Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: The Bank of England’s Independence – the Law

By Bill le Breton | Sun 15th September 2013 - 12:01 pm

According to the Independent, Nick Clegg wants to take on the ‘left’ in his Party.

In doing so he accuses the Social Liberal Forum’s amendments to the economics motion as “ending the Bank of England’s independence by ordering it to do more to create jobs” and “tearing up the fiscal mandate.”

Let’s deal with the first accusation. The 1998 Bank of England Act granted the Bank independence to set interest rates. That is instrument independence. However, the remit for the Bank is set by the government and so The Bank does not have goal independence, it takes its goals each Spring from the Government.

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged bank of england, economy and glasgow conference 2013 | 17 Comments

Opinion: Real localism – it could surprise us all

By Ruth Dombey | Sun 15th September 2013 - 11:01 am

Everyone’s talking about Localism now – we’ve even got a Government Act. Yet when that very Act gives the Secretary of State 126 new powers over local government, you have to wonder if we all mean the same thing.

Liberal Democrats have been advocating devolution, double devolution and subsidiarity for many years. But central government continues to tighten its throttlehold over local authorities with little trust in local politicians and local communities and their ability to do what’s best for local people. London boroughs receive 74% of their income through central government grants, compared to 31% for New York, 18% for …

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Tagged Local government and localism | 1 Comment

The Independent View: Coalition should do more to promote the creative industries as a growth sector

By Jo Dipple | Sun 15th September 2013 - 10:03 am

The Coalition Government’s record for the creative industries is mixed.

On the plus side, innovations such as the Creative Industries Council are welcome and have enabled a lot of cross industry collaboration on common issues affecting different sectors, such as skills and access to finance.

The enabling of the Live Music Act to come into law and promises of further entertainment deregulation are of huge benefit to my sector.

Creative industries have benefited from tax breaks to enable them to continue to compete globally.

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged creative industries, glasgow conference 2013 and the independent view | 10 Comments

Opinion: We need to address the need for a re-balance in education localism

By Liz Green | Sun 15th September 2013 - 9:31 am

If we, as Lib Dems, have learnt anything from the march from complete local authority control, through self-management of schools and on to the drive for academies and free schools, it is that localism in education should not just be about empowering head teachers and governing bodies but must also raise standards across the board. If this means bringing back some of those vital local authority-run ancillary services that allow heads to concentrate on the quality of teaching, so be it. Dogmatic opposition based on historic myth or anecdotal evidence has no place in education policy.

As we have witnessed over the last three years, the relentless approach of the Secretary of State to a continual reform agenda – a few good, many not so good, and some downright awful from our local government Lib Dem perspective – has meant that problems such as the provision of sufficient school places and the needs of vulnerable pupils haven’t had a proper look in. Whilst it is okay to notice OFSTED looking at regional structures in order to undertake improvement, as well as inspection, is it enough without the input of the localised knowledge only a Council can supply? I think not.

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Tagged education and localism | 1 Comment

Opinion: Keep the Bank of England Independent

By Rob Blackie | Sun 15th September 2013 - 8:01 am

Conference on Monday will debate an amendment from the Social Liberal Forum (SLF) to the Economy Motion which calls the government to “monitor closely the progress of the Bank of England, ensuring it has a refocused mandate that allows monetary policy to aid growth, reduce the unemployment rate to below 6% creating at least a million jobs, and to address weak income growth, targeting a higher level of national/median income.”

Who could possibly disagree with that? Well, me for a start. In practice this is reducing the independence of the Bank of England.

Liberal Democrats have long argued that the Bank of …

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged bank of england and glasgow conference 2013 | 11 Comments

Opinion: It shall not pass: The case against F17, the motion on protecting children from online pornography

By James Shaddock and Alisdair McGregor | Sat 14th September 2013 - 8:36 pm

Many of you will have seen or heard about motion F17 – Protecting Children From Online Pornography. If you are here in Glasgow at Autumn Conference, you will have also heard about the campaign to stop this motion, either through a reference back or voting it down. This motion must not be allowed to pass, either as is or amended, and here we want to lay out five reasons why:

1. Impossible to Implement

The recommendations put forward in both in the motion and amendment, are simply unworkable. The Internet does not work in the same way as other broadcast media,. As …

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged autumn conference 2013 and pornography | 14 Comments

Opinion: We need zero tolerance for zero hours contracts

By Richard Kilpatrick | Sat 14th September 2013 - 4:02 pm

This week Labour began to move the economic debate away from deficit reduction to living standards. It really is a shame that the party elected in 1997 to tackle social mobility and subsequently failed to shorten the gap between the richest and poorest in our society now seem to stand up for working families in hard economic times. Wednesday saw Ed Miliband’s dismal attempt to rekindle his relationship with the TUC but for me he did touch on an issue close to my heart; he committed to legislating to curb the use of zero hour contracts.

