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Category Archives: Op-eds

Michael Moore MP’s Road to the Referendum… A Vote for the United Kingdom: A positive Choice

By Michael Moore | Mon 31st March 2014 - 3:57 pm

Making a positive choice for the United Kingdom in the vote on Scotland’s future is as much a matter of the heart as well as the head. Recently, those involved in the argument for Scotland to remain in the United Kingdom have begun to argue more assertively that a vote for the UK is the positive choice.

We have just over five months to decide whether we stay in the United Kingdom family or go it alone. Five months to choose between remaining part of this four-nation partnership that we have built together or to break away and to start again.

I believe in the contribution Scotland has made over the last 300 years along with our friends and families across England, Wales and Northern Ireland – our common effort to create and share something bigger and that serves us all well.

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Tagged Michael Moore, road to the referendum, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 6 Comments

LDV Debate: Could One Member One Vote work for Liberal Democrat Conference?

By The Voice | Mon 31st March 2014 - 2:20 pm

Sue Doughty and Gareth Epps discuss the issues.

Sue: During the consultation at conference and before conference there were many positive reasons to support this. For example, younger members who may not have a permanent address find it difficult to maintain links with a local party and so don’t get elected as voting reps and sadly some parties didn’t notify HQ of their voting reps. Although conference can be expensive the work by Federal Conference Committee with York Local Party meant that there …

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Tagged featured, gareth epps, internal party democracy, liberal democrat conference and sue doughty | 22 Comments

Opinion: Ukip’s success masks its existential crisis

By Caspian Conran | Sun 30th March 2014 - 3:20 pm

Many of us are deeply worried about what the rise of Ukip means for the future of the United Kingdom. However, take heart, Ukip’s success only makes the way for a more liberal, centralist and moderate future for Britain. For the success of Ukip facilitates one of the great aims of our party: the destruction of the two party system.

Nothing is of greater annoyance than canvassing a resident who, whilst admitting she broadly agrees with our message and policies, could not possibly vote Lib Dem. Why? Because her mother always …

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Tagged ukip | 40 Comments

Time for Nick Clegg to ditch the “Great Britain not Little England” line

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th March 2014 - 11:45 am

“Great Britain not little England” – it was a line Nick Clegg used in his recent Spring conference speech, setting up the new political dividing lines between those who are optimistic, outward-looking, progressive pro-Europeans and those who are gloomy, isolationst, reactionary anti-Europeans.

It’s a line he used again in this week’s Nick v Nigel debate. “Great Britain, not Little England” was the subject line, too, of the party’s immediate post-debate email to supporters.

Clearly it’s a line the party believes encapsulates the main fault-line in British politics right now. …

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Tagged british future, england, featured, ippr, nick clegg, nickvnigel and sunder katwala | 37 Comments

Annette Brooke MP writes… This Mothering Sunday let’s commit to making preventable newborn deaths a thing of the past

By Annette Brooke MP | Sat 29th March 2014 - 10:45 am

Like many mothers and grandmothers in my constituency and around the UK, I’m looking forward to Mother’s Day on Sunday. Not just because it’s welcome time spent with the family, but also because it reminds me of the years of joy I’ve had watching my children and now my grand-daughter grow up.

It is however, a sad time for many in this country who have suffered bereavements. And we also think of the millions of mothers around the world who have not had the chance to watch their children grow …

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Tagged bangladesh, children, overseas aid and save the children | 2 Comments

Fraser Nelson is wrong: Cameron’s supposed EU re-negotiation allies are set on a very different path

By Henk van Klaveren | Fri 28th March 2014 - 1:00 pm

Like so many Eurosceptics, Fraser Nelson was at it again this morning in the Telegraph: taking a couple of things they heard from foreign politicians and adding it all up to make something that matches exactly what they want: less Brussels.

Nelson was continuing his theme from the Spectator a couple of weeks ago, describing a Northern Alliance Cameron had been building to reform the European Union in his image. There is one problem with all that: it simply is not true.

In the UK, the Dutch are …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged david cameron, europe, european commission, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Frans Timmermans, fraser nelson, Mark Rutte and netherlands | 8 Comments

Opinion: Mind the gap

By Joe Bourke | Fri 28th March 2014 - 8:38 am

With the economy showing strong signs of a recovery and budget projections forecasting a period of healthy growth seven years on from the start of the financial crisis – have we now reached the ‘escape velocity’ required to run clear of this long slump?

The answer to this questions relies on judgements of an indicator that has proved almost impossible to gauge i.e. the output gap or measures of spare capacity in the economy. Most economists believe that the UK economy still boasts plenty of spare capacity, by which they mean that …

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23 Comments

Tim Farron MP writes…Tales from the Spin Room

By Tim Farron MP | Thu 27th March 2014 - 7:19 pm

Last night I was in the spin room doing my job as President, walking around and saying Nick had won. It wasn’t hard to appear convincing, because he was brilliant. It was certainly easier than when I have to speak to the media after some by-elections!

