Category Archives: Op-eds

James Elsdon-Baker

The Independent View: surveillance lessons from Birmingham

By James Elsdon-Baker | Fri 8th October 2010 - 4:05 pm

Birmingham, the city that this week played host to the Conservative party conference, has also been hosting a grass roots battle for Liberty.

This battle takes the form of a campaign run by residents against Project Champion. This project involved the police installing automated number plate recognition cameras (ANPR) in a Muslim area of the city.

It has now been shown that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) provided the project’s funding as part of an anti-terror grant. This raises the questions as to why people were mislead by senior officers into believing the cameras were installed for crime prevention …

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Simon McGrath

Opinion: what can Lord Ashcroft tell us about Lib Dem voters?

By Simon McGrath | Fri 8th October 2010 - 2:42 pm

Lord Ashcroft has spent some the money he acquired through not paying his taxes on a fascinating poll of former Labour voters.

The poll looks at 2091 people who voted Labour in 2005 but for other parties in 2010, 47% of them voted Lib Dem. It provides a wealth of information on the attitude of these voters who it is crucial we retain in 2015, and how they differ from ex Labour voters who choose to vote for other parties.

The first issue looked at is why did they leave Labour. They are asked to rate a number of reasons …

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Ed Long

Opinion: science should be protected from the cuts

By Ed Long | Fri 8th October 2010 - 1:05 pm

It’s been a heady week for British science in the wake of the Nobel prize announcements.

British reproductive biologist Robert Edwards was awarded the prize for medicine for his role in developing the in-vitro fertilisation techniques that led to the world’s first “test-tube baby”. In the same awards, the prize for physics was given to a pair of Russian-born scientists, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who we are lucky enough to have currently working at Manchester University. Incidentally, Geim is also an Ig Nobel laureate for developing an experiment in which he levitated a live frog using magnetic fields acting …

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Richard Morris

Opinion: Ed wants to steal our clothes

By Richard Morris | Fri 8th October 2010 - 11:20 am

Oh dear. Ed Miliband makes one speech in which he mentions Beveridge and doesn’t overtly attack us, and everyone thinks he’s making overtures to us and looking to form a Progressive Coalition after the next General Election.

Martin Kettle even wrote a short piece on this in The Guardian.

Wake up everyone. The complete opposite is true. When Ed Miliband said he wanted ‘to eliminate the Liberal Democrats from British Politics’, he meant it. And he’s going about it in an ingenious – and invidious – way.
Partly of course he’s playing the old card of the other two parties – …

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Simon de Deney

Opinion: it’s not the economy, stupid

By Simon de Deney | Thu 7th October 2010 - 5:04 pm

“Enough of the cuts already!”. We should be shouting. Not because of some ostrich-like desire to deny we’re part of a coalition that’s taking a scythe to public spending, but because the message is wrong. It’s not the cuts stupid, it’s not even the economy stupid. It’s the vision thing, clever.

Businesses are not in business to cut costs. Of course, they need to be efficient to compete (which includes not burdening themselves with debt that they can’t cope with). But their purpose, the reason someone set them up in the first place, is to make something or sell a service. …

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Malcolm Wood

Opinion: Labour leadership voters may have favoured Balls over the Milibands

By Malcolm Wood | Thu 7th October 2010 - 3:22 pm

A low point in William Hague’s otherwise excellent conference speech on Sunday was his cheap shot at the Alternative Vote system and its role in the outcome of the Labour leadership election. The result, he implied, was some sort of mathematical anomaly; somehow unfair. But there’s nothing unfair about the election of Ed Miliband. If the election were repeated tomorrow using the first-past-the-post system, with only the two Milibands standing, the result would be the same. What the AV system showed was that a majority of the Labour party electorate preferred Ed over David. …

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William Cullerne Bown

The Independent View: Clegg must play his cards right on student fees

By William Cullerne Bown | Thu 7th October 2010 - 1:55 pm

Well here we are, in the cockpit of history. The Today programme yesterday reported that David Willetts had been yanked back from the Conservative Party conference to negotiate with Vince Cable over student fees, looking for a deal before the Browne Review delivers its report.

What kind of deal is possible? This is a crucial question not just for Liberal Democrats but for the whole country because Nick Clegg holds a powerful hand and the way he plays his cards may shape the future our universities and the role they play in this country for a generation.

The right of abstention …

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The Independent View: Honouring our refugee protection commmitments

By Marilyn Croser | Thu 7th October 2010 - 11:27 am

Asylum is a human rights issue. Given the tone of public debate in the last few years, you could be forgiven for not realising that, or having forgotten it. Asylum policy is about ensuring that people who have suffered appalling persecution are given the protection they’re entitled to. That’s not mentioned very often either. So it was heartening to see a room full of people at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool for a discussion organised by the Refugee Council and UNHCR on ‘Asylum Policy: Honouring Our Refugee Protection Commitments’.

