.

We need to challenge the old-fashioned …

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Tagged childcare, children, flexible working, jenny willott, parenting and shared parental leave | 2 Comments

Suspicions of Lib-Labbery

By Joe Otten | Fri 14th March 2014 - 12:39 pm

14 Areas that they now agree on screams the headline. The Daily Mail and (behind the paywall) The Times are reporting on the degree of policy convergence appearing between the Liberal Democrats and Labour.

While Tory strategists admit they struggle to envisage reaching agreement on plans for another five years of power-sharing with the Lib Dems, Labour now agrees with Nick Clegg’s party on a broad range of issues.

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Paul Burstow writes… Realising the potential of an ageing society

By Paul Burstow | Thu 13th March 2014 - 4:14 pm

Last summer, Nick Clegg asked me to chair a working group looking at the issues of an ageing society and how Government should respond.

The UK population is living longer and today there are more people over the age of 65 in the UK than there are children under 15. This change is a direct consequence of public policy, of bearing down on preventable deaths. But an unsophisticated debate about the impact of ageing has portrayed this as a disaster. Our everyday language tends to stigmatise, portraying ageing as a threat and older people as burdens hogging resources and hoarding assets.

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11 Comments

Opinion: Knock on doors in diverse communities with confidence

By Issan Ghazni | Thu 13th March 2014 - 10:46 am

Later this month Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats will be holding the first of several action days in Brent Central to help the excellent Ibrahim Taguri get elected.

We will also be doing everything we can to encourage party members to get out and secure a victory for Ibrahim in 2015.

On paper this may look like an uphill task – defending a wafer-thin majority against Labour in a highly multicultural seat. But it really isn’t, and here’s why…

Let’s tear up any assumptions that Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are wedded to Labour.

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4 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes…Government makes concessions on Care Bill

By Paul Burstow | Wed 12th March 2014 - 6:16 pm

Over the last week I have been working with 38 degrees who ran a strong campaign raising concerns about a key clause in the Care Bill that made changes to the way in which a hospital in serious financial or clinical trouble would be handled in the NHS.

Trust special administration (TSA) as it is known, was introduced by Labour in 2009. It is a blunt process that should only ever be used in exceptional circumstances of financial or clinical failure.

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Tagged care bill and NHS | 15 Comments

Opinion: York conference debates tough UK approach to Ukraine crisis

By Paul Reynolds | Wed 12th March 2014 - 3:45 pm

At our spring conference in York, there was an emergency ‘Topical Debate’ on the Ukraine crisis.

The debate reflected United Kingdom attitudes to the Ukraine crisis, but there were some far-reaching implications for some of the views expressed. Importantly, the UK was a signatory to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, whereby Ukraine gave up its massive nuclear weapons stockpile in return for full guarantees of its territorial integrity – an agreement now clearly breached by one of its other signatories, the Russian Federation.

Today, the UK has military surveillance aircraft flying along the Polish and Romanian borders with Ukraine, monitoring Russian military activity, and military assets also monitoring Southern Ukraine including Crimea, and its Russian borders. If diplomacy fails, the UK would almost certainly be involved in any military measures that follow.

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Tagged liberal democrat spring conference 2014 and ukraine | 25 Comments

Opinion: Church of England, call off your modern day inquisition

By Ed Fordham | Wed 12th March 2014 - 1:26 pm

For those of you in York, and indeed last September at Glasgow, one of the loudest cheers in the closing day of the Leaders Speech always comes when the pre-film, or Nick as leader mentions the Same Sex Marriage Act.

Indeed Lynne Featherstone will go down in Liberal Democrat history, indeed in wider history, as the MP who made such a massive impact and a positive one upon society.

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Tagged church of england, LGBT+ Liberal Democrats and same sex marriage | 29 Comments

Alan Reid MP writes… Time for the Chancellor to be fair on Scotch

By Alan Reid MP | Wed 12th March 2014 - 11:48 am

As the local MP for Islay, I see frequently just how important whisky is to the island. Eight distilleries (and another planned), and the world famous brands they produce, help to drive the local economy and attract tourists from around the world to a remote corner of the Scottish west coast.

What is less easy to understand is why the UK continues to penalise the industry in its home market. Today, nearly 80% of an average priced bottle of Scotch Whisky – four pounds in every five you spend on a bottle – is accounted for by tax, making whisky one of the UK’s highest taxed consumer products.

Excise duty on whisky has increased by 44% since the introduction of an annual 2% above inflation duty escalator in 2008. The result has been predictable and damaging. The UK market for Scotch is now 12% lower than it was when the escalator was introduced, a loss of 6,500 bottles from the market every day.

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Tagged budget, chancellor, duty, islay and malt whisky | 5 Comments

Michael Moore MP writes…Standard Life, the most significant intervention in the Independence Referendum so far?

By Michael Moore | Tue 11th March 2014 - 11:55 am

One of the most significant statements so far in the referendum debate has been from Standard Life. With over 4 million customers across the UK and thousands of employees in Scotland, their intervention matters to all of us.

Standard Life has been headquartered in Scotland for 189 years, so, it is clearly very important when they announce that they are putting in place contingency plans to relocate funds, people and operations to England if we vote for independence with many issues unresolved.

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8 Comments

Opinion: We need Digital Liberalism

By John Grout | Tue 11th March 2014 - 8:45 am

I think we Liberal Democrats are missing a trick.

