Category Archives: Op-eds

Daniel Furr

Opinion: John Prescott and the unions, voices of Labour’s rapid decline

By Daniel Furr | Sun 11th July 2010 - 9:20 am

Labour is not taking to opposition very well. Partisan points of orders, revisionist attitudes to the fiscal situation and demanding the coalition praises their formers leaders. And now we see Labour figures demanding voters to see a referendum, on the principle of a fairer voting system, as a “confidence vote on the coalition.”

By asking the public for their ideas and recommendations for public sector cuts, the Coalition Government has intelligently put the Labour party in an uncomfortable place. The unions are threatening general strikes and the average voter recognises the ideological and partisan attitude of the union movement. The “union …

Continue reading »
Tagged , and | 39 Comments
Jason Mehmet

Opinion: National influence, international irrelevance?

By Jason Mehmet | Sat 10th July 2010 - 5:45 pm

I remember the day I self-identified as a Liberal Democrat. I was a teenager, perhaps 16 or 17, (disclosure: I’m now in my mid 30s) and was actually watching a political debate that was taking place on what was, at the time, ‘yoof’ TV.

The three main parties were represented. I can’t recall who the other two people were, but the stand-out performance was from Simon Hughes.  Everything he said just made sense and for the life of me I couldn’t understand why the Liberal Democrats were not in Government.  This was the point at which I became politically aware.

I can’t …

Continue reading »
Tagged , , , and | 17 Comments
Stephen Tall

If Cameron is “potentially the best all-round prime minister of the modern era”, it’s thanks to the Coalition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 10th July 2010 - 10:45 am

That’s the hyperbolic claim of The Guardian’s Martin Kettle:

These are still very early days. The coalition has to get through difficult votes on AV and negotiate the most difficult spending round in a generation. The economy may tank. Yet in these first weeks even opponents should concede that Cameron has played a blinder. He is showing himself as potentially the best all-round prime minister of the modern era. Labour’s hopefuls should learn from him. No doubt about it, Cameron wins this season’s political golden boot.

Wildly OTT? Yes. But it’s not completely without its justification. For example, Mr Kettle points …

Continue reading »
13 Comments
Mark Pack

The Saturday Debate: should the public be able to declare political affiliation on the electoral register?

By Mark Pack | Sat 10th July 2010 - 9:20 am

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

In many states in the US people register themselves as “Democrat” or “Republican” (with also various options for “Independent” etc.) when they join the electoral register. These lists can then be used by the parties to hold primaries or caucuses to select candidates, letting only registered supporters of the party to take party. Open primaries* where anyone can vote are also held in some places, but if you only want your party’s supporters to vote in a primary then wrapping registering your …

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 22 Comments
Tim Starkey

Opinion: Making Prisons Work

By Tim Starkey | Thu 8th July 2010 - 11:15 am

On 30th June, Ken Clarke announced a big re-think of prisons policy. He argued that locking more and more people up isn’t working, that short sentences do nothing to rehabilitate offenders, and that more use should be made of community penalties.

This is music to Lib Dem ears and a welcome change from the macho posturing of recent Home Secretaries – but has he got his facts right?

Whilst a clear majority of those sentenced are given sentences of less than 12 months, short-term prisoners make up less than 10% of the prison population for the simple reason that …

Continue reading »
8 Comments
Andrew George

Opinion: A Cornish perspective on the Budget and VAT

By Andrew George | Thu 8th July 2010 - 9:20 am

As MP for the West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St Ives, I am fortunate to represent one of the most spectacular and attractive parts of the UK. However, it is also the poorest region in the country. So Budget proposals are critical to many of my constituents who exist with the reality of low incomes and relatively high living costs.

On a positive note, the Budget put forward by the Coalition Government has much to commend it and for the Liberal Democrats, in particular, to be proud of.

It contains policies the party campaigned for, including: an increase in …

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 18 Comments
George Kendall

Opinion: Suggestions for the spending review

By George Kendall | Wed 7th July 2010 - 1:20 pm

This site gives people inside and outside the party a place to express their views. And what bigger subject than the cuts to be announced in this autumn’s spending review?

