Category Archives: Op-eds

Martin Horwood MP writes: Liberal Democrats must be the voice of small business in Europe

By Martin Horwood | Wed 12th February 2014 - 8:52 am

It’s common knowledge that small businesses are the dynamic engines behind economic recoveries – light-footed, innovative and quick to seize the opportunities of growth. I met just such a business in my own Cheltenham constituency recently, exporting highly specialised cleaning products to the world. Today in Brussels the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) launches its manifesto for the European elections and it is full of great ideas for making the European Union more competitive, accountable and efficient – all priorities for Liberal Democrat Members of the next European Parliament.

Our MEPs and ministers have already achieved some notable …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged eu and european elections 2014 | 1 Comment

Opinion: Tackling debt problems in our communities

By Stephen Knight | Tue 11th February 2014 - 4:50 pm

Much attention has recently been given to the growth of payday lending and with very good reason.

In the first quarter of 2009/10, across the UK, just 1% of Citizens Advice Bureau debt casework clients had at least one payday loan. But by the same quarter of 2012/13 the figures show 10% of their debt casework had at least one payday loan. Similarly, in November 2012 the debt charity StepChange reported that the proportion of their clients with payday loans had soared, from 3.7% in 2009, to 17% in 2012.

This growth in incredibly expensive debt is of course the legal end of the market. We should never forget that on top of the growth of payday lending there has been a growth in illegal lending by loan sharks. To give some indication of the growth of loan sharks it is worth noting that research from Liverpool John Moores University suggests that one in twenty low-income borrowers in London, that have been refused credit, have then turned to a loan shark.

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Tagged credit unions and payday loans | 6 Comments

Lord Roger Roberts writes: The Immigration Bill – does it help or hinder?

By Lord Roger Roberts | Tue 11th February 2014 - 3:50 pm

It’s not too well known outside the House, but there are three UKIP-affiliated Peers sitting in the Lords. And interestingly, despite being members of a party that shouts the loudest about immigration, not one of them turned up to yesterday’s Immigration Bill second reading debate. Read into that what you will.

But what about the excellent speeches that Liberal Democrats Peers gave? You can read a summary of my speech below (finding the full version, here – and the Parliament TV link at 19:27, here). I also urge you to follow my colleagues’ activities on TheyWorkForYou, via our @LibDemLords account and through our Group’s blog.

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Tagged immigration bill | 3 Comments

Gordon Birtwistle’s apprenticeships report for January

By Gordon Birtwistle MP | Tue 11th February 2014 - 2:20 pm

I have had a busy start to the year promoting apprenticeships and meeting with businesses; I thought I would share some of my findings with Lib Dem Voice.

I’ve been on some fantastic visits over the past month or two, seeing some truly inspirational outfits offering apprenticeships. In December I visited Gloucestershire Engineering Training centre in Steve Webb’s constituency. The GET provides training in mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering disciplines. I met 88 first year apprentices, including Lib Dem member Eva Fielding, one of three female engineers on the programme. The MD communicated her primary concerns; namely costings and encouraging local …

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Tagged apprenticeships, aston martin, crossrail and eon | 2 Comments

Should political parties pay for policing at conferences?

By Mary Reid | Tue 11th February 2014 - 1:37 pm

Following a Freedom of Information request the BBC has obtained figures for the amounts spent on policing political party conferences.

It seems that over the last five years the Home Office has provided £106 million in special grants to fund the police presence at one-off events such as major protests or the Royal wedding. £50 million of that has gone on party conferences.

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Tagged party conference and policing | 10 Comments

Edward Davey writes… Gas profits

By Ed Davey | Mon 10th February 2014 - 7:05 pm

Last year I asked Ofgem, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) & the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to start producing annual competition assessments which will look at the way energy companies operate in detail. They will also set out any actions they deem necessary.

The first of their reviews will be published this Spring and I have just written to them outlining new evidence I want to be considered as part of their investigations.

Essentially the new evidence focuses on the profits some energy companies are making …

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Tagged energy, gas and ofgem | 13 Comments

Norman Lamb MP writes… Why I’ll be voting to ban smoking in cars carrying children

By Norman Lamb MP | Mon 10th February 2014 - 5:56 pm

Later this evening, MPs will be given a vote on proposals to ban smoking in cars carrying children. It will be a free vote, and within each party there will be MPs who vote each way. If the proposal is approved, from next year it could become a criminal offence to smoke when there is a child in the car.

