Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: Time for a deal on surveillance

By Stuart Bonar | Thu 5th April 2012 - 8:50 am

Like many of my fellow Lib Dems I have had steam coming out my ears these last few days after reading over the weekend that the Coalition was considering the mass, unchecked surveillance of the entire population’s emails, telephone calls, texts and tweets, as well as messages sent through Facebook and through games consoles like the Xbox.

Initial attempts at comforting growing rage amongst Lib Dems – the fact that there was to be no central database and that the contents of communications would still only be viewable with a …

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Tagged interception modernisation programme, Mark Pack and ripa | 18 Comments

Opinion: Ed Miliband is out of touch

By Nicola Prigg | Wed 4th April 2012 - 2:05 pm

On Monday, Ed Miliband, Leader of the Opposition, launched the Labour Party’s local election campaign.

Ed proclaimed that the government is “out of touch”, and challenged us on growth, fairer taxes and a stronger society.

On growth, he claimed that we need to deal with the deficit otherwise we won’t have growth in the future.

On fairer taxes, Ed said we “are raising taxes for pensioners but cutting them for millionaires”.

Actually, this month has seen the personal tax allowance for pensioners increase, and from next year they are frozen until the personal tax allowance catches up. Or does Ed believe that pensioners …

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Tagged ed miliband and labour party | 11 Comments

The Independent View: A note to the Liberal Democrats on university access and information

By The Voice | Wed 4th April 2012 - 12:50 pm

A child’s fate is often decided very early on in its development. That is why government intervention must happen early. Liberal coalition policies such as parenting classes and the pupil premium will help us move away from what Nick Clegg calls a “closed society” where people’s circumstances at birth haunt them for the rest of their life.

The most effective intervention happens before the age of 11, but this mustn’t be where it ends. A lack of decent careers advice and university guidance at some secondary state schools means that many talented pupils are failing to meet their potential.

Just as worrying …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged education | 11 Comments

Time for Nick Clegg and the Coalition to see sense and stop the ‘Charity Tax’

By Stephen Tall | Wed 4th April 2012 - 9:15 am

This year’s budget was, in general, a good one for Lib Dems. Most notably, the party’s number one priority of taking more low-paid workers out of tax was fast-tracked, while the controversies, and specifically the cut in the 50p top-rate at a time when pensioners’ tax allowances are being frozen, have hit their Tory backers’ support in the polls.

However, there is one lesser noticed and malign Budget change, the ‘Charity Tax’ — a cap on tax relief which threatens to cost the charitable sector hundreds of millions of pounds — which has not attracted mainstream media attention. That needs to change if the Coalition is to be talked down from a policy with Lib Dem fingerprints on it, and which will undermine philanthropic giving at a time when it is needed more than ever during the public funding squeeze.

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Tagged big society, budget 2012, charities aid foundation, charity, featured, fundraising, george osborne, nick clegg, tax and voluntary sector | 11 Comments

Opinion: Getting radical with the money supply

By Joe Bourke | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 1:34 pm

Last week the OECD forecast that Britain was about to experience a double-dip recession, for the first time since 1975. Vince Cable in his Centreforum paper Moving from the financial crisis to sustainable growth asks “How far should monetary policy now be expanded further in the UK to boost demand and head off a period of poor growth?

He goes on to say “There is no possibility for further meaningful interest rate cuts – real short term rates are now minus 4 percent. That means further recourse to quantitative easing.

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Tagged bank of england, economy, inflation, interest rates, milton friedman, money supply, quantitative easing, vince cable and will hutton | 16 Comments

Dan Rogerson MP writes… The crusade to protect the Cornish Pasty

By Dan Rogerson MP | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 12:11 pm

As the national political debate around the Budget moves on, one specific proposal is continuing to dominate both the headlines and my inbox – the so called ‘Pasty Tax’. The Chancellor’s proposals to change the VAT arrangements on hot food could see the tax being levied on pasties for the first time. The Treasury are currently consulting on the idea, and there remain some uncertainties that will need to be clarified.

