Category Archives: Op-eds

Opinion: How do we answer the West Kensington question?

By Paul Edie | Wed 25th January 2012 - 3:55 pm

I swore blind that I would not get drawn into what promises to be a long running battle over Scottish independence but Simon Hughes’ call for an English Parliament to answer the West Lothian Question has prompted me to pen this piece.

Scottish Nationalists wrongly claim that there is an easy solution to the West Lothian Question – independence for Scotland. They fail to remember that we still have devolution in Northern Ireland, Wales and the London Assembly. Independence for we Scots doesn’t make the issue go away for others.

We still refer to it as the West Lothian Question but it …

Continue reading »

Tagged Scotland, Scottish independence referendum, snp and west lothian question | 28 Comments

The Independent View: Lib Dems crucial in preventing further welfare reform injustice

By Gingerbread | Wed 25th January 2012 - 2:55 pm

Child maintenance is a life-line for many single parent families, whose children are twice as likely to live in poverty as those of couple families. The Government’s proposals to attach charges to access the Child Support Agency will see vulnerable families with no option but to seek state help to gain maintenance pushed further into financial distress – with their children ultimately footing the bill.

After a week of turmoil in the House of Lords where crossbench alliances have proven crucial, this evening attention will turn to the Government’s child maintenance proposals – and the possibility of another government defeat of the …

Continue reading »

Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged child maintenance, fiona weir, gingerbread, lord mackay of clashfern, the independent view and welfare reform | 4 Comments

Opinion: Nick Clegg’s remarks inch the UK towards recognition of Palestine

By John McHugo | Wed 25th January 2012 - 1:54 pm

It is now over a week since Nick Clegg held his joint press conference with President Abbas of Palestine in which he referred to Israeli settlement construction as “vandalism”. Before his comments fade out of the news altogether, it is worth thinking through the implications of what he said – and thanking him for his courage in making them. Could they have come from the mouth of a Conservative minister?

By calling the settlement building “an act of deliberate vandalism to the basic premise on which negotiations have taken place for years and years and years”, Nick hit two important nails …

Continue reading »

Tagged nick clegg and palestine | 17 Comments

Opinion: Clegg should look to Gladstone and Grimond, not John Lewis

By Nigel Lindsay | Wed 25th January 2012 - 12:56 pm

Nick Clegg’s Mansion House speech on “a more responsible capitalism” gathered publicity, particularly for his widely-reported call for employees to be given the right to ask for shares in the company they work for. I am still puzzling over how people can be given a right they already have. Anyone can ask for shares at present, of course, but with no guarantee of an answer.

It would be meant something if Nick had called for employees to have the right to be given shares in their companies when they asked. It would have meant even more if he could have …

Continue reading »

Tagged employee ownership, jo grimond, nick clegg, responsible capitalism and william gladstone | 5 Comments

Lynne Featherstone MP writes… We do not just elect individuals, we elect people to be members of a team

By Lynne Featherstone | Wed 25th January 2012 - 11:55 am

Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone writes a monthly column for one of her local newspapers. Here is the latest edition, looking at Parliamentary representation.

Our Parliament has come a long way in recent years. In fact, watching ‘The Iron Lady’ with Margaret Thatcher sticking out like a blue female sore thumb amongst the total male greyness of the then chamber – it reminded me of how recently in history this establishment was nearly all male.

However, despite real progress, it is still nowhere near reflecting the percentage of women in the country – and that is without even starting to talk about …

Continue reading »

Tagged diversity, equalities, gender balance and leadership programme | 5 Comments

Opinion: the Legal Aid Bill is worth a Lib Dem revolt

By Eduardo Reyes | Tue 24th January 2012 - 8:53 am

Day-to-day I can’t help thinking about the positions our MPs and Peers would have taken on issues were we not part of a coalition. I’m far from alone in that, but I also recognise the need to choose what we decide to block with care.