There was recently a revamp of the party website – clearly designed for a digital age, and to be used by touchscreens. I discussed it with a friend, who observed that, for all the party’s talk of openness, transparency and frankness with the public, there are still areas of the site which are off-limits, behind a membership wall. I said that it stands to reason that parties keep their forums, campaigning, electoral and training materials private – nothing sinister, just sense-making common practice. And then it hit us: why not say so, in so many words – on the party website, what it is that we’re hiding? A small addition – a cheap way to reframe the debate and make ourselves clear; the only voices raised on a subject that other parties are content to ignore.

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Tagged digital bill of rights and party website | 11 Comments

Conference Photo Gallery Part 1 – What the LDV team did

By The Voice | Mon 10th March 2014 - 5:50 pm

The LDV team had a busy and fun Conference in York. Here are a few of the things we got up to:

Co-editors, hard at work

Thanks to Paul Walter for taking this.

Caron meets Liberal Youth

With Claire Boad, Maelo Manning and Alex White.

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Tagged caron lindsay, joe otten, liberal democrat spring conference 2014, nick thornsby and stephen tall | 1 Comment

Opinion: My resignation from Federal Conference Committee

By Kelly-Marie Blundell | Mon 10th March 2014 - 2:45 pm

Dear Lib Dem Members,

I would like to write to you all and express my regret that Spring Conference this weekend in York has been my last Spring Conference as a member of the Federal Conference Committee.

It was a great honour to be elected to represent the party back in September 2012. And in that time I have had the privilege to see through several conferences in an historic time, when the Liberal Democrats are part of the Government.

In that time, I’ve learned how to plan a debate, as well as the finer detail of and responses to standing orders that …

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Tagged federal conference committee and kelly-marie blundell | 7 Comments

Opinion: Making friends with Nick Clegg again…

By Paul Walter | Mon 10th March 2014 - 1:15 pm

In 2012 I got the hump with Nick Clegg after a series of, what I thought were, misjudgements by him. I am pleased to say that I have been humpless with Nick for quite a while now. I feel that he is a confident, passionate and (now) sure-footed party leader and DPM.This feeling was cemented by his Sunday speech and Saturday Q&A.With half a dozen other bloggers I interviewed Nick at Portcullis House during the 2007 leadership contest. Despite being a Huhne supporter, I found myself carried away on a helter-skelter ride as Nick went on flights of passion about

…

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Tagged nick clegg | 19 Comments

Opinion: A poor careers move

By Adam Killeya | Mon 10th March 2014 - 11:45 am

My name’s Adam and I’m a careers teacher. This presents something of a challenge because it turns out that as a teacher I know nothing about careers.

I must say before continuing that I am a fan of Vince. On the credit crunch, on banking regulation and on bonuses I not only agree with what he says, but also with how he says it. This is part of why I was so surprised, and not a little bit irked, that he said of teachers “They know how universities work, they know what you have to do to get an A-level, they know about UCAS forms – but they know absolutely nothing about the world of work. They don’t know how to direct people to apprenticeships or traineeships which we’re now doing as a first stage for people”.

I am fully aware of the way that the media often quote people out of context so I have taken great care to read what he actually, and there is no way around it: he was clearly referring to the fact that most teachers are graduates and that is what he said.

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Tagged careers advice, schools and vince cable | 14 Comments

John Pugh MP writes… Grim up north

By John Pugh | Mon 10th March 2014 - 10:45 am

You may have read the Observer article entitled “Northern Lib Dem MPs rebel over cuts.”

It’s a source of wry amusement to behold how the national media treat our internal democratic procedures. Not since primary school have I been referred to as “ringleader”, let alone of a bunch of “rebels” – Northern council leaders, peers and MPs who endorse the pre-budget submission “Grim up North?”.

The title is meant to be a little ironic because there are many promising signs up North and a lot of support for the Coalition’s objectives of re-balancing the economy.

However, your typical Northerner is classically known …

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Tagged economy and john pugh | 32 Comments

Opinion: From a friend with love – Let’s have an honest debate on the EU and UK

By Samuel Sigere | Mon 10th March 2014 - 9:30 am

When Alexander Stubb, Finland minister of European Affairs and Foreign Trade, was going to give a talk about the debate on the UK membership of the EU entitled ‘The UK and the EU: sovereign illusions in an age of interdependence‘ at the London School of Economics, you knew it was going to be interesting, for two reasons. First, through his wealth of experience in the European Parliament as MEP in 2004 and in the European civil service, Mr Stubb knows the EU modus operandi like few do. Second, it is sometimes good to have the perspective of a foreigner – …

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Tagged eu | 4 Comments

Tim Farron and Julian Huppert write: Why we need a Digital Bill of Rights

By The Voice | Sat 8th March 2014 - 4:52 pm

Lib Dem MPs Tim Farron and Julian Huppert explain why Britain needs a Digital Bill of Rights…

Momentum is a big force in politics; sometimes an unstoppable force. And this week we’ve seen momentum gathering pace for a change to our surveillance state.

On Tuesday, Nick Clegg set out his plans for change, backed up by a full Obama-style review of our outdated and woefully inadequate surveillance legislation and oversight bodies.

On Wednesday we hosted a lively surveillance discussion in Westminster with Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief of the Guardian, MPs, peers, civil …

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Tagged digital bill of rights, featured, julian huppert and tim farron | 4 Comments

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