The coalition government have said that there will be consultation on the spending review, but many of us may want to test our thinking on a forum before writing to the government. This post is a place for us to get feedback on our ideas, and to think through the options the government faces.

It might be helpful to say some of the following:
– why your idea would save money
– …

Continue reading »
16 Comments
Nick Perry

Opinion: I admit it, I am shocked by Labour’s hatred

By Nick Perry | Wed 7th July 2010 - 11:45 am

Call me naive, but I have been genuinely shocked by the bilious and unbridled hatred that has been pouring out from every Labour orifice you could care to mention.

Not just from the Labour leadership contenders. Not just in the press. But even here in sunny Hastings, Labour is looking to knee-cap a Lib Dem or two.

It’s bewildering. It’s so far removed from the kind of national political culture that I want to be part of.

My sense of the Lib Dems is that we wear our political hearts on our sleeve a bit. We are passionate about social justice, civil liberties, political reform. And maybe that’s why the first 50 days of the Coalition have been so difficult to come to terms with.

Coalition policies are, de facto, not Lib Dem policies, despite our party having influenced (for the better) the policies that are now being brought forward.

Continue reading »
311 Comments
Cathy Warwick

The Independent View: Public sector pensions – far from gold-plated

By Cathy Warwick | Wed 7th July 2010 - 10:20 am

Teeing up public sector workers like midwives for cuts in their pensions, Nick Clegg spoke recently about the “unreformed gold-plated public sector pension pots” that people like firefighters and soldiers enjoy. We hear a lot about the long-term cost of public sector pension schemes, as if they are a fiscal time-bomb ready to explode at the heart of the public finances.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the reality of these bounteous public sector pension pots. Take the average pension for a female NHS worker, £5,000. What is worse, half of all women pensioners who have worked in the NHS get a …

Continue reading »
Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged and | 15 Comments

The Independent View: Child poverty

By Richard Exell | Tue 6th July 2010 - 3:35 pm

In 1999, the government announced that it meant to end child poverty by 2020. Making progress towards that objective is now the responsibility of the Coalition; how well is it likely to do?

Tony Blair’s pronouncement, made out of the blue at a meeting in Toynbee Hall, was a typical coup de théâtre, and it even surprised his own cabinet. It illustrated Mr Blair’s strengths – reassuring supporters who worried that new Labour had lost touch with their Party’s traditional values and at the same time neutralising critics from the other end of the spectrum. For a generation, inegalitarians had …

Continue reading »
Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Jonathan Walls

Opinion: Eurosceptics on the fringes, egg on their faces

By Jonathan Walls | Tue 6th July 2010 - 1:45 pm

Iain Dale is rather keen to make it clear why he sees nothing wrong with accepting paranoid Euroscepticism at face value. Here’s his piece on the wild rumours that the EU hopes to ban selling eggs by the dozen.

I was looking at some of the comments in response to his post, and I don’t think they’re being fair to Iain. Just because he could have looked at a packet of eggs in his fridge and found the information in question is already on the packaging hardly means we should expect such extensive research from him before posting.

He wrote: “It’s written …

Continue reading »
Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Should our MPs give Clegg more support in the Commons?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 6th July 2010 - 10:20 am

Yesterday Nick Clegg stood up as Deputy Prime Minister in the House of Commons and announced there would be a referendum to reform the voting system within the next year.

If I’d suggested just a few weeks ago that I would be able to type that sentence with a straight face I imagine most folk would think I’d lost any grasp on reality. Yet it’s what happened.

True, the route to Nick becoming Deputy Prime Minister is not proving easy: coalition with the Tories is forcing uncomfortable compromises on the Lib Dems. And true, the alternative vote is not a proportional …

Continue reading »
Also posted in Parliament | Tagged , , , and | 34 Comments
Mark Valladares

If English Council meets and nobody knows, did it really meet?