I thought Nick won last night on both style and substance. Though of course as a Lib Dem, I would say that. As a party we like facts and evidence. Watching last night, those things were very light on the UKIP side of the …

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Tagged eu, nickvnigel, nigel farage and ukraine | 32 Comments

Lord Mike German writes…ATOS contract scrapped, two requests for its replacement

By Mike German | Thu 27th March 2014 - 4:05 pm

The previous Labour Government’s 2005 contract awarded to Atos Healthcare has been a long term thorn in the side of the policy of fairly assessing people on Invalidity Benefit for transferring to Employment and Support Allowance. The contract has been dogged by decisions taken which have been overturned on appeal, and longer and longer queues as people wait for their assessments.

At the root of the problem was Labour’s decision to award the contract to a single supplier for the whole of Great Britain. Now, we know Labour loves monopolies and centralising …

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Tagged ATOS and dwp | 12 Comments

Steve Webb MP writes…Tackling rip-offs, standing up for savers

By Steve Webb MP | Thu 27th March 2014 - 1:15 pm

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of announcing in the House of Commons a raft of new measures designed to make sure that when people save for a pension they get value for money.

One of the Coalition’s most successful policies, for which I have had lead responsibility, is the introduction of ‘automatic enrolment’ into workplace pensions. Starting with the biggest firms in October 2012, and reaching the smallest ones by 2017, employers now have a legal duty to put their workers in a pension scheme and to make an employer …

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Tagged featured and pensions | 15 Comments

Norman Lamb MP writes… Improving patient safety in the NHS

By Norman Lamb MP | Thu 27th March 2014 - 11:55 am

Back in 2012, an independent study of NHS case notes from hospitals concluded that in about 2.3% of hospital deaths there was strong evidence that death could have been prevented. In practice, this equates to around 6,300 preventable deaths in hospitals every year.

This is a shocking statistic. As Liberal Democrats, we should never fall into the trap of talking down the NHS – our health and care services do fantastic work day after day savings lives and providing excellent care. But we must also be willing to confront …

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Tagged featured and NHS | 4 Comments

Eric Avebury writes…Society cannot afford to scrap the alcohol duty escalator

By Eric Avebury | Wed 26th March 2014 - 9:01 am

Last week’s Budget saw the Chancellor renege on the Government’s commitment to tackle the problem of cheap alcohol by scrapping the alcohol duty escalator. This move is a step that society simply cannot afford; not only will these duty cuts result in a shortfall of £290 million to the Exchequer when Osborne admits we are still going to be in deficit until 2018, but with the cost of alcohol harm in the UK exceeding £25 billion each year, our public services – particularly the NHS – can’t cope …

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Tagged alcohol, alcohol duty, budget 2014 and minimum alcohol pricing | 11 Comments

Fewer workless households

By Mary Reid | Tue 25th March 2014 - 3:59 pm

Lib Dem HQ tells us that the number of workless households is falling.

Over the last four years, under the Coalition, the number of households in which no-one works has dropped by 450,000, with a substantial drop of 137,000 in the last year alone.

This outcome appears to validate the campaign to make work pay, so that people will always be better off in work than on benefits.

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Tagged employment | 10 Comments

Most of the benefits of an annuity at a fraction of the cost?

By Joe Otten | Tue 25th March 2014 - 12:20 pm

An annuity is a reasonable solution to an obvious problem. You don’t know how long you will live in retirement, but an annuity provider can estimate this, take a risk, and sell you an income that lasts the rest of your life. In practise this hasn’t represented good value for money, so I welcomed the budget announcement to give retirees more choice in investing or disposing of their own money. Yesterday Janice Turner argued for the Continue reading »

Tagged annuities and penisons | 30 Comments

Opinion: In every conflict, there is always more than one side to the story

By David Gray | Tue 25th March 2014 - 9:24 am

It is always tempting to view the world in black and white. When Good is pitted against Evil, who in their right minds would want Evil to succeed? We can all happily unite behind Good and therefore feel Good about that ourselves.

Sadly, the world isn’t like this. This may seem like an outrageously obvious statement, but it is not intended to be patronising. Reactions from various politicians to recent events have given the impression that many political conflicts are indeed black and white.