Right now, we need to block the main the legal aid provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (currently at committee stage in the Lords). In summary, unless amended, the Bill will take away legal aid from clinical negligence, personal injury, welfare/benefits claims, and claims under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. …

Continue reading »

Also posted in News and Parliament | Tagged house of lords and legal aid | 8 Comments

Opinion: We need to tackle ‘crony capitalism’ on our watch

By Gareth Epps | Mon 23rd January 2012 - 4:54 pm

The Liberal Democrats’ vision of a John Lewis economy, and an end to ‘crony capitalism’, articulated by Nick Clegg, is welcome. So how does Government need to change?

The answer, it seems, lies in the habitual practices of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and its notorious revolving door to pet trade interest groups. So when the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), the in-house lobbyists of the pubcos that have closed countless community pubs, come calling, the condemnation of the outside world seems not to matter.

BIS ducked the solution supported by the cross-party BIS …

Continue reading »

Tagged pubs | 5 Comments

Opinion: UK break-up – we’d all be losers

By Alastair | Mon 23rd January 2012 - 1:54 pm

On the 6th May 2011 the Scottish National Party secured a historic majority for the next five year term at the Scottish Parliament. Their manifesto promised to freeze council tax, oppose tuition fees and set a renewable energy target of 100% by 2020. However, more crucially, one of the SNP’s most important pledges was to hold a referendum on independence.

The SNP is keen to emphasize its view that independence would make Scotland more successful; economically and socially. The SNP state that independence is the best choice for the future of Scotland and the issue should be decided by …

Continue reading »

Tagged scottish independence | 15 Comments

Opinion: Flaws in Policy Exchange’s report

By Reg Platt | Mon 23rd January 2012 - 11:54 am

Another day, another headline on the cost of green policies. This time thanks to a new report from Policy Exchange as part of their ‘Greener, Cheaper’ workstream. With customers feeling the pinch from high energy bills, Chris Huhne continues to have his work cut out to defend green policy spending. Problems with Policy Exchange’s analysis, including their uncritical support of gas and aversion to the promotion of growth by Government, must be brought to the fore.

The main argument of Policy Exchange’s report is that there are additional costs to consumers from renewable policies beyond those directly on the …

Continue reading »

Tagged energy and renewable energy | 7 Comments

Chris Davies MEP writes… Wallis succession: It just doesn’t sound right

By Chris Davies | Mon 23rd January 2012 - 10:24 am

This is a shortened version of a blog post on Chris Davies’ blog. The full version can be read here and contains complimentary comments about Diana Wallis’ parliamentary career.

The resignation of Diana Wallis, MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, came as a complete shock to her colleagues, and not least to the MEPs from across the political spectrum, including myself, who were with her 10 days ago when she handed in her nomination paper to stand for the presidency of the European Parliament.

On Tuesday morning Diana Wallis was campaigning to lead the Parliament, to …

Continue reading »

Tagged european parliament | 11 Comments

A tailored response is required to tackle cities’ unemployment challenges

By Paul Swinney | Mon 23rd January 2012 - 8:54 am

Today, Centre for Cities launches Cities Outlook 2012, our fifth annual ‘health check’ on UK cities, and this year we have focused on unemployment in cities.

The report, sponsored by IBM and the LGA, shows that there is a strong geographical nature to unemployment across UK cities. But unemployment is not evenly spread across the UK. While cities such as York and Cambridge have relatively low levels of unemployment, cities such as Grimsby and Hull have a much larger problem.

The variation in unemployment across cities is stark. While the number of people in Cambridge claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) is just …

Continue reading »

Tagged centre for cities and unemployment | 3 Comments

The Independent View: The benefits cap policy is based on myths

By Alison Garnham | Sun 22nd January 2012 - 5:35 pm

The benefit cap was announced by George Osborne at the Conservative Party Conference in October 2010. It means families will not be able to receive more than a total of £500 in benefits each week – regardless of local rental values or how many children are in the household. As the crucial votes on the cap take in the House of Lords on Monday, it’s important that the myths on which the cap policy is based are exposed.