There would be no new police resource allocated to enforcing the ban proactively. But this would send a clear message out that smoking in cars with children is unacceptable, and I support the measure wholeheartedly.

Votes like this always raise questions about …

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Tagged smoking | 8 Comments

Adrian Sanders writes from the cut-off far South West

By Adrian Sanders | Mon 10th February 2014 - 1:25 pm

Three big issues face the South West and the future of its rail links to the rest of the country.

The first big issue is resilience east of Exeter. What we do west of the city is irrelevant if we cannot get beyond Taunton in the north and Crewkerne in the east.

Being cut off at Exeter for the second year running presents an opportunity to focus on what is in all our best interests and that means reliable, faster and greater capacity services to and from the West Country.

The Government has already given the go-ahead for the …

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Tagged rail | 14 Comments

Uncomfortable truths from the IFS on public spending and tax cuts but cautious optimism on economic growth

By Nick T | Mon 10th February 2014 - 11:59 am

Last week, the highly-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies produced its annual “Green Budget”: its attempt to inject some realism into the national debate on the economy ahead of the chancellor’s actual budget in March.

The document makes for uncomfortable reading in parts, particularly as we head towards another general election in which the complicity of silence on deficit reduction is likely to be as deafening as it was in 2010.

Deficit reduction: significant progress, but some way to go

Starting with the deficit, the IFS’s conclusions are stark. Had the government not taken steps to increase taxes and cut spending in the years since 2008, they estimate that the deficit would have reached 10% of national income by 2018-19. Because of the estimated 16.7% permanent reduction in economic capacity caused by the crash of 2008, 98% of that deficit would be “structural” – i.e. would not be expected to reduce naturally once growth picked up:

For an economy such as the UK, this level of borrowing would have been unsustainable on an ongoing basis. Public sector net debt would have increased markedly year-on-year, likely surpassing 100% of national income before the end of the current decade, and 200% within the next two decades.

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Tagged deficit reduction, economy, featured, institute for fiscal studies and tax cuts (Lib Dem) | 30 Comments

A longer read for the weekend: Lord (Paul) Strasburger’s submission to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament

By The Voice | Sat 8th February 2014 - 3:00 pm

The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament recently issued the following call for papers:

On 17 October 2013, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) announced that it would be broadening its inquiry into the laws which govern the intelligence agencies’ ability to intercept private communications. In addition to considering whether the current statutory framework governing access to private communications remains adequate, the Committee is also considering the appropriate balance between our individual right to privacy and our collective right to security. The ISC is now inviting written submissions from those who wish to contribute to the inquiry.

Lib Dem peer Paul Strasburger has sent us his submission, which we’re printing in full…

Submission to ISC Inquiry

by Lord Strasburger

1. In January 2014 President Obama said to his country and the world “Our system of government is built on the premise that our liberty cannot depend on the good intentions of those in power. It depends on the law to constrain those in power.”
2. In the UK, the Snowden disclosures have confirmed that the legislation intended to constrain intrusive surveillance of its citizens by the State is not fit for purpose. In addition, scrutiny of the security and intelligence agencies which is supposed to protect the privacy and liberty of the British people has comprehensively failed.

The difference between watching anybody and watching everybody

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Also posted in Parliament | Tagged edward snowden, featured, intelligence and security committee and paul strasburger | 3 Comments

Lord (Mike) Storey writes on the Children and Families Bill: “At its very core, this is a Lib Dem Bill”

By Mike Storey | Sat 8th February 2014 - 10:00 am

We’ve just had the final days of ‘Report’ of the Children and Families Bill in the House of Lords and on Monday, MPs will consider our amendments – including the proposal to ban smoking in cars carrying children. But as the dust settles on the red benches (or perhaps I should say, smoke has lifted?) I wanted to let Lib Dem Voice readers know about some of the things we’ve achieved, which Liberal Democrats can rightly be proud of.

I should start by saying that, at its very core, this is a ‘Lib Dem Bill’. The …

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Also posted in Parliament | Tagged children and families bill | 2 Comments

Fraser Nelson’s must-read guide to utterly and completely misunderstanding the Lib Dems’ Coalition strategy

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th February 2014 - 2:15 pm

Fraser Nelson has written a must-read guide to utterly and completely misunderstanding the Lib Dems’ Coalition strategy today. My guess is he’s reliant on Tory intelligence, which in this case is an oxymoron.