By Mark Valladares | Mon 5th July 2010 - 2:20 pm

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, but whilst most people heading for London were on their way to Pride, or Lords for the cricket, or Wimbledon for the tennis, a few dozen hardy Liberal Democrats were heading towards the St Alban’s Centre near Chancery Lane station for the first of 2010’s two meetings of English Council.

Unusually, the first item on the agenda was a speech by the Party President, Ros Scott, who talked about the challenges facing the Party in the weeks, months and years ahead, as well as some of the work being done at Federal level to address …

Continue reading »
Also posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

The Freedom Bill: this time the consultation is for real, but is it better?

By Mark Pack | Mon 5th July 2010 - 10:20 am

The Freedom Bill (previously known as the Great Repeal Bill) has been a Liberal Democrat policy for some time and now that we’re in coalition government it’s become the Your Freedom initiative – an online consultation to identify laws to repeal.

In two respects this is good news – online consultation is becoming more of a habit for government and it’s also becoming a welcome pattern to see long-standing Liberal Democrat demands move towards actual implementation by government.

But in one respect I think the Your Freedom site does not address a key issue as well as the party did when …

Continue reading »
Also posted in Online politics | Tagged , and | 5 Comments
Iain Roberts

How many votes should earn a party power?

By Iain Roberts | Sun 4th July 2010 - 4:20 pm

“It’s outrageous that the Lib Dems wield any power and influence having secured just 23% of the popular vote”, goes the argument  – mostly heard from Labour activists at the moment.

I don’t recall them arguing that Labour shouldn’t have had power after 2005, when the party won 35% of the vote, so I wonder at what point a party switches from no power to total power?  Which vote swings it?  Perhaps we could identify the actual voter and let them know?

Hello Mrs Abercromby – we just wanted you to know that your vote will take your party over 33.84% which …

Continue reading »
22 Comments
Helen Duffett

The coalition “marriage” – should we keep our name?

By Helen Duffett | Sun 4th July 2010 - 9:50 am

In the Guardian last week, Timothy Garton-Ash argued that the Liberal Democrats’ distinctive identity is being lost both by coalition with the Conservatives and by other parties’ appropriation of the “liberal” label:

The Liberal Democrats should change their name to the Liberals. Here’s why. First of all, Liberal Democrats is a pretty meaningless name. That’s liberal democrats as opposed to illiberal democrats, is it? Or as opposed to liberal anti-democrats?

Lib Dems, to which they are usually abridged, is even emptier. The name sounds like the product of an awkward compromise, which is exactly what it is. When the Liberal party,

…

Continue reading »
Tagged , and | 78 Comments
Adam Bell

Opinion: Why Lib Dems should have no reservations about campaigning for AV

By Adam Bell | Sat 3rd July 2010 - 11:40 am

Lib Dems are necessarily an introspective bunch, given to minute analysis of the implications of our own policies in order to ensure they’re entirely fair & liberal. As a consequence, the compromises involved in the coalition agreement (and the practices thereof) have come as something of a brutal shock to many party members – most significantly over the VAT increase. I still find that unbelievable – why on earth would you raise a transaction tax when demand is weak? However, that’s not the issue at hand, which is the Alternative Vote.

The Alternative Vote works by enabling the voter to rank …

Continue reading »
Tagged , and | 22 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Saturday Debate: Time for British troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan

By Stephen Tall | Sat 3rd July 2010 - 8:45 am

Here’s your starter for ten as we continue our Saturday slot posing a view for debate:

Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has recently written to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg renewing his call for British troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan:

It is very difficult to justify our continued engagement when the reasons for it so often appear contradictory and open to challenge. I suspect one reason why 77% of people in this country tell pollsters that they want our troops out of Afghanistan is because they either do not know what are the objectives for their presence or do not

…

Continue reading »
Tagged , , and | 23 Comments
Mark Pack

Why budget maths makes me thinks of Escher

By Mark Pack | Fri 2nd July 2010 - 12:50 pm

A small state is smaller than a big state, right?

But now bear with me.

Take a glance at the heated rhetoric coming from Labour ranks about how the coalition government is hell bent on a right wing crusade to slash the size of the state.

