Alistair Darling has delivered his last budget as Chancellor, and what may prove to be the last Labour budget for many years. It was deeply, deeply dull, not aided by Mr Darling’s sonorous delivery. The Guardian has a summary of the key points – here are my subjective top 5:
• No further announcements on VAT, national insurance and income tax. By freezing personal allowance, this is a real terms increase in income tax – as Mark Pack was quick to tweet, and as Nick Clegg was on-the-ball to note in his budget reponse. David Cameron, by contrast, seemed
Sometimes good intentions don’t quite result in the good outcomes you’d wish. In this case, the issue is a recommendation from the Committee on Standards in Public Life that general election candidates should have to publish their financial interests just as MPs do.
The logic is a good one: if you’re a voter wanting to chose between candidates, it’s a bit odd if you only know about the financial interests of an MP standing for re-election but not of the people they’re up against. You want to know the interests before you cast your vote, not find out afterwards whether or not you should regret your choice.
However, as the committee recognised, its proposals came out too late to change the law for the 2010 general election. Therefore instead the Ministry of Justice has just published a voluntary scheme, detailing a recommended set of questions that candidates should answer about their financial interests.
Perhaps the most controversial will be the section on tax, where people are asked if:
I confirm that, for the tax year 2008/09, I have not claimed to be, or been treated as not resident, not ordinarily resident or non-domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.
Non-doms are a controversial issues anyway; the appearance of this recommendation just before an election is unlikely to cool such partisan passions. When neither Parliament nor the Committee on Standards in Public Life have decided on such a rule (so far – and I hope they do in due course), should the Ministry of Justice unilaterally be slipping it in to a report so soon before an election?
Overall, the recommendations themselves acknowledge that they go beyond what is currently required of MPs. To require candidates to publish the same information as is required of MPs makes obvious sense; for a government ministry to go beyond that off its own bat could turn out to be quite controversial.
With a voluntary code, published rather late in the day and plenty of scope for individual candidates to partially answer the questions, we’re unlikely to see a triumph of transparency that results in voters being significantly better informed. However, it will at the very least provide a test of the different provisions which should make for better legislation when the whole process most likely becomes law during the next Parliament.
It’s a group of people that is not that often explicitly addressed in Liberal Democrat policy debates or campaigning and messaging discussions, expect in as much as they are part of the millions who would benefit from the party’s policy of raising the income tax threshold to £10,000.
Yet these low earner households have been the bedrock of many of the party’s biggest electoral successes in the last decade. The party’s control of a string of large cities – Liverpool, Sheffield, Newcastle, Bristol and so
A double triumph in the Mirror today: for Vince Cable and for British journalism.
For Vince Cable – congratulations on another poll putting you the most popular choice for Chancellor (32% versus 23% for Darling and 21% for Osborne).
For British journalism – take a bow at a story that uses phrases such as “plunges” and “it’s all the fault of George Osborne” when in fact the poll results are, er…, not statistically significantly different from the previous poll by that pollster. (The changes are all within the margin of error.)
Perhaps next time we’ll have a footnote, “Hey, the above …
It’s budget day, and with the General Election just six weeks away, the big question is whether Darling will pull something out of the hat to make us all feel happier (in the short term, at least) or whether – as he’s suggested so far – it’ll be steady as she goes.
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:
Channel 4 tonight broadcast excerpts from a quite extraordinary filmed interview with David Cameron in which the Tory leader appears utterly confused and clueless about his party’s position on the issue of gay equality. After stumbling over his own words, contradicting himself, and admitting he hasn’t got the answer, a visibly flustered Mr Cameron eventually pleads for the cameras to be turned off so that he can compose himself.
That Mr Cameron has run into trouble on the issue of gay equality is wholly predictable. (That he went into meltdown in front of the TV cameras a little less predictable). Lib Dem Voice has on three occasions this year highlighted the many contradictions between what Mr Cameron says his party believes, and how the Tory party votes:
Yikes. Not quite sure what’s the most surprising from the interview I’ve just watched. The good joke from Gordon Brown about Peter Mandelson or the collapse of David Cameron, who asks for the interview to stop, turns to his minder off camera and asks for a different style of questioning.
With that unconventional question, Liberal Democrat MP David Heath has joined the ranks of blogging MPs (having previously tried out a few posts that were simply his newspaper column reproduced):
I’m not sure the resemblance is that obvious, but that’s what Ann Treneman called me in the Times this morning. I guess it’s better than “like a Tajik with toothache”, which is what her predecessor Matthew Parris once came up with.
Opportunities not taken is particularly interesting, as it highlights areas for improvement. It says that councillors and officers tend to face cultural, rather than technical barriers to using social media. Some councils still lack a clear social media policy for councillors or officers, either in a personal or professional capacity. Many councils routinely block access to social networking sites on their computers. The guide suggests ways for councillors to hold their councils to account over their social media approach.