I have to admit a special interest, I have worked for a company that uses zero hour contracts for about a year. I myself am not on a zero hour contract. I am also a student and understand the level of flexibility that is required by some people. However I refuse to accept that flexibility cannot be achieved while providing income stability, holiday pay and a safety net for when you fall ill. It is also not constructive for a company to build a relationship with its staff using zero hour contracts resulting in a large staff turnover and an unhealthy competition for hours.

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged employment rights, glasgow conference 2013 and zero hours contracts | 4 Comments

Opinion: Ten reasons why the bedroom tax must go

By Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera | Sat 14th September 2013 - 3:02 pm

The conference amendments can only be an expedient stop-gap to complete repeal. Here are ten reasons why the bedroom tax (also known as the spare room subsidy) should go.

1. Bedroom Tax is targeted to victimise the most vulnerable members of society. Two thirds of the victims of Bedroom Tax were receiving Incapacity Benefit: over 440,000 nationally.

2. An extra bedroom is not an extravagance if you need additional space for medical equipment, a room for carers to sleep in or live in a household where an ill person is too unwell to sleep in the same room as their partner and to do so would negatively affect the health and wellbeing of both.

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Tagged bedroom tax and glasgow conference 2013 | 48 Comments

Opinion: Urgent action is needed on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals

By Derek Webb | Sat 14th September 2013 - 2:02 pm

The Lib Dem message at conference this year is: “Stronger Economy, Fairer Society”. We wholly endorse this message, and our Campaign for Fairer Gambling is absolutely focused on this direction.

There must be sensible enforcement of sensible gambling regulation. The most addictive form of gambling is roulette machines in betting shops – Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, also known as FOBTs.

Because these machines are a very labour unintensive form of consumer spending, they result in a net loss of jobs in local communities and this has a negative impact on tax revenue generation.

In addition to the economic cost of FOBTs, there is the added social cost of FOBT addiction and each addict affects up to twelve others.

FOBTs expose inexperienced, young gamblers to a game that they will lose at several times faster than the real, casino variant.

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Tagged gambling | 6 Comments

The Independent View: A liberal democracy must protect all people from the state. Support Emergency Motion 2 on Legal Aid

By Helen Mountfield QC & Nick Armstrong | Sat 14th September 2013 - 8:55 am

Last week Chris Grayling, the Minister for Justice, responded to 16,000 consultation objections, with changes to his criminal legal aid proposals. He conceded that someone who’s been arrested should be able to choose their solicitor; and criminal representation shouldn’t be just about price, but quality too.

You may think justice has been saved. But it hasn’t. Far from it. Which is why we are asking you to urge your conference voting reps to choose the Legal Aid Motion (Emergency Motion 2) for debate.

Because Chris Grayling is still removing legal aid and access to justice from whole groups of people, defined by …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged autumn conference 2013, emergency motions and legal aid | 3 Comments

Jeremy Browne MP writes… Proud of our record in Government

By Jeremy Browne MP | Sat 14th September 2013 - 6:50 am

The fundamental question for Liberal Democrats gathering for conference is this: are we proud of our Government or ashamed of it?

I think we should be proud.

The Coalition Government came together in 2010 when Britain was in deep trouble. We had been hit by an economic shockwave. The last Government was borrowing a ruinous £450 million extra every single day.

We also faced serious problems which held our people back and threatened our future prosperity. Entrenched inter-generational poverty and welfare dependency needed to be tackled head-on. School standards had fallen behind our international competitors, wasting the talent of our young people and …

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged coalition government and glasgow conference 2013 | 21 Comments

Conference Comment: Is Nick Clegg “worse than Michael Foot”?

By Newsmoggie | Fri 13th September 2013 - 5:11 pm

If you only read the Independent, it would be grim news. The paper reports that Lord Oakeshott popped his head above the parapet to tell Parliament’s The House magazine that Nick Clegg is “worse than Michael Foot”.