I certainly understand the logic behind making sure that VAT is charged on hot food in places like large supermarkets to stop them undercutting local cafés and takeaways. But aside from the inevitable pasty puns in the press, there is serious concern across Cornwall.

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Tagged cornwall, george osborne and pasty tax | 14 Comments

The Independent View: Why the Lib Dems should put cycling at the heart of their transport policy

By Donnachadh McCarthy | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 11:06 am

More motorways, airports and cities, cried the leader of the “greenest” government ever. The Prime Minister is absolutely right that we need new infrastructure but what we need is not ever wider motorways but a modern cycling infrastructure, to get the ridiculous 50% of journeys under 5km that are currently taken by car, out of the way of essential business traffic.

Millions of UK citizens are too old, young, poor or eco-conscious to own a car. In countries from Denmark to Japan, their governments provide safe cycle-paths. Our roads however are not fit for purpose, as …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged cycling and transport | 21 Comments

Opinion: Gorgeous George steals our place on the Left

By Jonathan Hunt | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 9:54 am

Well done George Galloway for last week’s Bradford West by-election victory. He was astutely aware of the state of a vacuous Labour party lacking leadership and direction, and took full advantage of it.

Now, no-one can say that a Left-wing party is doomed to automatic failure. And it is little use Lib Dems complaining: “That’s our job.”

It is our job, but we have failed completely. A strong left-wing challenge from us, the true party of the non-socialist Left could have produced a …

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Also posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged black and ethnic minorities, bradford west by-election and george galloway | 52 Comments

Opinion: 1984 and all that

By Linda Jack | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 8:32 am

If you wanted to pick an issue guaranteed to unite the whole party – protecting our civil liberties has to be it. So the last 48 hours have been a frenzy of claim, counterclaim, the candyflossesque spin of internal briefings and Lib Dems across the blogo/twitto/facebooko/forumosphere reaching dangerously apoplectic levels of disquiet.

Mark Pack, in his inimitable unflappable style offered an informative briefing via LDV – taking the optimistic view, reassuring us that “what the Home Office proposes is not the same as what Parliament will legislate. No matter how flawed the initial proposal put to Parliament by Theresa May are, they put the RIPA rules on the table – giving the opportunity to get them changed to meet what a liberal approach should be – as little intrusion as possible, only for the most serious of offences and with rigorous, independently verified safeguards”.

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Tagged coalition, database state, interception modernisation programme, julian huppert, lynne featherstone and Mark Pack | 23 Comments

Opinion: Government’s fuel top-up advice has been a serious miscalculation

By Ed Wilson | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 4:54 pm

My heart sank when I heard Ed Davey telling the nation to fill its petrol tanks. It seemed very likely, tipping over into obvious, that Ed Davey’s statements would feed into the kind of behaviour that we have seen in recent days, and it’s disturbingly clear that the coalition government had taken a position to promote the topping-up of tanks. That was a serious miscalculation of the likely results.

What proportion of motorists fill up less often than once a week? I suspect that …

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Tagged fuel queues | 23 Comments

Julian Huppert MP writes… Safeguards to control state surveillance

By Julian Huppert | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 4:19 pm

Stories came out yesterday, leaked as ever from some unknown source, which have led to justifiable outrage about proposals to capture all our online communications. We all know that one shouldn’t entirely trust what is in newspapers, especially when the security services are involved and there is a palpable lack of detailed announcements, but liberals everywhere are rightly anxious.

I’m extremely concerned about the extension of state surveillance, and have fought hard to stop it. Since I first got wind of the proposals in 2010, I’ve had a series of meetings with industry experts and others about it. I asked the Prime Minister about it in October 2010 and, while the details remain cloaked, I have some idea of what might be proposed.