When the Arab Spring began over 3 …

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Tagged arab spring, egypt, syria, ukraine and world war 1 | 6 Comments

Should prisoners have unlimited access to books?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 24th March 2014 - 8:55 pm

The bees are buzzing around my bonnet today. Earlier I had a bit of a go at Danny Alexander for falling in with the Better Together dourness in the Scottish Referendum campaign. Now, I have Chris Grayling in my sights. The Justice Secretary, under the guise of making the prisoners’ incentive scheme more “effective” has banned a number of things. The issue being given most prominence is that prisoners can no longer be sent books. The Howard League for Penal Reform’s Chief Executive Frances Crook condemned the …

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Tagged featured, frances crook, howard league for penal reform and ministry of justice | 32 Comments

Opinion: Pensions move could negate the whole point of pensions saving

By Janice Turner | Mon 24th March 2014 - 4:26 pm

George Osborne’s announcement that people with defined contribution (money purchase) pensions could take the lot as a lump sum on retirement kills several birds with one stone. First, it most definitely attracts the grey vote because the idea of getting your hands on your whole pension pot on retirement is very appealing.

But this also looks like a reaction to mounting evidence, including from the Financial Conduct Authority no less, that annuities are not good value for money. Defined Contribution schemes allow retirees to buy an annuity (your pension) on the open market, but the schemes provide a default annuity which …

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Tagged budget 2014 and pensions | 29 Comments

Danny, please listen to Charles Kennedy before you write about the Independence Referendum again

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 24th March 2014 - 1:16 pm

Danny Alexander’s article on the Independence Referendum in yesterday’s Sunday Times (£) was, for me, a frustrating read. If I’m honest, it was actually like nails being dragged down a blackboard. Full of language like damaging, devastating and divorce, t is absolutely not what we need at this stage of the campaign. He even brought in the spectre of not being able to sustain the NHS in an independent Scotland.

A poll published in yesterday’s Scotland on Sunday …

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Tagged charles kennedy, Danny Alexander, Scotland and Scottish independence referendum | 15 Comments

Five stories from five years – March 24th

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 24th March 2014 - 9:17 am

Time, I think, to revive that part of the old Friday Five where we looked at what we were writing about on this day in previous years. Here are five posts from March 24th.

First up, a little Boris related schadenfreude from 2013: Boris has a right Mair in live BBC interview.

For most of the 10 minutes — and perhaps for the first time ever — Boris looked as if he would rather be anywhere else than beneath the glare of the TV lights. This was his reckoning, and he looked winded, lumbering like a past-his-prime former heavyweight champion. Only

…

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Tagged five stories from five years and history | 1 Comment

Opinion: European Commission is right to demand Ed Davey and the Coalition re-thinks on nuclear power

By Andrew Warren | Sun 23rd March 2014 - 2:30 pm

In October 2013, Lib Dem energy secretary Ed Davey set out his arguments for reversing his long-held antipathy to nuclear power. On behalf of the Coalition, he is applying to the European Commission to ensure that the measures he is promoting – to ensure construction of the first new nuclear power station in the UK for a generation – are compatible with the Single Market.

But now the Competition Directorate of the European Commission has sent a 70-page rebuttal to the UK Government, completely rejecting its arguments for subsidising the building of the Hinckley B nuclear power station in Somerset.

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Tagged ed davey, european commission, hinckley point and nuclear power | 41 Comments

Opinion: The new tuition fees argument – having your cake and eating it

By Maria Pretzler | Sun 23rd March 2014 - 8:50 am

On Friday, the Guardian published an article pointing out that a lot more public money than expected will have to be contributed to tuition fees loans.

This has been greeted with a certain amount of glee by the usual suspects. On some level, I can understand the excitement, but nevertheless, it looks like a case of trying hard to have this particular cake and keep eating it.

People who used to shout about fees are now upset that after all, the state is putting more money into the system than …

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Tagged featured, higher education and tuition fees | 117 Comments

Liberals need to stand up against hate speech and prejudice. If we don’t, we condone it.

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 22nd March 2014 - 11:06 am

Over the last couple of weeks, several events have proved, as if we needed it to be proved, that hate speech and prejudice is alive and well in 21st century Britain.

Last week, Pink News reported a disturbing, angry and hate-filled transphobic rant by Julie Burchill which appeared as a comment on an article by Paris Lees. Paris had written of her delight in being catcalled and wolf-whistled while on holiday in Ibiza and asked if that made her a bad feminist. Burchill’s reply seemed to be trying to make out that she was a bad human being.

I don’t …

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Tagged julie burchill, lgbt equality, lynne featherstone and transphobia | 23 Comments

Opinion: The key economic shift we need next time

By David Boyle | Fri 21st March 2014 - 5:04 pm

It is a lovely spring morning in 2015 and you are on someone’s doorstep. There is a delightful breeze and you clutch your canvas cards to make sure they don’t blow away.

The lady on the other side of the front door gives you a big smile and asks you about jobs – she recognises that the coalition has made important strides towards making us all a little less reliant on the City of London.

“But how are you going …

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8 Comments

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

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