We have to accept that Nick’s ratings have been poor and have been for a long time. You’ve got to be frank that his ratings are down at levels which, if you go back, were only seen by Mrs Thatcher shortly before she left and Michael Foot.

Well, that’s his view and the Telegraph’s venerable Benedict Brogan dismisses it outright:

His views have been discounted to irrelevance from over-use. We’ve heard it all before, from him.

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Also posted in News | Tagged general election 2015 and glasgow conference 2013 | 116 Comments

Opinion: Vince Cable is right to question the wisdom of Help-to-Buy

By David Gray | Fri 13th September 2013 - 2:03 pm

All policies have winners and losers. The inevitable consequence of policy-making is that some people in the country must lose out; it is the Government who must decide who this will be when they are passing laws. Which is why, on the surface, few scrutinised George Osborne’s help-to-buy scheme when it was introduced in the form of an Equity Loan in April of this year. The idea of giving people help to buy new build homes is one that has no immediate losers. But in the long run, we will all pay the price.

The housing market has crashed before, and it will crash again if house prices go back the days of increasing at an alarming rate. It is not a sustainable model and it is one that contributed heavily to the UK staying in recession for longer than most. The worrying thing is that Osborne is ignoring this recent history for short-term political gain. Booming house prices are frequently reported in the media as being ‘healthy’, whereas the reality is anything but. The reality is mortgages that will take a lifetime to pay off, placing a huge burden of debt on an entire generation.

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Tagged housing | 10 Comments

Conference: Nuclear power – the raw politics

By Mike Tuffrey | Fri 13th September 2013 - 12:03 pm

Will the Lib Dems ditch their historic opposition to nuclear power? That debate is set to be one of the main flashpoints at the Glasgow conference. New polling evidence – published here for the first time – shows the outcome will affect support among key voter groups – ‘our market’, as the jargon goes – with all that means for key seats and the overall result of the next election.

Of course the debate itself will be about technical details: how nuclear technology can be called safe when no solution has yet been found for waste that remains lethally radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years; whether the promise of no public subsidy can be true if Brussels has to approve funding guarantees as “state aid”; and how renewables will ever gain critical mass if the high costs of nuclear crowds out resources and public funding for newer technologies?

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged glasgow conference 2013 and nuclear power | 10 Comments

Buying votes – Lord Tyler on the Lobbying Bill

By Paul Tyler | Fri 13th September 2013 - 9:05 am

Concerted non-party campaigns now weave more citizens together than the parties can dream of, and raise a lot of money in the process. They do so not with intensely political ‘values’, but with a chance to pit ‘the people’ against ‘the politicians’ on a given issue. For better or worse, this has a broader appeal than the starkly partisan campaigning we are used to.

The challenge Parliament has to deal with is what all this means for elections, in which non-party groups may increasingly express a preference for one party, or even a group of parties, over the others. Whether it is a group of farmers and rural residents coming together in an association, or a trade union, or a big email list of broadly left-wing people, it is only right and natural that together such organisations should be able to say whom they most support to defend their views and interests. The question is whether the wealthier organisations – or even maverick millionaires – should be able to drown out the poorer ones. I strongly believe they should not.

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Also posted in Parliament | Tagged featured and lobbying bill | 7 Comments

Danny Alexander MP writes… Trident: The UK’s voice on an international issue

By Danny Alexander MP | Thu 12th September 2013 - 5:20 pm

I believe Trident is the UK’s last, unreformed bastion of Cold War thinking. And I believe we can adapt our nuclear deterrent to the threats of the 21st century by ending 24-hour patrols when we don’t need them and procuring fewer submarines.

This is the conclusion I draw from the Trident Alternatives Review that the Coalition Government published in July – a Review that clearly would not have happened without Lib Dems in Government.

But when the Review was published, some of our critics claimed any changes to Trident would seriously damage our relationship with the US. …

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Tagged barack obama, shirley williams and trident | 25 Comments

Opinion: Apprenticeships all across the UK are changing the lives of young people. I should know, because I’m one of them

By Callum Morton | Thu 12th September 2013 - 3:43 pm

I was told growing up that going to University was the pinnacle of all human achievement, that it would set me up for life. I didn’t do well in my A-levels and university became out of my reach, so I began working in students’ unions instead. Now, as an apprentice in Tom Brake’s office, I am gaining knowledge, developing new skills and working towards a qualification – all whilst making a difference in the local area. It has made me passionate to do more; I will be standing to be a councillor at next year’s local elections. I’ve come a …

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Tagged #FEparty and apprenticeships | 4 Comments

Sarah Ludford MEP writes… Emergency Motion 6 will promote Schedule 7 reform and protect civil liberties

By Sarah Ludford | Thu 12th September 2013 - 2:54 pm

The last time I wrote a piece for Lib Dem Voice I asked for the assistance of conference voting reps to ensure that party conference debates the detention of David Miranda and the reform of Schedule 7 of the Terrorism 2000 – Labour legislation – under which he was detained.