Then consider this. The coalition’s spending plans will see public spending in 2015-16 at a fraction under 40% of GDP.

And you know what? That’s higher than it was under Labour in 1997-98 and in all the intervening years through to, and including, 2003-04. (See the graph here from Peter Hoskin.)

So the horrible dreadful right-wing small state still …

Continue reading »
Tagged and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Simon Hughes said about coalition politics in 2008

By Stephen Tall | Fri 2nd July 2010 - 10:50 am

In 2008 – when the general assumption was that the Tories would win an overall majority – the Hansard Society published a collection of essays on the impact of a balanced parliament on British politics, titled No Overall Control.

One of its contributors was Simon Hughes, then the Lib Dems’ shadow leader of the House, now our deputy leader. So how does what Simon said over two years ago about a hypothetical future measure up to what’s happening in the current reality?

Pretty well in most respects is the answer. While arguing that a balanced parliament was a less-than-likely eventuality, …

Continue reading »
Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Charlotte Henry

Opinion: General Election 1.5 – 2010, the almost Internet Election

By Charlotte Henry | Thu 1st July 2010 - 11:20 am

As a Lib Dem working in online and multimedia communications, the concept of an ‘Internet election’ is something I have thought quite a lot about. In the build up to the election I expressed my concerns about the Lib Dems use of online tools on my own blog.

I am pleased to say that on a national level my fears were misplaced. Our online campaign was excellent, and by far the best of the three major parties.  In particular the Labservative spoof campaign was innovative, eye catching, and added a new entry to the politco dictionary. It was exactly the …

Continue reading »
Also posted in Online politics | Tagged | 6 Comments
Don Foster MP

Opinion: Let live music flourish in small venues

By Don Foster MP | Wed 30th June 2010 - 5:10 pm

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to see the Brit Awards 2010 at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. When people say that UK live music is doing well, this is what they mean – an enormous venue, world class talent, and an ecstatic crowd. I was particularly impressed with Florence Welch and Dizzee Rascal’s performance, which combined both of their distinct musical outlooks with great success.

Now that Labour has been booed offstage, the coalition partners have got up for a similarly ambitious duet. For such established solo performers, trying to make our different styles gel will be …

Continue reading »
5 Comments
Lester Holloway

Opinion: If we fail to address the image of an all-white party our reputation alone will put off future black and Asian people from joining

By Lester Holloway | Wed 30th June 2010 - 12:20 pm

The Liberal Democrats are showing signs of getting serious about tackling the chronic under-representation of black and Asian talent in elected positions – and about time too.

In a groundbreaking move that was sadly unreported, the London Region recently agreed to introduce positive action in a bid to get at least one BAME hopeful onto the London Assembly, a body that represents a city where over a third of the population is from an ethnic minority.

The decision to reserve places – quotas by another name – on the ‘top-up list’ means the Lib Dems have gone further than any other political …

Continue reading »
Also posted in London | Tagged , and | 131 Comments
Iain Roberts

Thanks Jack: Tory right finds a friend in Labour

By Iain Roberts | Wed 30th June 2010 - 8:20 am

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke is calling for cuts in Britain’s prison population, following the agenda set by the Lib Dems and previously opposed by both the Conservatives and Labour.

Those Labour activists still clinging desperately onto the idea that the Lib Dems are mere cheerleaders in the coalition are going to have to twist themselves into yet more contortions – or simply  ignore the facts – as they continue to push their line.

As Jack Straw writes in The Mail:

has allowed his government’s penal policy to be dictated not by his own common sense but by Justice Secretary Kenneth

…

Continue reading »
Tagged , and | 18 Comments
Ewan Hoyle

Opinion: drugs policy

By Ewan Hoyle | Tue 29th June 2010 - 11:16 pm

Saturday was World Drug Day, a day intended to serve as a reminder of the need to combat the problems illicit drugs pose to society. The problems are numerous, deadly serious, and close to overwhelming to many states around the globe but the current prohibitionist approach mandated by the UN drug conventions has failed to make any significant impact upon the profits of the criminal cartels, demand for their products, and the terrible consequences of the trade for communities in the UK and beyond.

