There’s a common theme to the party’s official reactions to both the Disability Living Allowance (Mobility Component) and health reform motions being passed at conference today. That is to welcome the party staking out its own views on the issues, even where they clearly contradict those of Conservative ministers, and for two reasons.
First, it more clearly sets out where the coalition partners disagree on policy. As having a relaxed, adult approach to admitting in public that people in government don’t always agree on everything is something I’ve talked about in the past, this is certainly good to see – and makes a very welcome contrast to the way the Blairite vs Brownite divisions in the last Labour government were played out via off-the-record briefing and unattributable personal spite dripped into the ears of friendly journalists.
Second, votes at Liberal Democrat conference strengthen the position of Liberal Democrat negotiators in government as it makes clear they need to secure further changes to win the party’s support. So although, for example, Norman Lamb and Paul Burstow have expressed less hostility to the use of private provision of services within an NHS framework than some of the speakers in the health debate, those views make it easier for them to secure more changes in the NHS bill as it goes through Parliament – especially considering the balance of voting power in the House of Lords.
Here’s the response to the Disability Living Allowance debate from Bob Russell MP (and put out by the party’s press office):
The Coalition’s review of the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance for disabled people in residential care is very welcome.
It is crucial that disabled people in residential care are not prevented from enjoying the freedom of movement so many people take for granted every day. For many, the Mobility Component gives them a lifeline to the outside world and we must take this into account.
I join Conference in calling on the Government to ensure that the decision they make is fair and ensures that any reductions to the Mobility Component are based on clear evidence that the cost of that support is provided via other means.
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15 Comments
Surely, on policy matters, the Conference IS the Party? How can the Party ‘officially’ react to itself? Should not the resources of the Party’s media unit on any given motion/amendment be placed in the hands of the movers of the successful motion/amendment? Otherwise, who decides how the Party should react ‘officially’ to its own policy?
And who decides who decides?
The NHS debate is heartening, but I hope the MPs realise we actually expect them to substantially alter/derail the reforms now – not just to put their disagreements on record and then milk this for spin over the next few months. A lot of people seriously don’t want the planned reforms to happen, the lib dems MP have the power to achieve this. And now the party has spoken.
Swathes of the White Paper, eg the abolition of PCTs, were not in the coalition agreement, and the parliamentary party should not feel bound to support these.
Health minister Paul Burstow said he would “quit the government” if it led to an “American-style” health system.
A bit late waiting till we’ve actually got an “American-style” health system. Might be better if he did something to stop it happening NOW.
A bizarre comment.
These proposals weren’t in the coalition agreement. The only reason that they can be put forward at all is that first Paul Burstow agreed to them, and then they went through the procedure for approving departures from the agreement.
I am delighted that Paul now seems to be shifting his ground so substantially. He now has to go back to his department and to get the necesary changes. Nick Clegg has to insist on them so they are taken seriously.
There will now be a lot of fluttering and rushing around in the health department to work out the very minimum that they can get away with. This approach from civil servants has to be hit on the head form the start. As for the Tories they just have to be told. If it results in Lansley looking like the prat he is, so much the better.
It is also up to the House of Lords LD party to stand firm on what the party requires, not just give in to whatever weak compromise emerges from Tory ministers.
Tony Greaves
For those doubting whether the leadership would take the concerns of the membership seriously on this, Evan Harris is continuing to impress by putting out a very strong statement in response to the vote:
Combined with what Lord Greaves has written above, I’m much encouraged.
Don’t start shouting about what you want to do until you actually do it, it will make Liberal Democrats look foolish when the MPs support the government, then I suppose we will hear more spin and twisting of words….
The crunch will come if the Tories do not compromise. Anything short of wholesale change to this Bill must not only be abstained on, but voted against, including all ministers. These changes were not in the coalition agreement or the Lib Dem manifesto there is no obligation to support.
@Steve Way
It’s perfectly obvious that Nick Clegg will be the one who folds like a cheap pack of cards.
Cameron knows this.
Clegg ignored the Party about tuition fees so why on earth would he start listening now?
He is so hopelessly out of touch the only thing that will get through to him is the inevitable Leadership Challenge that will come after the Party finally realises he couldn’t care less what they and the activists say. Clegg certainly doesn’t care that he is destroying the Party as he is fast turning it into another UKIP style waste of a vote.
All the complacency and platitudes on the NHS and DLA will be remembered by those who pick the next leader and no amount of wishful thinking about a positive GDP figure miraculously turning everything around will save Clegg.
Tactically, it’s a pity about that second amendment to give councillors a role on commissioning boards. Because, betcha that is where the Tories will make a concession, and, betcha that’s the only issue on which they will be prepared to make a concession. And then what will Clegg say? Betcha….
An “official” reaction is a reaction by an official. An official is a person who holds an office – elected or appointed. Conference sets the rules; officials execute them.
Lib Dems you must vote against these Reforms if you don’t you are finished as a party also get rid of Nick Cl egg as he is destroying your party
The Tories lost the 1997 partly because of their mismanagement of the NHS. So if they want a fight with the Lib Dems on this, lets see where it gets them.
Talk is easy, but the Liberal Democrats currently stand complicit in a massed attack on the benefits disabled people need to enable them be truly equal in our society. It isn’t just DLA Mobility Component where we are under attack, it’s the threat to DLA as a whole, with an expected 20% cut in the people eligible for the replacement benefit — does the Government somehow have Lourdes and St Bernadette on tap to manage the miraculous cures needed? Or is the truth that 1 in 5 people are going to see their benefits slashed without any change in their acute need for those benefits (and with ATOS running the assessments it’s likely to be 4 in 5 refused, not 1 in 5).
Then there’s ESA, where Lib-Dems like Danny Alexander railed against the inequity of ATOS WCA assessments in opposition, but suddenly became rabid supporters in government. I’m one of those ESA claimants, so let me put a human face on the benefit scrounging scum Cameron and IDS would have you believe we are. I didn’t opt out of Alarm Clock Britain, it opted out of me. I worked through 20 years of disability, often working even while curled up in pain on the office floor, until my employer decided disabled people were just too much of a bother and got rid of me. Every employment consultant I spoke to told me to forget about the private sector, that discrimination in recruitment of disabled people is so rife I would be wasting my time, that the public sector was only a little better. I claimed JSA, but DWP is incapable of dealing with claimants who are either disabled people or highly qualified and God help you if you are both. It took a complaint to the Minister for Disabled People to get them to admit I couldn’t be treated like everyone else and they only way they could do that was by placing me on ESA. I passed my ESA WCA, despite ATOS destroying six weeks of my life at the first attempt (and claiming that I had failed to attend rather than admit that they had failed to provide the needed reasonable adjustments), the second attempt was nearly as bad and it was only when I became visibly physically distressed from the amount of pain I was in that the doctor stopped trying to force my situation into his computer generated script and deigned to treat me like an individual. And yet, sometime early next year, because I’m claiming Contributions Related ESA, my household income will drop to precisely zero, never mind that my disability is actually becoming worse, not better.
Then there is the savaging of the Independent Living Fund and all the other disability related benefits that are under threat, many gatewayed by DLA or the other benefits that are already being undermined, or funded by Local Authorities who have seen their budgets slashed and see us as an easy target with little political muscle to defend ourselves. I blog about the cuts for Where’s The Benefit, and disabled people regularly talk in their replies to me and to the other contributors about the fear they are living under, far too many about how they are contemplating suicide if the cuts go through. That’s a proud legacy for the Liberal Democrat’s first year in office.
Talk is easy, votes count.