The meeting brought together Tom Brake MP, Roland Schilling (UNHCR UK …

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged , , , , and | 3 Comments
Iain Roberts

How regressive is the VAT rise?

By Iain Roberts | Thu 7th October 2010 - 8:30 am

Labour had been considering it for months before the General Election. The Coalition decided it was necessary after they’d seen the books – much to the discomfort of many Lib Dems. It’s the VAT rise – to 20% on 1st January 2011.

Many people have said that it’s a regressive tax and we should have increased basic rate income tax instead, suggesting that would be fairer.

Is that really true? Partly, but in reality the case is less clear cut.

We don’t pay VAT on food, children’s clothes, books, newspapers, magazines or sporting activities nor will the VAT rise affect …

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Also posted in News | Tagged | 94 Comments
Matt Gallagher

Opinion: is a Labour-led coalition possible?

By Matt Gallagher | Wed 6th October 2010 - 3:29 pm

Now that Ed Miliband has apparently embraced the Liberal Democrat agenda (voting reform, civil liberties, fairer taxation, condemnation of the Iraq war, cleaning up ‘the city’, the need for ‘fiscal credibility’ etc.,) he raises an intriguing question. Could Labour form a coalition government before the term of the present one expires?

The maths is intriguing. Labour currently hold 258 seats. Since Sinn Fein refuse to take up their five seats in Parliament the ‘magic number’ for a majority is an attainable 323. Were Labour to win three by-elections by taking seats from the Scottish Nationalists or Plaid Cymru, and were …

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Iain Roberts

Were the Lib Dems the conference media winners?

By Iain Roberts | Wed 6th October 2010 - 1:44 pm

When it comes to party conferences, all parties complain that the media get it wrong.

If you’re in the Green Party, UKIP, Plaid, the SNP or another smaller party you’ll be frustrated about the way the national media ignore you.  All those great policies and speeches to the party faithful, but you end up with a small paragraph in the Times.  If you’re lucky.

The Lib Dems were finding out this year what it’s like not to be ignored. Tabloid hacks arriving for the first time from the Sun , Express, Mirror and Mail may have been as bemused by the disappointing …

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Also posted in Conference | 7 Comments
Andrew George

Opinion: Bovine TB eradication must be science-led

By Andrew George | Wed 6th October 2010 - 11:27 am

“As part of a package of measures, we will introduce a carefully managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas with high and persistent levels of Bovine Tuberculosis” – The Coalition: Our programme for Government (page 18)

The Government is now consulting on its proposal to introduce badger culling as part of its approach to tackle Bovine TB. This part of the Government’s policy is bound to generate both controversy and impassioned debate.

Last year the Government slaughtered over 25,000 cattle because of TB. The control programme costs £63 million. Yet the situation is getting worse.

There is little doubt – and the …

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Lauren Keith

Opinion: the Tories should be supporting voting reform

By Lauren Keith | Tue 5th October 2010 - 4:50 pm

I am not a Liberal Democrat who is going to apologise on the doorstep for the Coalition. I think it was the best situation that could have transpired.

The Conservatives are not the party they were in the 1980s; they have a leader who is clearly much more in the centre-ground of politics, and his and Nick’s personal chemistry certainly attest to a political dovetailing as well. You need look no further than the disquiet about Cameron and the coalition coming from the traditional right-wing elements of the party, and the brewing arguments over defence spending to …

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Phil Cowley

The Independent View: Conservatives admit their role in election attacks on Clegg

By Phil Cowley | Tue 5th October 2010 - 3:17 pm

Back in April, in those heady days after the first televised leaders debate, as news of the remarkable Liberal Democrat poll surge began to come through, Nick Clegg spoke to the members of his campaign team on the phone. None of them could quite believe what was happening, but they agreed on one thing: ‘They’re going to come for us.’

As everyone will recall, ‘they’ did – with a string of lurid newspaper stories, reaching a peak on 22 April, the morning of the second leaders’ debate.  Most Lib Dem Voice readers will remember: ‘Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem donors and payments into his private account’ (Daily Telegraph); ‘Clegg’s crazy immigration policies’ (Daily Express); ‘Wobble Democrat’ (Sun); and ‘Clegg in Nazi Slur on Britain’ (Daily Mail).

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Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged , and | 48 Comments
Ewan Hoyle

Opinion: my Guardian drugs surprise

By Ewan Hoyle | Tue 5th October 2010 - 1:28 pm

Cannabis stance is wrong, says Lib Dem drug campaigner

This was the surprising headline that greeted me on the guardian website just a few short hours after I’d made my maiden speech to conference.