Myth 1: The cap is just for out of work claimants of benefits

Ministers fostered the impression that this is about ensuring working families …

Continue reading »

Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged benefits and welfare reform | 31 Comments

Opinion: Is a “John Lewis economy” a liberal economy?

By Chris Nicholson | Sun 22nd January 2012 - 10:50 am

Nick Clegg hit the headlines last Monday in a speech at a CentreForum/City of London event calling for a “John Lewis economy” . John Lewis is employee owned where employees get a bonus each year depending on the performance of the group. Last year this led to every employee getting an 18% bonus on their salary. But they do not hold individual shares in the company and so do not have the associated direct potential of building up substantial asset ownership .

I, along with most liberals judging by the reaction on Lib Dem Voice, warmly welcomed the substance …

Continue reading »

Tagged economy, employee ownership, john lewis and nick clegg | 8 Comments

Opinion: MEP Diana Wallis resigns – but the European Parliament’s great ‘stitch-up’ continues

By Paul Haydon | Sat 21st January 2012 - 1:00 pm

Liberal Democrat MEP Diana Wallis caused an outcry when she resigned yesterday after coming third in the European Parliament (EP) presidential election, especially as her husband Stewart Arnold is likely to take over her seat. Yet underneath this public relations nightmare, which seems more of an unfortunate coincidence than anything else, there lies a deeper and far more worrying story of political corruption. Diana Wallis’ decision to run as a candidate for the election surprised many observers not because they thought she was unlikely to win, but rather because they knew she wouldn’t. The results had already been decided two and a …

Continue reading »

Tagged diana wallis, european parliament and stewart arnold | 13 Comments

Julian Huppert MP writes… Boris Island is no more than an election ploy

By Julian Huppert | Sat 21st January 2012 - 11:45 am

Just one week after the Government gave the green light to a multi-billion pound high speed rail network, taxpayers are being asked to consider another tranche of infrastructure investment.

But the case for a £50 billion Thames Estuary Airport, dubbed ‘Boris Island’ after London’s inimitable Mayor, is so confused that it no longer constitutes a coherent proposal at all.

Continue reading »

Tagged boris johnson, SS Richard Montgomery and transport | 6 Comments

Opinion: Water – time to see it as a national interest?

By Andrew Wigley | Fri 20th January 2012 - 4:01 pm

News that one of China’s leading wealth funds has taken a 9 percent stake in Thames Water is significant. The investment comes quick on the heels of a Gulf sovereign wealth fund taking a similar size stake in Thames Water’s parent company, Kemble.

It’s a measure of confidence in Britain’s infrastructure technology and role in the world as a safe haven for long term investment crows George Osborne. Liberal Democrats may be inclined to take a different view.

What Osborne fails to mention is that because of increased water-scarcity throughout the world – including the UK – water is set …

Continue reading »

Tagged china, chris huhne, invest, utilities, vince cable and water | 7 Comments

What’s the most effective way of ensuring fair wages for low earners?

By Prateek Buch | Fri 20th January 2012 - 3:27 pm

The question arises from James Graham’s excellent blog on how raising the personal income tax allowance, a central plank of Liberal Democrat influence in the Coalition, makes it more likely that large companies will pay fairer wages.

James was responding to Zoe Williams in the Guardian (well worth a read), who rightly highlights the negative societal impact of companies paying their employees wildly differing amounts – sky-high executive salaries at one end of the spectrum, and sub-living wages at the other that have to be topped up by complex and costly welfare spending.

