Mark Pack

Worth a second outing: What’s the point of switching to individual electoral registration?

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

Welcome to a series where old posts are revived for a second outing for reasons such as their subject has become topical again, they have aged well but were first posted when the site’s readership was only a tenth or less of what it is currently or they got published and the site crashed, hiding the finest words of wisdom behind an incomprehensible error message. This one is from Spring last year and has been slightly updated.

After a long period of stalling, the Labour Government finally announced in spring 2009 a timetable for switching Britain’s electoral registration system from one …

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Posted in Election law | Tagged and | 2 Comments
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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 9 July 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 9th July 2010 - 9:00 am

It’s Friday, so here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the past week on LDV:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. Opinion: I admit it, I am shocked by Labour’s hatred (243) by Nick Perry
2. Would the coalition dare to cut welfare back to Labour levels? (18) by Iain Roberts
3. EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Budget measures and that VAT increase (61) by Stephen Tall
4. The coalition “marriage” – should we keep our name? (58) by Helen Duffett
5. Should our MPs give Clegg more support in the Commons? (34) by Stephen Tall

5 active LDV Members’ Forum threads

Liberal Youth on local executives
New Chair of FPC
So – should I buy an iPad
Arguments for/against AV
PPCs for the next General Election

5 from the LDV archive

1. Clegg unveils 100-day plan to abolish Lords and reform voting by The Voice, May 2009
2. When Liberals Attack! by Alex Wilcock, September 2006
3. Should we become a nation of contented losers? by James Graham, April 2007
4. DLT: Community Politics by Dictionary of Liberal Thought, February 2008
5. Opinion: We’re all liberals now? by Richard Huzzey, May 2007

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Fri 9th July 2010 - 8:15 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results of our survey this week.

Today, in the final part of our survey, we focus on the performances of the leading lights of the Liberal Democrats – those of our MPs in the cabinet, those occupying ministerial positions, and other leading Lib Dems.

LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Welcome for plans to scale down police stop and search

By Mark Pack | Thu 8th July 2010 - 11:59 pm

Commenting on the Home Secretary’s announcement that stop and search powers will be subject to stricter conditions, Tom Brake MP (Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs, Justice and Equality) said:

This is a very welcome announcement. Section 44 was an unreasonable power, applied in an indiscriminate way.

This change strengthens our civil liberties, building on a longstanding commitment from Liberal Democrats.

When the Labour benches attacked the coalition for what they described as an obsession with defending civil liberties, it just highlighted their dangerous obsession with eroding them.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty has also welcomed the Home Secretary’s decision:

Liberty

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Hughes welcome Supreme Court ruling securing freedom from persecution for gay asylum seekers

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th July 2010 - 2:45 pm

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling that two gay men who said they faced persecution in their home countries of Cameron and Iran have the right to asylum in the UK.

I am delighted this ruling recognises the rights of gay asylum seekers, ensuring their freedom from persecution around the world.

“This plight is one that my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have campaigned on for years. It is an issue that the Coalition Government is committed to addressing as we seek to restore Britain’s reputation around the world as a leader in the

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 5 Comments
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Iain Roberts

No room for gays at the Daily Star

By Iain Roberts | Thu 8th July 2010 - 2:42 pm

The Daily Star is up in arms.  “No room for gays” it trumpets, in a bizarre throw-back to the worst aspects of 1950s society.

What’s the problem?  Two men – from Cameroon and Iran – had applied for asylum on the grounds that, as homosexuals, they would be in danger if they returned home.

Same sex acts are illegal in Cameroon – with prison sentences of up to five years.  In Iran, homosexual acts are punishable by up to 100 lashes or death.  There’s no doubt that homosexuals from those countries face a real, genuine and serious prospect of losing their …

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Posted in News | 23 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 …

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Posted in Op-eds | 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 …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV survey: How Lib Dem members rate the performances of Nick Clegg and the party

By Stephen Tall | Thu 8th July 2010 - 8:15 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results of our survey this week.

In the penultimate part of the survey today, we take a look at the performance of the Lib Dems and our leader. First we asked: Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track?

Here’s what our sample of Lib …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 24 Comments
The Voice

Huhne to end ban on councils selling green electricity

By The Voice | Wed 7th July 2010 - 7:30 pm

A news release says…

A ban on councils selling green electricity into the national grid is to be overturned, Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said today as the carbon footprint of every local council in England was published.

In a speech to today’s Local Government Association annual conference, Mr Huhne will say that he wants local councils to be allowed to sell electricity they produce from renewables to the national electricity grid.