I wasn’t planning to give a speech from the conference floor when I arrived in Liverpool. Having seen the latest motion I had drafted on drugs policy again be rejected by the Federal Conference Committee, I was instead concentrating on encouraging as many people as possible (without being too pushy) to attend the fringe event “It’s Time We Talked About Drug Policy” at which I was …

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Also posted in Conference | Tagged | 10 Comments
Iain Roberts

Capping total benefit entitlements – right or wrong?

By Iain Roberts | Tue 5th October 2010 - 12:40 pm

Alongside the widely publicised lopping of child benefits for higher-rate taxpayers, George Osborne has also announced plans for a cap on how much any one non-working family can get from the State.

The maximum will be set at £26,000 and starts in 2013. It’s likely to affect larger families, particularly those put into private rented accomodation by their local authority.

This capping seems to be pretty much impossible to do with the system as it is right now. There’s a host of different benefits and credits, all administered by different people and, in some cases, totally different tiers of government. …

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Also posted in News | Tagged , and | 142 Comments
Mark Pack

Choosing Parliamentary candidates isn’t just about the individual; it’s also about the team

By Mark Pack | Tue 5th October 2010 - 10:27 am

Spend time talking to Liberal Democrat members about how the party should or shouldn’t go about selecting its Westminster Parliamentary candidates and pretty soon you’ll hear someone say, usually in the context of whether or not we have too many male white candidates, “But it should be about selecting the best person for the job”. Even people who argue for either positive action or positive discrimination frequently accept the underlying assumption – but argue that to get the best person for the job requires a broader vision, taking into account wider discrimination in society and so on.

Yet selecting a candidate …

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Iain Roberts

Child benefit: the cutting debate

By Iain Roberts | Tue 5th October 2010 - 8:11 am

George Osborne has announced that the Coalition Government plans to scrap child benefit payments for families where one or both parents is a higher rate taxpayer.

Child benefit is currently paid to families (normally to the mother) where any children are under 18. It isn’t a means tested benefit: you have to apply and show you’ve got children, but there are no long, complicated forms to fill out where you give details of your financial situation.

So is the change a good idea? From my staw polling, most – but certainly not all – Lib Dems seem to think this …

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John Pugh

Opinion: good and bad reasons for backing Ken

By John Pugh | Mon 4th October 2010 - 5:24 pm

Ken Clarke is coming under pressure from the Red Tops about his plans for sentence reform. According to Conservative Home, even David Cameron is getting cold feet. But Liberal Democrats, it is assumed, are bound to be backing Ken.

This might be thought a given as Liberals are, from the point of view of the media, supposed to have a benign, Panglossian view of human nature which unkind souls might call unrealistic or wet.

Wrong on both counts!

I have long thought the only good moral reason for punishing someone is that they deserve it and that the state is …

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Opinion: low-paying companies should contribute to the welfare pot

By Simon Gamble | Mon 4th October 2010 - 2:54 pm

In these straitened times it is very tempting to look at trying to reduce the benefits bill. A lot of attention is focussed on benefits paid to people who – for whatever reason – are out of work. However, I think we should also look at the benefits paid to people in work and whether it is right that they should be claiming benefits at all.

Fear not, this is not a proposal likely to be supported by the Daily Telegraph. It is more about attacking the principle of low pay. The coalition government – thanks to …

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Allan Siao Ming Witherick

Opinion: we ignore these voters at our peril

By Allan Siao Ming Witherick | Mon 4th October 2010 - 12:56 pm

How many nationalities can vote in the UK (and no the Scottish aren’t a nationality in this context!)?
• 2? British and Irish? No.
• 27? European Union? Closer, although most can’t vote in parliamentary elections.
• 54? The Commonwealth? They can’t vote in European elections…

So actually adding them together gives a total of 80 nationalities who can vote in at least one UK election*.

In the UK it’s a great example of our tolerance and inclusion by giving people a say in their adopted communities and the politicians who affect the area where they live. Even my own council Liberal Democrat …

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Chris White

Opinion: hitting the campaign trail? Check your facts first.

By Chris White | Sun 3rd October 2010 - 4:05 pm

The Conservative Chair of the London Fire and Rescue Authority announced this week that fortnightly waste collections are a fire risk. The reason, he tells us, is that they attract arson attacks.

Meanwhile I have received a number of hostile letters because I suggested in a council meeting that there was no retail crisis at the north end of St Peter’s Street in St Albans. That, far from there being a blight of empty shops, somehow caused by parking charges which rose only modestly last April, footfall is in fact increasing and void tenancies are decreasing. And anyway St Albans is …

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John Roffey

Opinion: will the Minimum Wage have to be reduced or dispensed with?