Of late there has been …

Continue reading »

Tagged fair pay, james graham and living wage | 16 Comments

David Heath MP writes… Action at last on a lobbyists’ register

By David Heath MP | Fri 20th January 2012 - 2:43 pm

It’s strange how this selective amnesia thing works. The official Opposition has been agitating over recent weeks about when the government will publish the promised consultation on a Statutory Register of Lobbyists. You’d think they had always been in favour of such a thing. Er, no, not exactly. Because there were calls for its introduction under the last government. Liberal Democrats, for instance, asked repeatedly why the then Labour government wasn’t responding to clear recommendations from select committees to do just that. Labour ministers didn’t want to know. We even proposed amendments to at least require companies to report on …

Continue reading »

Tagged lobbying | 2 Comments

Opinion: The Coalition are winning the economic argument

By David Thorpe | Fri 20th January 2012 - 12:30 pm

It’s a dark winter night in Westminster but the building from which a group of men emerge is still wreathed in light. The men clamber into a sleek car, which streaks away through the emptying streets. Their journey is short in physical distance, but it’s long on significance for all of them. They are serious of face and purpose as the vehicle stops by one of the quieter spots on the riverbank.

The heaviest of the men is the first to get out, he flashes a look along the river bank, and seeing it deserted, nods quickly to his companions, all of whom …

Continue reading »

Tagged coalition, deficit reduction, ed balls, ed miliband and labour party | 30 Comments

Paul Burstow MP writes… Want to know how we can improve three million lives?

By Paul Burstow | Fri 20th January 2012 - 11:23 am

If I said the words “telecare” and “telehealth” to the person on the street it’s likely they wouldn’t have a clue what I was on about. They’re hardly phrases which just trip off the tongue.

But dig under that jargon and you’ll find that these are really very simple technologies which can help elderly people and those with long-term conditions right across the country.

Yesterday I hosted a launch of the Three Million Lives campaign. Very simply this campaign is a public declaration of how Government and industry will work together to make sure millions of lives are transformed. And because the …

Continue reading »

Tagged telecare and telehealth | 9 Comments

Opinion: If Cameron won’t attend Rio+20 then Clegg should

By Adam Corlett | Fri 20th January 2012 - 8:48 am

The Rio ‘Earth’ Summit in 1992 was the “world’s biggest ever political gathering” with 108 heads of state or government. Its successes and failures on the environment and development continue to shape those debates.

In June, Rio de Janeiro will host the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, a.k.a. Rio+20. A very early draft document suggests it will cover a wide range of topics, including access to food, water and energy; marine litter and pollution; eliminating “market distorting and environmentally harmful subsidies including those on fossil fuels, agriculture and fisheries” (I’ll believe it when I see …

Continue reading »

Tagged climate change, david cameron, environment, nick clegg, Rio+20 summit and united nations | 4 Comments

Employee ownership: Some thoughts from a former John Lewis partner

By Nick T | Thu 19th January 2012 - 7:27 pm

Nick Clegg’s speech on Monday was a welcome contribution to the debate about the changes we want to make to our economy following the financial crisis. That the economic boom of the decade leading up to the 2008 bust was unsustainable is a proposition that hardly needs putting, yet the broader debate about how to avoid such a situation in the future (if indeed we think it worth avoiding) is a topic that is largely undiscussed. My own view is that we need a serious discussion about how we measure economic health, because if the last few years showed …

Continue reading »

Tagged employee ownership, john lewis and nick clegg | 6 Comments

Opinion: “Capitalism is a great success story.” Really, Nick?

By Nicola Prigg | Thu 19th January 2012 - 4:25 pm

On Monday, Nick Clegg gave a speech on responsible capitalism. This was his first real foray into the debate since it has erupted as a major talking point, even though we as a party have been arguing the need to reform capitalism before it was cool.

Before criticising capitalism, he praised it by saying this:

Capitalism may be today’s political punchbag, but let’s take a long view: it’s one of history’s great success stories. No other human innovation has driven progress and raised living standards so consistently. Markets catalyse ideas, invention and experimentation. When they work well, they are meritocratic and

…

Continue reading »

Tagged apple, aviation, capitalism, innovation, labour party, minimum wage, nick clegg, people, samuel pierpoint langley, steve jobs and wright brothers | 35 Comments

The trade unions could be doing Ed Miliband – and all of us – a favour

By Mark Pack | Thu 19th January 2012 - 3:56 pm

No doubt, both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, joined by a select band of Blairite survivors, would be rather chipper if the trade union chiefs currently making threatening noises about cutting Labour Party funding turn out to really mean it.