A very big thank you to those who responded with support for Emergency Motion 6: Schedule 7 of Terrorism Act 2000 to be in the ballot for debate in Glasgow next Wednesday (Sep 18th from 9:00 to 10.30, item F38). I’m sure the handsome volume of signatures – due …

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Tagged #ldconf, sarah ludford and schedule 7 | Leave a comment

Opinion: Looking forward to a post-Trident future

By Toby Fenwick | Thu 12th September 2013 - 1:12 pm

Amid general agreement on the thrust of Julie Smith’s Committee’s excellent paper, and gratitude that Nick Harvey and Danny Alexander have delivered unprecedented transparency on the UK’s nuclear options, next Tuesday’s debate on defence offers two sharply differing views of the future of Britain’s nuclear future.

On the one hand, there is Nick Harvey’s proposal to retain the Trident missiles, their warheads and associated infrastructure, but reducing our purchase of new Trident submarines from four to two. This means that from the early 2030s, the UK will no longer be able to mount the standing patrols of Continuous At-Sea Deterrence (CASD) …

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Tagged centre forum, nick harvey and trident | 17 Comments

Julian Huppert writes: Decarbonising Britain – making the sums add up

By Julian Huppert | Thu 12th September 2013 - 9:07 am

There’s an excellent book by Prof David MacKay called ‘Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air’. This is a must read for anyone interested in energy policy. To help with that, it’s available entirely for free, at http://www.withouthotair.com – although you can buy a copy if, like me, you think you’ll want to keep it to hand.

Essentially, David MacKay highlights that whatever we do, we have to ensure that the amount of energy used does not exceed the amount of energy available.

How do we strike this balance? The first thing we can do is reduce our energy usage – that’s why I and so many others care about energy efficiency. Not using a kWh of energy is far more environmentally friendly than generating by any means!

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Tagged decarbonisation and nuclear energy | 8 Comments

Greg Mulholland MP writes…A dangerous drift in the party

By Greg Mulholland MP | Wed 11th September 2013 - 4:30 pm

There is a dangerous and almost imperceptible drift that has taken place in the Liberal Democrats in recent years, a drift away from tolerance, of acceptance of religions and faiths, alongside secular belief systems like humanism, towards a moral conformity. A moral conformity that certain views are part of who we are; and that many faith based, Christian views are rather something to be reserved for private worship that should be kept firmly out of the political arena. It may not be as obviously discriminatory as the abuse I experienced during that election campaign, but it is nevertheless equally damaging

…

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90 Comments

Duncan Hames writes: Local Enterprise Partnerships and low carbon development: what works and what doesn’t

By Duncan Hames MP | Wed 11th September 2013 - 3:30 pm

This is the last of three extracts from the forthcoming collection of essays Green liberalism: a local approach to the low carbon economy. Similar collections will be published under Green Alliance’s ‘Green social democracy’ and ‘Green conservatism’ projects as part of the Green Roots programme, which aims to stimulate green thinking within the three dominant political traditions in the UK.

A one size fits all policy, devised at a distance, imposed on local communities and implemented rigidly, is unlikely to rise to the environmental challenges we face today. That’s why we should give Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) the freedom to grasp …

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Tagged green alliance, green liberalism and local enterprise partnerships | 3 Comments

Opinion: Vote for Emergency Motion 3 on the Lobbying Bill

By Norman Fraser | Wed 11th September 2013 - 2:29 pm

The lobbying bill is either cock-up or conspiracy

is the verdict of Robert Barrington, the executive director of Transparency International UK.

Glasgow North Local Party has submitted an emergency motion on the Bill to Federal Conference. If you are a conference delegate please vote for our motion in Sunday’s ballot to choose the three emergency or topical motions which will actually be debated later in the week.

The Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill to give it its full title, was sneaked out just as MPs went on holiday. An unusually tight timetable has been set and the …

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Tagged autumn conference 2013 and lobbying | 15 Comments

The Independent View: Conference 2013: Lib Dems must stand up for the environment

By Andy Atkins | Wed 11th September 2013 - 12:30 pm

For a fleeting moment in May 2010 there was genuine optimism that the environment might be put at the heart of Britain’s political agenda.

With a coalition of Liberal Democrats, praised by many, including Friends of the Earth, for their manifesto’s prioritisation of environmental issues, joining forces with a ‘vote blue, go green’ Tory party, fresh from championing the Climate Change Act, it looked as if yellow and blue really could produce green.

But three and a half years later Cameron’s pledge to lead the “greenest Government ever” now seems little more than a cynical sound bite.

Perhaps less expected is the …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged autumn conference 2013, climate change, environment and friends of the earth | 16 Comments

Opinion: Getting the facts right on the Living Wage

By Gareth Epps | Wed 11th September 2013 - 8:57 am

One of the key battlegrounds on which the 2015 General Election will be fought is living costs, especially for those on low and low-to-middle incomes. With times tough and the cost of many basic items essential for living having outpaced wage inflation for a decade (according to the most comprehensive study of the subject, led by the Resolution Foundation but with considerable input from business and other organisations) – and with no money left in the public purse – answers are not easy.

The Liberal Democrats have, rightly, chosen to address this by a range of measures, and the key …

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Tagged autumn conference 2013, balanced working life paper and living wage | 28 Comments

Edward Davey writes: Working in partnership to keep bills down

By Ed Davey | Tue 10th September 2013 - 6:20 pm

I’m very aware just how many people are worried about bills, not least their energy bills. These concerns will only increase over the coming months as the nights draw in, the temperature begins to drop and the ‘on switch’ for the heating is flicked.

I’m doing everything I can to help people keep their bills down, from piloting ‘collective switching’ which allows communities to use their buying power to get the best deals from energy suppliers, to legislating to make sure the ‘Big 6’ simplify bills, and switch people who are on ‘dead tariffs’ to the cheapest variable deal they offer. We are also introducing competitition to the market to ensure we level up the playing field for independent generators and suppliers.

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Also posted in News | Tagged Big Energy Saving Network and energy bills | 7 Comments

Opinion: Socks, Sandals and Party Democracy-or Why Spring Conference Is so Important

By Kelly-Marie Blundell | Tue 10th September 2013 - 5:38 pm

Do you remember your first conference? I certainly remember mine.

It was in Birmingham several years ago; stewards had a quick look through my bag inside the conference centre, and then I started queueing for a coffee. I suddenly realised that the man in front of me was the great Paddy Ashdown. I was so starstruck, I had to leave!

Once my overwhelming awe had dissipated, I got lost in a whirlwind of speeches, debates and policy-making; and that was just a coffee shop. Sadly I’d forgotten my sandals, I have to confess I didn’t see as many as the right-wing media would have us believe.

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Tagged autumn conference 2013 and spring conference | 9 Comments

Stephen Williams writes: Stand up to Big Tobacco and help us win a vote in Parliament

By Stephen Williams | Tue 10th September 2013 - 2:55 pm

Calling all Voting Reps – Vote for Emergency Motion 7 on Tobacco Plain Packaging

At this year’s autumn conference in Glasgow Lib Dem voting reps have the chance to change history, to go up against Big Tobacco and their secretive lobbyists, some of them at the heart of the Tory Party, and to help us win a vote in Parliament to protect young people from tobacco advertising. Nearly two thirds of smokers started before they were 18.

Currently tobacco companies can market …

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Tagged autumn conference 2013, featured, plain packaging and tobacco | 89 Comments

Sir Graham Watson: Gibraltar will always have the Lib Dems’ backing

By Graham Watson | Tue 10th September 2013 - 1:49 pm

On Sunday 1 September, I was treated to what many of my constituents face on a daily basis, a border queue. I got off rather lightly with 90 minutes. Many Gibraltarians who dare to cross the frontier face delays of over four hours. But they are a hardy lot. They survived eighteen years under Franco with the border closed.

In December 2011, the Liberal Party of Gibraltar, our sister party on the Rock, was elected to office in coalition with the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party. At about the same time, a general election in Spain saw a moderate Socialist government replaced by the nationalist Popular Party, the party of former dictator General Franco.

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Tagged european union and gibraltar | 10 Comments

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