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Tagged charles farr, coalition agreement, communication service providers, database state, eu data retention directive, home office, interception modernisation programme, jenny woods and ripa | 26 Comments

The web snooping plans: time to get campaigning

By Mark Pack | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 12:45 pm

The Queen’s Speech will contain legislation on the interception of communications. Should Liberal Democrats (and indeed liberals) be alarmed?

I treat this question with some initial caution because in one respect many liberals have been – rightly – calling for more use of interception by the government for many years. That is in making intercept evidence admissible in court, so that more cases of alleged terrorism and the like can be brought to court , curbing the (claimed) need for legal powers to allow people to be restricted or restrained without a court case happening.

The other reason for treating the question …

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Tagged interception modernisation programme | 31 Comments

Opinion: Lessons from Bradford

By Sam Phripp | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 10:40 am

In the aftermath of the Bradford West by-elction result, it is increasingly clear that Labour didn’t have the slightest grip on what was actually happening. Comments and discussions on Labour blogs show us that Labour assumed that simply because certain areas (for example, areas with a dense Muslim population) were voting; they had to be voting Labour. This kind of complacent assumption really is an insult to voters.

The reason I joined the Liberal Democrats and became an active campaigner was because I saw that whole swathes of my area were taken for granted by the Conservatives. We need to be …

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Tagged bradford west by-election | 15 Comments

Steve Gilbert MP writes…Government must wake up to the flood insurance risk

By Stephen Gilbert MP | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 9:24 am

In 1952 a flood ripped through the Devon village of Lynmouth wrecking scores of homes, taking the lives of dozens of people and costing millions in rebuilding work. In 2010 Cornwall was hit by flash-flooding with hundreds of homes and businesses devastated across the south of my constituency.

In the 50-odd years between the two events most parts of our country were hit by floods at some point. Over five million people in the UK are now at risk of flooding from …

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Tagged flood insurance | 6 Comments

Bradford West by-election: 5 initial thoughts on an astonishing result

By Stephen Tall | Fri 30th March 2012 - 9:45 am

Here are some inital reflections on George Galloway’s stunning by-election win in Bradford West…

Devastating for Labour…

It is not simply the fact that Labour lost a seat they’ve held at every election since 1974. It is not simply the fact that they’ve become the first opposition party since William Hague’s Tories at Romsey 12 years ago to lose a by-election. It is not simply the fact that Labour must have thought they’d enjoyed a good fortnight in which the Tories have been given a good pasting. It is not simply the fact that this by-election suggests Labour’s current national lead …

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Also posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged bradford west by-election, featured, george galloway and nasser butt | 53 Comments

The problem with the pasty tax? It’s not had enough media coverage

By Mark Pack | Fri 30th March 2012 - 7:25 am

No really. Despite the rush of politicians to recall when they last had a pasty or to be photographed eating one (me? south London, last weekend, Greggs, branch still open, no photo available), the problem is we’ve not had nearly enough media coverage of the pasty tax proposals.

“What?!?! Not enough coverage?!?!”, you might well wonder. But bear with me.

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Tagged pasty tax, tax and vat | 8 Comments

Lorely Burt MP writes… Freelancers: championing and protecting the little guy

By Lorely Burt | Thu 29th March 2012 - 6:54 pm

You don’t need me to tell you that things are tough out there for small businesses. I know: having run several small businesses and having previously been our party’s Small Business spokesperson. The UK’s 4.5 million Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) make a huge contribution to our economy, but today they are caught in a perfect storm between contracting markets, a failure of banks to lend, and late payments. The result of these problems is that many viable small businesses have sadly failed.