Mr Huhne said:

“It’s ridiculous that the 1976 Local Government Act prevents councils from selling electricity from local wind turbines, or from anaerobic digestion.

“I want to see this repealed and by the …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

10 lessons for winning an AV referendum

By Mark Pack | Wed 7th July 2010 - 6:28 pm

An excellent post from Neil Stockley:

Holding a public vote on changing the voting system is a radical step for the UK. But it has been done before. In 1993, my home country, New Zealand held the second of two referendums to decide how to elect MPs. An established Westminster democracy voted by a 54:46 per cent margin to get rid of first past the post (FPTP) voting and put in its place the German-style mixed member proportional (MMP) system…

Of course, the UK in 2011 will not be New Zealand in 1993 and, for that matter, AV is not a proportional voting system. But I

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

The AV referendum: some initial public opinion findings

By Mark Pack | Wed 7th July 2010 - 4:25 pm

From YouGov comes the news:

1) The principle of having a referendum on AV is popular with the support of 69% of the public.

2) Latest voting intentions in the AV referendum are 45% in support of AV, 32% in support of FPTP. 6% would not vote and 17% don’t know how they would vote.

3) However, support for AV is soft. We experimented by presenting people with six arguments in favour of AV, and six arguments against AV and then asking how they would vote in a referendum. This resulted in a significant drop in support for AV to 33% and a

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
Paul Walter

PMQs: Harriett Harman’s patented self-loading googly device

By Paul Walter | Wed 7th July 2010 - 3:00 pm

You never know in which direction Harriett Harman is going to pounce at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Take today. Veteran commentators, such as John Pienaar, prior to the session, were unable to predict the two topics she eventually alighted on. She’s got her own patented self-loading googly device which fires her off in any direction, leaving bystanders gasping.

Today she even did that thing one would never predict in the House of Commons. She started with a topic which brought only warm, mushy agreement with the Prime Minister – on domestic violence and the need to retain short sentences in those cases. …

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Posted in PMQs | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Ask Simon Hughes a question

By Mark Pack | Wed 7th July 2010 - 2:50 pm

Simon Hughes, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, is taking part in a video question and answer session being run by Yoosk. You can add to the list of questions and vote on which ones you think he should answer using their widget:


Posted in News | Tagged and | 11 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
– …

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Posted in Op-eds | 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.

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Posted in Op-eds | 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 …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged and | 15 Comments
Mark Pack

Sarah Teather announces plans for early years education

By Mark Pack | Wed 7th July 2010 - 9:20 am

Liberal Democrat Children’s Minister Sarah Teather today spoke to Lib Dem Voice about her campaign to put a fair start for children at the heart of the government’s reform agenda. Her first announcement is a review of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which sets out what three and four year olds should do in pre-school and nursery. Sarah said,

“Liberal Democrats have always seen education as the key to social mobility. It isn’t right that differences in social background are evident as early as 22 months and that children from deprived backgrounds are overtaken by lower-achieving children from advantaged backgrounds by …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: 84% of Lib Dem members back Lib-Con Coalition – but 43% say it will be bad for party’s electoral fortunes

By Stephen Tall | Wed 7th July 2010 - 8:15 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results of our survey this week.

First, we thought we should take the temperature of the party membership regarding their view of the Lib-Con Coalition agreement, now some two months old. We asked: Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives?

Here’s what our sample of party members said:

    84%

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 19 Comments
Mark Pack

Two Tory councillors quit following allegations over photos of young boys

By Mark Pack | Tue 6th July 2010 - 9:43 pm

The Kensington & Chelsea Chronicle reports:

Two Tory councillors have resigned after it emerged inappropriate emails had been sent using the council’s email system.

Former Kensington and Chelsea mayor Councillor Barry Phelps fired off a series of emails to Councillor Mark Daley, displaying black and white images of young boys with sexually suggestive captions added by Mr Phelps…

The emails were reported to the council by Justin Downes, leader of the Residents First campaign group, who had been alerted by a concerned resident.

“These were innocent images and Councillor Phelps has created sexual overtones to them,” Mr Downes said…

A police spokeswoman said they

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

And another two peers quit the Lords rather than pay full tax

By Mark Pack | Tue 6th July 2010 - 8:54 pm

I’d mentioned previously that Conservative peers McAlpine and Laidlaw have chosen to quit the Lords rather than have to end their non-dom tax status. With the deadline for making a final decision approaching they have been joined by a third Conservative peer – Lord Bagri – and a crossbencher – Baroness Dunn.

A fourth Conservative peer, Lord Ashcroft, has instead given up his non-dom status as has the Labour peer, Lord Paul.