The UK currently spends around £19 billion on the criminal justice system due to the criminalisation of …

Continue reading »
Tagged | 31 Comments
Iain Roberts

People in broad church parties should think twice before attacking coalitions

By Iain Roberts | Tue 29th June 2010 - 4:20 pm

There are plenty of political parties hanging on to their ideological purity, where all the members pretty much agree on all the key issues. They’re easy to spot: they’re the ones that always lose.

The big parties are compromises – broad churches – people who work together because they agree a bit more with each other than with the rest, or simply because it’s the tribe they’re in.

Broad church parties are necessary in our electoral system. Under First Past the Post, you need to get to a certain size to have any real chance of success, and there simply …

Continue reading »
Tagged | 20 Comments
Ed Long

Opinion: Hitting who the hardest?

By Ed Long | Tue 29th June 2010 - 2:20 pm

The contents of the emergency budget have been a bitter pill for many Lib Dem activists to swallow. I have to admit that my support for the Liberal Democrats has been mostly on the basis of their commitment to civil liberties, their scientific literacy (Evan Harris is greatly missed!) and their hard work in my local area. I can make no claims about being educated in economics but I like to think my Maths degree qualifies me as basically numerate.

Recently I read The Observer story on the briefing from Tim Horton (of Fabian Society, not doughnut, fame) and Howard …

Continue reading »
Tagged , , , and | 41 Comments
Ann Feltham

The Independent View: The first thing Vince should cut is funding for the arms trade

By Ann Feltham | Mon 28th June 2010 - 1:20 pm

Vince Cable’s new department, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, was saddled with the heaviest round of cuts in the first round of cuts announced by the coalition government. They will have to find £836m of savings in 2010. Meanwhile the rest of us have been asked to participate in a comprehensive spending review.

There is one candidate for cuts that many in the Liberal Democrats and the country at large would be pleased with – an end to government support for arms exports. One way the government helps arms companies sell their weapons to other countries is …

Continue reading »
Also posted in The Independent View | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
Chris White

Opinion: Observer’s dishonesty doesn’t disguise party challenges

By Chris White | Mon 28th June 2010 - 11:20 am

I was out drinking with a couple of Tory councillors the other day. This is not a frequent occurrence and has become no more frequent since the Coalition.

I learned that one of their acquaintance had resigned her Conservative Party membership because of the Coalition. She is a Thatcherite.

The days and weeks after the toughest budget for several decades were bound to be uncomfortable. None of us expected to see our Party lauded by the press.

The Guardian lambasted the budget for its effect on the poor, the Mail for its effect on middle England. I gave up and bought …

Continue reading »
Tagged | 26 Comments
Mark Pack

Government moves right, political agenda moves elsewhere

By Mark Pack | Mon 28th June 2010 - 9:20 am

Whether driven by circumstance or long-term plan, the reaction of David Cameron to the general election result has been an attempt to realign British politics around the centre-right, using the need to strike – and then keep an agreement – with the Liberal Democrats as a way to drag his party away from its more right-wing elements. Doubtless future biographers will spill much ink over what might have been had he got closer to the winning post on his own, or even past it, just as the question of how pluralistic Tony Blair would have been had he not got …

Continue reading »
Tagged , , , and | 77 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Mick Taylor
    Nonconformistradical. The whole thrust of our complex and bewildering tax code IS to protect the rich. The Tories don't want to change it. Labour are in hock to...
  • Nonconformistradical
    "The real scandal is not the rates, it is a tax code so complex the wealthy can tiptoe round it while the rest of us can not. " Indeed "Shouldn’t “faire...
  • Tristan Ward
    The argument about Russia's not being successful in Ukraine is a bit of a red herring. Ukraine has survived (to date) thanks in part to significant financial ...
  • Geoff Reid
    More important than William's erudition is his wisdom! It woudn't do us any harm to look at the language used in other European countries when debating tax leve...
  • Tristan Ward
    Sorry - here's the Dan Neidle link: https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/06/05/taxing-other-people-uk/...