The site also features a video of Lib Dem Councillor for Redlands (and 2009 LDV Blog of the Year shortlistee for her use of social media) Daisy Benson explaining why she uses social media:
Yesterday The Voice ran an op-ed from the Resolution Foundation’s Sophia Parker about the, “9.4 million working-age ‘low earners’ – those people living on an average household income of £15,800 while remaining broadly independent of state support.”
It’s a group of people that is not that often explicitly addressed in Liberal Democrat policy debates or campaigning and messaging discussions, expect in as much as they are part of the millions who would benefit from the party’s policy of raising the income tax threshold to £10,000.
Yet these low earner households have been the bedrock of many of the party’s biggest electoral …
Are you up to speed with the mess the Tories made out of trying to use social media yesterday? They launched a website trying to criticise Gordon Brown for something or other. Part of the site included a twitter feed so that any twitter user using the hashtag #cashgordon could get their words on the site. Users quickly found out that these were not screened before going live, which meant you could get anti-Tory sentiment onto the Tory website. And then the more technically minded twitterati discovered that if you included some code in your tweet, you …
In history, March 23rd was the day in 1903 the Wright Brothers applied for a patent on one of the earliest aeroplanes – and the day in 1933 Adolf Hitler became dictator of Germany.
It’s birthday to Joan Crawford, Wernher von Braun, José Manuel Barroso, Marti Pellow and Russell Howard.
All yesterday, two huge political stories raged through the online world: the farce of a Tory attempt to use social media, #cashgordon, and foreshadowing of last night’s Dispatches, which showed three Labour former cabinet ministers in a very bad light.
The newspapers catch up with the latter, but don’t seem to be covering the former.
Byers, Hewitt and Hoon suspended over lobbying allegations
Three former Cabinet ministers, Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon, have been suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over allegations they tried to sway policy decisions by lobbying the Government.
The Lib Dem party line on this horrid mess which embarrasses Parliament?
Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House, David Heath said, “MPs should not be using their positions to further their own interests over those of the people they should be representing. Liberal Democrats brought forward measures to restrict the influence of lobbyists in Parliament. Sadly, Labour voted them down while the Tories failed to show up. Labour and the Tories claim they want to clean up politics but the reality proves different.”
In case you missed it, David Howarth MP gave a speech last week, as part of the Hansard Society’s Parliamentary Reform Lecture Series.
The speech includes a discussion of the various systems that need reform: the government, the judiciary, political parties and the media.
David Howarth also covers Lords reform, electoral reform and the loss of trust in our political institutions. He emphasises the need to restore power to local government. He cautions that the General Election will not be enough to end this crisis, which has partly been brought about by MPs’ misuse of expenses.
Hmmm, well I have my doubts about this one. Not the idea: that’s obvious and right. Of course we need to build political consensus in order to carry through the tough spending cuts any party (or parties) which finds itself in government will have to implement.
Only myopic Labour/Tory tribalists will try and pretend a government with the support of one-in-five of the electorate can decimate (in that word’s literal sense) public spending to bring the deficit under control with any kind of legitimacy.
No, the problem I have with Nick Clegg’s idea is this: the name, ‘Council of Financial …
The Liberal Democrats have said if they won power they would stop the winter fuel allowance for people under 65. Anyone aged 60 can claim the allowance, worth £125 to £400, but the minimum age is due to rise to 65 in 10 years’ time.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said his party would implement the change now – saving about £400m in public spending. He said just under £200m would be used to give extra winter help to about one million severely disabled people or those who are terminally ill. …
As a circular from the Electoral Commission explains:
Until now, members of HM Forces and their spouses or civil partners registering through a service declaration have had to renew their registration every three years. From commencement of The Service Voters’ Registration Period Order 2010 on 19 March 2010, the length of registration based on a service declaration is now five years and so, from 19 March 2010, service voters will only need to renew their registration at the end of a five year period.
The extension of the length of registration will apply to all service personnel and their spouses or
A ban on broadcasting video clips of the proceedings of the House of Commons on YouTube could come to an end in the coming weeks after months of delicate negotiations between the Palace of Westminster and broadcasters led by the BBC.
Existing rules forbid YouTube or any other website, such as a newspaper’s, from embedding any clips of parliamentary proceedings – meaning that the only way to watch parliament online is via the news clips from the major broadcasters, live on the BBC’s Parliament channel or the Westminster website…
Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dumbarton East, has long
At Comment is Free today, Simon Hughes (Liberal Democrat shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change) challenges the Tories over their “incoherent” new energy policy and calls for greater investment in renewable energy:
Nuclear power has always required huge amounts of public money and David Cameron’s signal that the Tories are ready to turn on the taps of taxpayer support risks billions which we simply can’t afford. Both Labour and the Tories claim that they will not provide any public subsidy, but both know that this cannot be true when the nuclear industry that has never been
Tories buy campaigning package off the shelf from US company.
Company also does some rather right wing work. This is either outrageous (Right wing? You shock me!) or unsurprising (Americans? Right wing? You surprise me!)
Package as launched by Tories includes unmoderated twitter stream.
Unflattering tweets start appearing.
Site pulled.