Much of it is the usual half-fair/half-unfair admixture of insults regularly thrown at the Lib Dems by the right-wing media. We are, says Fraser, “a hodge-podge of a party defined by its lack of definition”, “conservative in Somerset and socialist in Solihull” (has he met Lorely Burt?). Unlike the Conservatives, of course, where the small-l-liberal outlook of Ken Clarke and Nick Boles dovetails perfectly with the …

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Tagged coalition, Danny Alexander, david laws, featured, fraser nelson, michael gove and ryan coetzee | 12 Comments

#Timetotalk: Norman Lamb MP responds…

By Norman Lamb MP | Thu 6th February 2014 - 9:30 pm

I have been really impressed by the moving personal contributions on Lib Dem Voice today setting people’s own experience of mental health. It reminded me powerfully why I am a Liberal Democrat. As Holly Matthies wrote, tackling mental health stigma is fundamentally about freedom – freedom from poverty, ignorance, and conformity.

Mental health isn’t something that happens to other people. 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point during their life – and everyone will know someone close to them who is affected. And we …

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Tagged #timetotalk and mental health | 3 Comments

ALDC’s by-election round-up: Midlands win and a bad month for Tories and SNP

By Alan Pomroy | Thu 6th February 2014 - 8:30 pm

Those lovely people at ALDC have done us a by-election round-up for last week.

Last Thursday saw the Liberal Democrats gain Chadsmead ward on Lichfield DC. Councillor Marion Bland took 36% of the vote and returned Liberal Democrats to Lichfield Council for the first time since 2011. The Lib Dems first gained a seat in the two member ward in 2007 but the Tories took both in 2011.

The by-election saw the Conservatives drop 22% of their vote and slump into last place after their councillor was disqualified for not attending …

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Tagged by-elections and Local government | 30 Comments

Opinion: Living and working with social anxiety disorder #timetotalk

By John Johnson | Thu 6th February 2014 - 8:00 pm

I have a severe social anxiety disorder.

There. I’ve said it. In seven words I have broken one of our last taboos: I’ve spoken of mental illness.

Today across England people are coming together to talk about mental illness and help overcome the stigma that many people still face in the twenty-first century. Time to Change are hoping to inspire one million conversations about mental health within 24 hours.

I’ve written and re-written this post three times because I’m not sure what to talk about. Because there is so much to talk about! Do I talk about my social anxiety disorder and how it affects me on a daily basis? Do I talk about the stigma I face for having a mental illness? Or do I talk about how it felt to talk to someone about having a mental illness for the first time?

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Tagged #timetotalk and mental health | 5 Comments

Opinion: Confessions of a manic depressive #timetotalk

By Eleanor Draycott | Thu 6th February 2014 - 7:00 pm

After hearing/reading a lot of negative things about people with mental health issues recently first I got angry, then I got writing. This is what I came up with:

My name is Eleanor and I am Bi-Polar/Manic Depressive/crazy. Choose whichever of these you wish, everyone comes to their own conclusion eventually but they all amount to pretty much the same thing, it just depends on how negative a spin you want to put on things I suppose. I also have a phobia of tinsel and used dishcloths. This is …

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Tagged #timetotalk and mental health | 6 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Democrats must let our values define our approach to mental health #timetotalk

By Holly Matthies | Thu 6th February 2014 - 3:25 pm

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist,” Kevin Spacey tells us, and it’s a bit like that with depression too. It’s so insidious precisely because it tries to convince you it isn’t really there, that these black thoughts and difficult days are all there is for you, and that this entirely your own fault.

This is why feeling about to talk about it at all, to be open, has such power: it lessens the isolation, fights your negative thoughts about yourself with positive ones from people who love you, and helps all of us live in a better, healthier society, because Mentally Interesting people have a hell of a lot to contribute. And while fighting stigma isn’t the only problem we face, it can be as hard as dealing with the mental illness itself.

So what can we as Lib Dems do?

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Tagged #timetotalk and mental health | 5 Comments

Opinion: I have never told my mother I have a mental illness #timetotalk

By Name Withheld | Thu 6th February 2014 - 1:25 pm

I am writing this as I read the post on Time to Talk day by Caron . These are just my personal opinions and personal experiences and should be taken only as so.