But the real benefit could be much wider: if Labour loses a large chunk of its funding from trade unions bosses then it could unlock the long-running saga that political party funding reform.

Back in December I wrote:

The strong historical links between trade unions and the Labour Party means that any proposals which would curb the amount unions can give to Labour are

…

Continue reading »

Tagged ed miliband, party funding and trade unions | 1 Comment

Opinion: Derby, Bombardier and lessons for Government

By Steve Coltman | Thu 19th January 2012 - 2:57 pm

The award of a £1.4bn contract to Bombardier’s rival Siemens seemed to threaten the existence of Britain’s last remaining train-maker. 1200 workers were being laid off by Bombardier with more losses in the supply chain. The award to Siemens was all the more galling as it followed statements by politicians of all parties saying how important it is that we boost our manufacturing sector.

Two salient points have emerged regarding the Labour Government’s tender process. Firstly, they set this up as a ‘Private Finance Initiative’ and secondly that they used the ‘Utilities Contract Regulations’ rather than the ‘Public Contracts Regulations’. Both …

Continue reading »

Tagged ALDES, bombardier, derby and manufacturing | 7 Comments

Opinion: Political Heroes

By George Kendall | Thu 19th January 2012 - 11:56 am

I used to think of heroes as valiant individuals, standing alone against impossible odds. But, too often, they are media myths, their achievements the work of others.

And so with political heroes. They don’t change the country for the better without help. Too often, the real heroes are unsung, toiling away for little recognition and less reward because it is the right
thing to do.

Ten years ago, my political heroes were the grass roots of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Unexpected from a Liberal Democrat: the UUP is close to the Conservative party, and, in Northern Ireland, were the establishment, but it is how I feel.

During …

Continue reading »

Tagged liberal democrats, political heroes and ulster unionist party | 10 Comments

Learning lessons from the US elections: four legal differences you need to know

By Mark Pack | Thu 19th January 2012 - 10:56 am

With a new American Presidential cycle producing, as ever, near obsessional coverage (and ignoring other more important electoral news), now is a good time to update a post from the last cycle about learning lessons from the US:

This year is already seeing all sorts of prognostications about the lessons UK political parties and campaigners can and should be drawing.

However, many of the differences between American and British election campaigns are not the result of American campaigners having good ideas the British should copy, but rather are the result of four key legal differences between the two countries.

First – and …

Continue reading »

Also posted in Election law and LDVUSA | 3 Comments

Opinion: The Lib Dems should back Lord Foster’s plans for a new Thames Airport

By London Liberal | Thu 19th January 2012 - 9:24 am

Imagine if the Lib Dems had been in power in the west of England in the 1830s during the construction of Brunel’s visionary Great West Rail line. 19th century equivalents of ‘Focus’ leaflets (which, on reflection, would probably have looked much the same and have been produced in much the same way) would have dropped through the letterboxes of local residents in affected towns and villages warning them of terrible noise and rural devastation from years of construction activity that would permanently scar their cherished landscape.

Or imagine Lib Dems in opposition in the 1930s, who would have campaigned against those unsightly …

Continue reading »

Tagged lord foster and thames airport | 43 Comments

Opinion: What’s happened to democracy in the Liberal Democrats?

By George Potter | Wed 18th January 2012 - 3:55 pm

What’s happened to democracy in the Liberal Democrats? Is it dead? Or is it just comatose?

The reason I ask this question comes from my own experience of our internal democracy.

When I joined the party at the age of 18, I was impressed by how, unlike any other major party, ordinary members had a real say. That I, as a member, had a voice equal to anyone else in the party, be it my local councillor or the party leader and that everyone’s vote was equal.

So, last year, when I learned about the shocking plans by the government to drastically cut …

Continue reading »

Also posted in Conference | Tagged dla, esa, house of lords, internal democracy, liberal democrats and welfare reform bill | 72 Comments