Lesson for the day: unmoderated feeds of content on political sites bring tears before bedtime. Those who have been awake for the last decade may not wish to call this “news”.
PS Myself, I’d have been suspicious of a US supplier that advertisers a “one pager” which is actually two …
Today, the Resolution Foundation launches our open memo to the next government. In it, we propose five key priorities which we believe will improve outcomes for the UK’s 9.4 million working-age ‘low earners’ – those people living on an average household income of £15,800 while remaining broadly independent of state support.
These are families who may not be the poorest in society, and they are not in crisis. Nevertheless their economic independence is fragile and they are living at the very edge of their means. 56 per cent have experienced a drop in income since the start of the recession – and …
Craig Murray, the former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan who was sacked by the British government for his outspoken commitment to human rights, has re-joined the Lib Dems.
Craig was a party member until 2005, when he chose to stand as an independent against Jack Straw. He stood again as an independent in last year’s Norwich North by-election. Writing of his decision on his blog, Craig says:
Politics is about the governance of society, and that entails people working together and collaborating their views. It is by definition a social pursuit, so to attempt to pursue it entirely alone to avoid
Seven Lib Dem MPs have announced they’re retiring at this year’s general election. All seven are men: of their replacements, four are women. Here’s the list in full:
John Barrett (LD) – Edinburgh West
Majority: 13,600 (30%) – second safest Lib Dem seat in the UK. Reason for leaving: to spend more time with his grand-daughters. Hoping to succeed him:Mike Crockart.
Colin Breed (LD) – South East Cornwall
Majority: 6,507 (13%). Reason for leaving: not stated. Hoping to succeed him:Karen Gillard.
David Howarth (LD) – Cambridge
Majority: 5,058 (11%). Reason for leaving: “to concentrate on my other life, as an academic.” Hoping to succeed him:Julian Huppert.
Vince Cable is the public’s preferred choice for Chancellor, according to a poll by PoliticsHome.
Of the general public polled, 31% chose Vince Cable above George Osborne, Alistair Darling, Ken Clarke, Peter Mandelson and Ed Balls.
The poll also found that 79% of Liberal Democrat voters supported Vince Cable for the job, while Osborne and Darling received much lower levels of support from their own parties’ voters. (Find the full results at PoliticsHome.)
Nick Clegg was the subject of an hour-long feature interview with ITV’s Mary Nightingale on Sunday night – if you missed it, you can catch up courtesy of itv Player by clicking here. (It’s available online for the next 29 days).
Helen Duffett examined the 1950s-style newspaper previews of the Dead Tree Press, which focused on the shocking news that Miriam Gonzalez Durantez (Nick’s wife) has her own life, for LDV here.
Meanwhile MediaGuardian reports that over 1.1 million viewers watched last night. Okay, so it’s not as many as watched Gordon Brown be interviewed by Piers …
I was having a look at data from previous elections recently with a particular focus on the number of seats and percentage of votes gained by the third party in the last few decades.
The first thing that is clear and which I already knew is that in the last three general elections, the Lib Dems have consistently increased their number of seats. The figures are:
1997: 46 (+26)
2001: 52 (+6)
2005: 62 (+10)
The huge leap in 1997 is often put down to our improved targeting campaign techniques championed by Chris Rennard.
There is something else interesting in the figures which I had not …
I’ve already reviewed two of the titles in the new seven book series from biteback: Why Vote Liberal Democrat and Why Vote. But what to make of the other fives titles – covers Labour, Conservative, Green, SNP and Plaid? (Although a UKIP book was also publicised, it never got published as UKIP failed to produce the necessary copy.)
Both the Labour and Conservative books are ‘unofficial’ in the sense that they are by prominent party members, but ones who have no official role in the party’s policy or campaigning decisions – Rachel Reeves, Labour …
Happy Monday, everyone. And happy birthday to actress Reese Witherspoon (34), author James Patterson (63) and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (62). Now let’s find out what’s happening in the world …
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:
Budget 2010: Giles Wilkes guides us through what to expect of Labour’s (last?) budget.
Anna was porn for the job: so says Lembit Opik in his political column for the Daily Sport (with thanks to James Graham for bringing us Lembit’s NSFW insights.
Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.
expats Chris, you also neglected to mention that the link to 'earnings' has already been 'deemed unaffordable'..
Almost exactly 5 years ago (Sept 2021)The Tory govern...
Jana Perhaps insist that an approved ‘black cab style self-driving car’ be mandated for those who wish to enjoy the advantages of modern technological developmen...
Ruth Bright Victor, Richard, Gary - so proud of you all. Nice to look back on my time as Deputy Leader in Southwark a quarter of a century ago and know that time was not wa...
James Hill Dear Chris, as others have pointed out, you seem to have missed the fundamental detail of the PM’s proposal as it retains a link to earnings, but instead of a...
Richard Wingfield I don't understand those points at all, Jason. First, the Greens aren't winning seats off the Lib Dems in Southwark. At the local elections in the borough in Ma...
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expats
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James Hill
Richard Wingfield