I have suffered from Hypomania for what has been the best part of my adult life; I am 25 now. I probably had it when I was a child but my mother just put it down to being “full of energy”. Friends have also told me that I probably have ADHD and maybe some form …

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Tagged #timetotalk, mental health and time to change | 2 Comments

It’s #timetotalk about mental health at Liberal Democrat Voice

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 6th February 2014 - 10:02 am

Liberal Democrat Voice is always “Our place to talk” but today, we are talking about mental health. Time to Change is having a national #timetotalk day. Why?

Thursday 6 February is the first ever Time to Talk Day: 24 hours in which to start conversations about mental health, raise awareness and share the message that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, neither is talking about it.

Sometimes it’s the little things we do that make a big difference – like having a chat over a cuppa, sending a text or inviting someone out. And on Time to Talk Day we’re encouraging people to do just that. In fact, we’re hoping to spark a million conversations, and we want your help to do that.

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Tagged featured, mental health and time to talk day | 14 Comments

Opinion: Tackling Britain’s housing crisis

By Keith House | Wed 5th February 2014 - 5:00 pm

Liberal Democrats have long recognised the housing crisis that has grown steadily worse since the 1979 Conservative Government stopped councils building new homes. In Government, Liberal Democrats have made a good start at increasing the number of affordable homes built for rent, with 335,000 homes to be completed between 2011 and 2018, and supported initiatives to help deliver market housing.

We’ve also agreed an ambitious target of 300,000 new homes each year for overall housing supply as party policy. But even with some councils starting to build again, there is a long way to go before anywhere near enough homes are built each year in Britain to meet need.

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Tagged housing and natalie elphicke | 13 Comments

Michael Moore MP’s Westminster Notes

By Michael Moore | Wed 5th February 2014 - 8:52 am

Liberal Democrat MP Michael Moore writes a regular column for newspapers in his Borders Constituency. Here is the latest edition.

A Stronger Economy

Last week, I welcomed the announcement of the strongest GDP growth figures since before the financial crisis began in 2007, with the UK growing by 0.7% in the last financial quarter and 1.9% throughout the whole of 2013. Growth is vital for our prosperity so this is a really important development.

We have also seen the inflation rate dropping to 2% from a peak of 5.2% in September 2011, decreasing unemployment and both the World Bank and the IMF indicating …

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Also posted in Parliament and Scotland | Tagged currency, economy, Michael Moore, Scottish independence referendum and Westminster Notes | 2 Comments

Opinion: Chris Huhne on Fracking

By Steve Coltman | Tue 4th February 2014 - 10:48 am

Chris Huhne, former Energy and Climate Change Secretary and member of ALDES, has written this critique of Fracking in the Guardian.

Personally, I don’t like the abrasive and sarcastic tone of it but he makes some very valid points nonetheless. In particular he points out that the USA is disconnected from the world’s gas market allowing a local surplus to cause gas prices (and coal prices) to drop in the USA. The UK, in contrast, is very connected indeed and even if we did produce masses of Shale Gas at reasonable …

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Tagged chris huhne, fracking and shale gas | 10 Comments

Opinion: David Cameron – the Conservative Party’s answer to Harold Wilson

By Mark Pack | Mon 3rd February 2014 - 4:25 pm

More and more, David Cameron reminds me of Harold Wilson.

Both became leaders of their party when a sequence of election defeats forced change upon it. Both briefly were the young leader with a new purpose for their political tradition; the white heat of technology in the 20th century, huskies in the 21st.

Both struggled to win over the public, with neither getting an overall majority at their first attempt. Both turned out to be heavily beholden to their party’s traditional, backward-looking wing.

Wilson’s opportunities to be a dominating figure who reshaped society and rejuvenated the economy were wrecked on the Labour …

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Tagged david cameron and Harold Wilson | 18 Comments

Baroness Claire Tyler writes: Why banning smoking in cars with children in can and should be enforced

By Claire Tyler | Mon 3rd February 2014 - 2:11 pm

I read with great interest Caron’s very balanced blog entry on Thursday about banning smoking in cars with children and the varied comments that followed. These showed a quite legitimate difference of opinion about how to apply liberal principles in an such an area , as illustrated when Nick Clegg shared his own personal views on Thursday’s Call Clegg.