UPDATE: Lord Foster has also quit the Lords in order to preserve his tax status, though from the Parliamentary records it doesn’t looks as if he was ever …

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The Voice

Lib Dems announce MPs and Peers to co-chair backbench policy committees

By The Voice | Tue 6th July 2010 - 7:25 pm

The Lib Dems have today announced the names of the MPs and members of the House of Lords who will act as Co-Chairs of the party’s new backbench policy committees.

These committees are intended to ensure distinctive Lib Dem policy-making continues while the party serves in the Coalition Government, promoting effective linkages between those Lib Dems serving ion government, their colleagues in the Parliamentary Party, and the party’s own democratic policy-making bodies.

The full list is set out below:

Committee:Work & Pensions
Commons Co-Chair: Jenny Willott
Lords Co-Chair(s): TBC

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Posted in Parliament and Party policy and internal matters | 4 Comments
Ryan Cullen

Welcome to the new bloggers…

By Ryan Cullen | Tue 6th July 2010 - 6:34 pm

Six blogs have recently joined my Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Good luck to all the new bloggers, and why not take a moment to pop over to their blogs, take a read and post a comment?

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged | 1 Comment
The Voice

Coalition Government’s torture inquiry keeps Lib Dem manifesto pledge, spells “end to Labour’s shameful legacy on human rights”

By The Voice | Tue 6th July 2010 - 6:15 pm

The Guardian reports:

David Cameron today announced a judicial inquiry into Britain’s role in torture and rendition since the al-Qaida attacks of September 2001. … it would be expected to conclude its investigations with 12 months. …

A three-person inquiry panel will be headed by Sir Peter Gibson, a former appeal court judge who is currently commissioner for the intelligence services. He will be assisted by Dame Janet Paraskeva, the head of the civil service commissioners, and Peter Riddell, the former Times political commentator who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for Government.

Most of the inquiry will be held

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 3 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 …

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Posted in Op-eds and 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 …

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Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged | 2 Comments
Mark Pack

Want to win an election? Not sure how to use the internet?

By Mark Pack | Tue 6th July 2010 - 11:40 am

In the early twentieth century, large public meetings and lengthy public speeches were expected of – and needed by – Parliamentary candidates fighting vigorous campaigns. A century on, candidates fighting vigorous campaigns frequently get by without organising any public meetings or giving any public speeches longer than a few minutes of opening remarks at a local organisation’s hustings.

Yet although these forms of personal, direct contact between candidate and voter have declined sharply over the last century, the opportunities for such contact via the internet have increased sharply in the last few years.

We are already at the stage where voters find …

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged , , and | Leave a comment
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 …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Tagged , , , and | 34 Comments
Helen Duffett

Londoners: have your say on civil liberties and DNA

By Helen Duffett | Tue 6th July 2010 - 9:20 am

The Metropolitan Police Authority Civil Liberties Panel held an open meeting at City Hall on Thursday 1 July to hear what individuals and campaigning organisations think about DNA in policing and the use of National DNA Database (NDNAD).

The meeting enabled participants, as well as those who could not attend but submitted written evidence, to voice their concerns about the current and future use of DNA.

Major themes which emerged during the meeting included:

  • DNA collection seems to have become an end in itself, a process to be completed irrespective of proportionality
  • there should be more transparency specifically about how the DNA database is

    • …

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    Posted in London | Tagged and | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    Lib Dem members survey: 68% approve of Coalition Budget, was “good overall for the country”

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 6th July 2010 - 8:15 am

    Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results of our survey this week.

    First, LDV asked: The balance of spending cuts to tax rises announced by the coalition government in its measures to reduce the budget deficit is 77% spending cuts to 23% tax rises. What do you think of this balance?

    Here’s what Lib Dem members said:

    • 7% – There should be more

    …

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    Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 12 Comments
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    Recent Comments

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      An excellent article Victor on the great work you are doing. It's a great shame people like David can't give credit where credit is due....
    • Scott Rennie
      Couldn’t agree more Karen. It’s the best speech in a generation, and more importantly an opportunity to build common cause on things that matter to us, like...
    • Nigel Jones
      I too thank you for this interesting article. Community has been in decline for decades in most parts of the country, but this seems particularly the case where...
    • David Le Grice
      All whilst playing second fiddle to the Green party of course. And credit for toppling Labour goes almost entirely to them. Something that was completely avoid...
    • Nigel Jones
      Sorry! in the above I meant to say " we should be heard more on NATIONAL issues when we are campaigning locally". How else can people know what we stand for on ...