By John Roffey | Sat 2nd October 2010 - 2:15 pm

Although it must be hoped the Coalition is successful in reducing the nation’s deficit through savings and is able to increase economic activity to provide increased tax income, the unexpectedly high borrowing last month does not stimulate confidence.

There is no doubt the Coalition is creating an environment more conducive to business activity and small businesses, which require little finance, will find niches in the market to be able to flourish. However, with the banks still reluctant to lend and the giant corporations having grabbed so many of the business opportunities – it will be only the most inventive and …

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Stephen Tall

The Saturday Debate: Local government is to the Lib Dems what the unions are to Labour and big business is to the Tories

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd October 2010 - 8:45 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our Saturday slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

I was struck by this recent article by the Economist’s political columnist Bagehot, headlined When progressive actually means misanthropic, reflecting on the Lib Dem conference, and specifically the debate on free schools.

Highlighting that, while the party may have lacked power at Westminster, the Lib Dems have for decades now been a major player in local government, it observes that:

… local government occupies much of the mental space taken up by national politics in the Labour and Conservative parties. … more

…

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Laurie Eggleston

Opinion: Let’s talk about Europe

By Laurie Eggleston | Fri 1st October 2010 - 4:40 pm

I’ve been surprised how little trouble Europe has caused the coalition so far. For all that we were vilified as ardent Europhiles during the election, it’s not really been mentioned since. In allowing it to drop off the radar, I think we’re now missing an opportunity.

Labour were always too scared of mention the E-word; so paralysed by their terror of the Mail’s wrath were they. Cameron too seems content to let the issue lie. The Coalition agreement makes it clear in no uncertain terms that this government won’t go anywhere near changing our current relationship with the EU – both …

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Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged and | 14 Comments
David Thorpe

Opinion: can social partnership agreements be part of the deficit solution?

By David Thorpe | Fri 1st October 2010 - 2:47 pm

My native Ireland enjoyed a period of unprecedented economic growth in the late ‘90s and early nougties, and while many of the reasons are similar to the reasons Britain enjoyed periodic growth in the same period, one factor in the growth which was unique to Ireland were the use of Social Partnership agreements.

These agreements were principally negotiated between the private sector employers, the government in a dual role as both government and large employer, the unions and social groups and organisations.

Agreements such as these typically last about four years, and the benefit to the economy is that there is a …

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Mark Wright

Opinion: What’s a “fair” cut?

By Mark Wright | Fri 1st October 2010 - 12:25 pm

What difference does it make having Lib Dems in power? How are Lib Dems actually making cuts “fairer”? One example is what we have done in Bristol, when we reviewed redundancy terms. The statutory redundancy payout is a week’s salary – up to a cap of £380 per week – per year worked. Bristol Council had a much more generous scheme: twice the weekly salary, with no cap.

This sounds great until you look at the effects of this a bit more closely: at the bottom of the officer pay-scale the Bristol scheme was about twice as generous as the statutory …

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Also posted in Local government | Tagged | 10 Comments
Andrew Stunell MP

Opinion: Big Society is a Big Opportunity for Liberal Democrats

By Andrew Stunell MP | Fri 1st October 2010 - 11:52 am

I write this having just got back from a very successful Lib Dem Conference in Liverpool. Everyone seemed to be in good heart, and keen to see what a Liberal Democrat government minister really looked like. Conference is a great occasion to talk and listen to activists directly, and so I really got stuck in. On more than one occasion I was “doing a Simon Hughes” and trying to attend multiple meetings at once! But, though we covered a diverse range of topics, there were two recurring themes – localism and the Big Society.

Localism shouldn’t need any explanation for Liberal …

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Iain Roberts

“Shocking 37% rape increase in London”…or is it?

By Iain Roberts | Fri 1st October 2010 - 8:11 am

Marie Claire (and where else would I go for my news) reports

Shocking 37% rape increase in London

As the article later explains, all may not quite be what it seems. The 37% increase is in reports of rapes in London over the last 12 months.

Is that terrible, or is it a good news story? From that statistic alone we just don’t know. It could be that there have been 37% more rapes in London over that time – that would be a shocking increase over any period, even more so in just one year.

But it could equally …

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Matt Gallagher

Opinion: Labour’s new coat of gloss

By Matt Gallagher | Thu 30th September 2010 - 2:59 pm

So, Labour has a new leader, and as he enjoys his honeymoon the party is experiencing a surge in the polls. This is to be expected; indeed, it would be an odd thing if Labour slumped in popularity in the immediate aftermath of such an event. They experienced the same effect following the elections of Blair and Brown, and a fine thing it can be for energising the activists and uniting the party. It can also be an effective way of repackaging a failing brand. Changing the leader gives the impression that the past is now ancient history and the …

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