Much of the ensuing media and blog debate -including on Lib Dem Voice -has focussed on whether it’s right to legislate about what people do in private cars and whether this isn’t too great an intrusion by the “nanny state” into …

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Tagged smoking | 17 Comments

Julian Huppert writes… Thoughts on a memorial service

By Julian Huppert | Mon 3rd February 2014 - 12:04 pm

On saturday, I attended the memorial service for a life-long Liberal, George Watson. It included a reading from John Stuart Mill ‘On Liberty’.

George stood for Parliament in 1959 in Cheltenham, unsuccessfully, and then became a Fellow at St John’s College Cambridge, where he became a noted scholar in literature, literary criticism and liberal political thought.

I got hold of his campaign literature from 1959, and while the layout and style is different – no bar charts – the central messages are unchanged.

To quote from his section ‘Put Freedom First’:

Liberals made them get rid of identity-cards – but the State Still has

…

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3 Comments

Opinion: Protecting journalists and foreign correspondents – it’s about time

By Fadel Galal | Sun 2nd February 2014 - 4:45 pm

What is currently happening in Egypt in my view is a very sad and violent transformation. Yet as a native of this country, I believe this to be an internal process and should be shaped only by Egyptians living in Egypt.

However, what should not be accepted as an internal matter is the level of intimidation and violence against journalists and foreign correspondents, particularly foreign journalists and those working for foreign media organisations.

They are unwittingly being sucked into a political turmoil they do not control. They are seasoned professionals caught in the line of fire while doing their …

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Tagged egypt and journalism | 3 Comments

Opinion: Eastern Europeans hold the key to the European elections

By Issan Ghazni | Sat 1st February 2014 - 2:30 pm

Doomsday predictions in the media that Liberal Democrats are set to lose all our MEPs to UKIP are wide of the mark. The closer we get to the Euro elections in May the greater the opportunity for us to win support from the substantial minority of voters who are pro-Europe.

Yet there is no doubt the threat of UKIP is a substantial one. And just as Nigel Farage is boxing clever we Lib Dems need to get smarter about our strategy. Our Euro-slogan ‘In Europe, In Work’ is a powerful statement about …

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46 Comments

Opinion: Registering young voters increases party loyalty

By Alex Smethurst | Fri 31st January 2014 - 11:36 am

The move to Individual Electoral Registration later this year has the capacity to enable our party to re-engage with many young and new voters. Given our polling numbers, this is all the more pertinent, as registering young voters increases party loyalty.

There is considerable evidence that if people vote at the start of their careers as citizens, they are more likely to carry on voting. Rather than canvassing people sporadically, we should be targeting 16,17 and 18 year olds. Just like voters of all ages, young voters are attracted to candidates that reach out to them. Partisan loyalty develops during their first few years of being enfranchised. Reams of academic research in America show a young voters’ first presidential vote and party vote influence their party choice for decades. As Rock the Vote explain, voter registration remains the largest barrier to youth participation, but if they are registered, young people vote! Individual Electoral Registration opens the doors to the younger voters.

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Tagged individual electoral registration | 1 Comment

Ed Davey MP writes…£2m for low carbon heat networks

By Ed Davey | Thu 30th January 2014 - 3:56 pm

Today I visited Lib Dem controlled Sutton to announce £2 million of DECC funding for developing low carbon local heat networks. The money will go to 26 local authorities – including Sutton – to develop their own local projects.

By 2030 around 14% of UK heat demand could be met by these networks and around 43% by 2050. While it is up to each local authority to develop their own projects, the idea is that networks source heat from a central source – for example landfill – and then deliver it through insulated pipes to offices, apartments and social housing.

This will provide low carbon heating, and potentially bring down energy bills too.

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Tagged ed davey and low carbon heat networks | 7 Comments

Sir Ming Campbell MP writes…Britain has the power to shape the EU

By Ming Campbell MP | Thu 30th January 2014 - 10:34 am

A report on the successes and failures in Britain’s Europe policy, published today by British Influence shows that we have the power to shape the EU, if we wield it correctly. The report, by a cross-party panel of EU experts on which I served, shows that Britain has either achieved its objectives or is on track to achieve them in nine out of ten of the policy areas, but it makes clear that we will only be able to achieve more if we lead in a cooperative manner.

There are parts of the EU which need to be reformed. There …

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Tagged europe and Ming Campbell | 4 Comments