There is however one sector of small business that is growing. Over the last three years we have …

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Tagged Danny Alexander, economy and lorely burt | 5 Comments

Annette Brooke MP writes… A much improved national planning policy Framework

By Annette Brooke MP | Thu 29th March 2012 - 4:28 pm

Back in October 2011, I submitted a response to the National Planning Policy Framework consultation on behalf of the Lib Dem Parliamentary Policy Committee on DCLG issues which I co-chair with Lord Graham Tope. The response was robust, so much so that The Telegraph claimed it as a huge Lib Dem rebellion. But, I believe that the committee was right to submit its concerns in an honest and straightforward way. Our role within the coalition must be to offer constructive criticism when we feel it is necessary! And I am very glad that we did. The document which was published …

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Tagged annette brooke and planning | 4 Comments

A lack of democracy at Unlock Democracy

By Mark Pack | Thu 29th March 2012 - 10:50 am

The pressure group Unlock Democracy is generally pretty good at understanding that having a healthy democracy is more than simply about the narrow confines of casting and counting votes. Healthy democracy involves meaningful debate and choice between a range of views.

That makes the latest mailing I have received from them all the most disappointing. Good news – supporters are being asked to submit nominations for its governing council. Bad news – the highly restrictive campaigning rules that make even the old Liberal Democrat internal election rules seem rather …

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Tagged mark valladares and unlock democracy | 7 Comments

Opinion: Abortion reform – handing power back to women

By Sophie Bridger | Wed 28th March 2012 - 8:15 pm

Despite being in the 21^st century, we appear to value the approval of medical professionals, and their control over women’s bodies, more than we do women’s autonomy.

Last week it came to light in a Telegraph report that some abortion clinics – up to one in five – were performing abortions illegally. Doctors were pre-signing forms to permit abortions before they had seen the patient’s medical information. Why are so many good doctors not following the law?

Under the 1967 Abortion Act, termination of pregnancy is legal up to 24 weeks, as long as two doctors approve it. Not one, two. …

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Tagged abortion, BMA, royal college of obstetricians and womens rights | 22 Comments

Tim Farron MP writes… The ASA and me – a response

By Tim Farron MP | Wed 28th March 2012 - 6:51 pm

I’m aware that my signing of a letter to the ASA about the power of prayer has caused a stir. I thought I should just clarify what I actually think on this.

I completely understand why some of you are concerned. It’s not a well-worded letter – the reference to the ASA providing indisputable evidence is silly, and the implication that people should seek faith healing at the expense of medical intervention is something that I just don’t believe in. For what it’s worth, I also think that the Fabrice Muamba reference is crass. So on all those fronts, I should just say sorry and not bother defending myself. I shouldn’t have signed that letter as it was written, so I apologise for putting some of you in quite a difficult position.

However, my reasons for agreeing to raise a concern with the ASA are simply these:

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Tagged advertising standards authority | 51 Comments

Opinion: 3 Liberal Criticisms of Stephen Tall’s defence of Tim Farron

By David Parkes | Wed 28th March 2012 - 3:58 pm

Lib Dem Voice co-editor Stephen Tall has produced his 3 liberal reasons to stick up for Tim Farron. Now Stephen is a man I respect and who writes a lot of sense, but on this occasion I beg leave to disagree.

To that end I thought I’d give 3 liberal reasons to criticise Stephen Tall’s defence of our party president Tim Farron. We are of course talking about the storm Tim Farron created by co-signing a lett er to the Advertising Standards Agency urging the ASA to overturn a ban on a Christian group claiming prayer could cure medical conditions.

(1) …

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Tagged advertising standards authority, religion, stephen tall and tim farron | 19 Comments

Opinion: Building an economic recovery

By Joe Bourke | Wed 28th March 2012 - 2:56 pm

Two issues on which there appears to be virtual universal consensus across the political spectrum are the pressing need to address the UK‘s housing problems and the economic benefits of a rejuvenated construction sector. The lack of adequate affordable and social housing has been a major weakness of the UK economy and social fabric for many years.

This problem has manifested itself in seriously overpriced housing costs relative to incomes, soaring housing benefit expenditures, uncompetitive labour costs and inter-generational inequity.

The Centreforum report Delivering growth while reducing deficits – lessons from the 1930s highlights the major part that house building played …

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Tagged centreforum, construction, economy and housing | 33 Comments

Peter Black AM writes: Welsh Liberal Democrats say no to regional pay

By Peter Black | Wed 28th March 2012 - 1:28 pm

The Welsh Liberal Democrats believe that regional pay would further entrench Wales as a low-pay economy, both in the public and private sectors. More to the point it would lead to men and women doing the same job at different ends of the country, but receiving different rates of pay. I believe in the principle of an individual being paid a rate for a job, not in a multi-tier system which sees wages set on a postcode-by-postcode basis which will ultimately see the rich areas of south-east England become richer at the expense of the rest of the UK and …

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Tagged regional pay, Wales and welsh liberal democrats | 30 Comments

Opinion: The French battle for London

By Yannick Naud | Wed 28th March 2012 - 11:29 am

The forthcoming Mayoral election is certainly the contest that London is currently focusing on; however, scratch beneath the surface and there is a quiet but equally fiercely fought election taking place. June sees the French Parliamentary Elections which for the first time include eleven overseas parliamentary seats; the 3^rd constituency is a whopping 1.5 million square miles area, from Greenland to Lithuania, encompassing every Nordic & Baltic countries, Ireland and the UK. London is however where most of the French expats in this constituency reside and therefore the epicentre of this election.

I am standing for the Mouvement Democratique (MoDem) Party, …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged europe, france, french elections, mouvement democratique and yannick naud | 8 Comments

Some thought-provoking reminders of our liberal history

By Mark Pack | Wed 28th March 2012 - 10:25 am

Alex Wilcock and I penned this list of six things* to remember for Liberal Democrat News, the party’s weekly newspaper:

Paddy Ashdown once admitted to under-estimating the importance of a party’s history: “A political party is about more than plans and priorities and policies… It also has a heart and a history and a soul”.

Yet there is no “history of the party” training session for the keen Conference representative nor history briefings for new members. So here are six snippets from the party’s history to entertain, elucidate and illustrate our heart and soul in ways that should still strike a note today.

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Tagged alex wilcock, featured and history | 17 Comments

Opinion: subtexts rule! (or, why the subtexts of the budget and new roadbuilding plans are more important than the headlines)

By Paul Reynolds | Tue 27th March 2012 - 4:52 pm

This last week has demonstrated that a sailing ship without a destination will… well… just drift with the wind.

During this last budget week the Tories, under pressure from their backbenchers, reduced the 50% rate of tax for higher earners. Under the principle of Collective Cabinet Responsibility, Lib Dem ministers defended the change, implying that this concession has been granted in return for broader anti-avoidance tax measures for the better off, and the next step in the reduction in the number of lower earners paying income tax. BIS Minister Vince Cable weighed in dutifully with facts and figures showing that the …

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Tagged budget 2012, motorways, public finance initiative and Road transport | 3 Comments

Opinion: the Government’s new integration strategy – when are we going to learn?

By Issan Ghazni | Tue 27th March 2012 - 2:52 pm

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) recently published and launched its new integration strategy – “Creating the Conditions for Integration”. Following discussions with many concerned Lib Dem party members and feedback from Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community organisations involved in race equality work, I am now more convinced than ever that this document does little to address the persistent racial inequalities that exist across the nation. The Government for their part are trumpeting this publication as equivalent to a race equality strategy – although one which has diminishing credibility within BAME communities up and down the …

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Tagged diversity, emld and integration strategy | 6 Comments

Opinion: sometimes Liberal Democrats just can’t win, but we won’t stop trying

By Lisa Harding | Tue 27th March 2012 - 1:30 pm

Everyone this week has pretty much agreed that the Liberal Democrats did a good job on tempering the worst of Tory excesses in the budget last week. There is also universal agreement that we did well in getting our message out and I was particularly pleased with the splash page on the homepage of the national site.

But if you read Deborah Orr in the Guardian on Saturday, it is quite clear that in the eyes of some we will never get it right. Deborah started off her article by bemoaning leaks from the budget and laying the blame squarely …

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Tagged budget 2012 and guardianistas | 27 Comments