Mark Pack

Will there be a cull of ministers after the next general election?

By Mark Pack | Thu 10th September 2009 - 8:55 am

Whoever wins the next general election, they will have to make some tough choices about public  spending. Will they dare look very close to home though?

In late 1914 when Britain ruled much of the world and was fighting a world war, there were a total of 49 ministers. Gordon Brown’s government currently has 119 ministers – an increase of 143%.

Some of the growth is for reasons most people across most parties would support, such as the creation of the National Health Service resulting in the creation of some new roles. But those areas of ‘consensus growth’ are relatively small, and …

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Richard Huzzey

Nick would replace VAT cut with revolution in youth training

By Richard Huzzey | Thu 10th September 2009 - 1:15 am

The BBC reports that Nick Clegg has renewed his call for the government’s cut on VAT – from 17.5% to 15% – to be scrapped. He suggests instead thousands of new apprenticeships:

In an interview with the BBC’s Chris Brierley, he said youth unemployment should be the government’s “top priority”.

He added: “We’re proposing to give young people the hope that they can stay active, stay in study, stay in work, stay in training, rather than find themselves put on a course towards long-term unemployment.

“This recession is, in my view, creating the real risk of a jobless generation and that’s an

…

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Richard Huzzey

Daily View 2×2: 10 September 2009

By Richard Huzzey | Thu 10th September 2009 - 12:02 am

2 Big Stories

Tories announce curb in health spending increases

As The Telegraph reports,

Andrew Lansley, the shadow health secretary, said that the Tories would cut the rate at which NHS spending was increasing.

The health service would have to “tighten its belt” and accept small increases in its budget, he added.

Afghanistan Rescue Mission Debated

Meanwhile, questions emerged overnight as to the British military intervention to rescue journalist Stephen Farrell:

Military officials tonight defended the decision to launch a dramatic raid to rescue a British journalist from the Taliban, in which his Afghan assistant and a soldier were killed, against angry criticism in

…

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Stephen Tall

Bagehot praises Nick’s Afghan policy

By Stephen Tall | Wed 9th September 2009 - 7:33 pm

Bagehot, the pseudonym of The Economist’s British politics columnist/blogger, has written a post sticking up for Nick Clegg following criticism aimed at him from both left (in the shape of The Observer’s Andrew Rawnsley) and right (James Forsyth in The Spectator):

Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has been unfairly treated for saying in public what a large number of other people are confiding in private. … the doubts Mr Clegg has expressed about the strategy, resources and prospects of the Afghan campaign are shared by many others.

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Alex Foster

Battle of the emergency motions

By Alex Foster | Wed 9th September 2009 - 4:23 pm

Conference these days includes slots that are left blank when the agenda is published, and that can be filled later by topics that become evident at a later date.

The deadline for – well pretty much everything, actually, including emergency motions, amendments, appeals, questions and so on – was yesterday.

LDV is aware of two emergency motions that have been doing the rounds asking for support. Firstly there’s one insisting that social services remain accountable to local people through local councils. A government paper launched on the 14th July suggested the creation of a national care body to take some …

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Tim Connolly

Opinion: Youth justice – a golden opportunity for the Lib Dems

By Tim Connolly | Wed 9th September 2009 - 2:30 pm

Youth justice has risen, zombie-like, from the place unloved political issues go to die. In July, the Government published an interim report on The Youth Crime Action Plan, its “comprehensive, cross-government analysis of what the government is going to do to tackle youth crime.”

This prompted vigorous activity from the think-tanks and NGOs, and a predictable silence from the dead who may live again, aka the Conservative Party.

Last week, the Liberal Democrats published data showing that the number of 10 to 12 year olds convicted of a criminal offence rose by 87.2% between 1997 and 2007. Nick Clegg, remarking on the figures, argued that:

It is a disgrace the Government spends eleven times more locking up our young people than it does on backing projects to stop them getting involved in crime in the first place.”

Unless you happen to be keen on nineteenth century penal philosophy, Nick’s comment seems to make excellent sense. I would suggest, however, that it is, at best, carelessly imprecise. At worst, it indicates a refusal to challenge the prevailing conservative narrative on youth crime. Given recent reporting of events in Doncaster, a measured rebuttal is more critical than ever.

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Alex Foster

#ldconf 101 – attending as a voting member of conference

By Alex Foster | Wed 9th September 2009 - 12:50 pm

This is the second in a short series of top tips for conference-goers. Our first, yesterday, told you that you don’t have to register as a delegate to attend fringe and training events at conference.

Today’s tip is for those planning to attend conference, who are not voting members of conference.

Many local parties have not elected as many conference representatives as they are entitled to. Even those local parties that have both a full complement of reps and reserve reps may find themselves in the situation that not all of their representatives are able to make it to conference.

This …

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Mark Pack

New electoral registration rules now in force for elections

By Mark Pack | Wed 9th September 2009 - 11:50 am

Good news: this time, it is a change in election law that is a jolly good thing. In the past, although the electoral register is updated each month, there was a pause over the summer and early autumn whilst councils carry out their big annual update. That means that for elections held during the pause, there was no way for people who had recently moved in to the area to get on the register. They therefore lost their right to vote in the election.

But now new rules, which came into force on 4 September, mean that such people who have recently moved in can get on the register and vote.

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Alex Foster

LDV’s Conference fringe events #ldconf

By Alex Foster | Wed 9th September 2009 - 10:00 am

Lib Dem Voice at Conference

As ever the LDV team will be providing as full coverage as we can from the conference, including reportage, podcasts and as much as possible to make conference accessible and participatory for those not able to join us in Bournemouth.

We will also be hosting four fringe events, all of which will be recorded and podcast as mini-radio shows here on LDV. The rooms are booked and topics selected, and we can now give you full information on our confirmed speakers. The details are as follows:

…

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Stephen Tall

Gavin Webb quits Lib Dems, joins Libertarian Party

By Stephen Tall | Wed 9th September 2009 - 9:40 am

A little less than a year ago, Lib Dem Voice welcomed Stoke-on-Trent city councillor and Burton parliamentary candidate Gavin Webb back to the party after a protracted and controversial internal party inquiry suspended then un-suspended him.

Now it’s time to bid him farewell again, with news today that Gavin has quit the Lib Dems and joined the Libertarian Party (LPUK). Gavin’s full statement follows:

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Alex Foster

Daily View 2×2: 9 September 2009

By Alex Foster | Wed 9th September 2009 - 7:54 am

Good morning – what an auspicious date today, eh? 9/9/9. Today would be a good day to start War and Peace, because it’s Leo Tolstoy’s birthday. It’s also the anniversary of the admission of California to the union of United States in 1850.

2 big stories

An end to recession

The Guardian and the Telegraph both lead with a declaration of an end of recession. So that’s OK then. From the Telegraph:

The National Institute for Economic and Social Research, one of the foremost independent economic forecasters, estimated that Britain had seen economic growth in the three months

…

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Mark Pack

Gender pay gap in City ‘shocking’ – BBC

By Mark Pack | Tue 8th September 2009 - 11:41 pm

News in via the BBC:

Men working in the UK’s financial sector receive five times more in bonus payments than women, according to a survey of 44 leading companies.

On average, women earn £2,875 compared with £14,554 for men, the Equality and Human Rights Commission found…

One of the main reasons for the vast difference in bonuses is that relatively few women reach the top ranks of financial firms where the biggest rewards are paid.

It comes on top of an average difference of 39% between men and women’s basic salaries…

John Cridland, deputy director general of business group the CBI, said parts of

…

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Stephen Tall

Revealed: the three blogs Lib Dem MPs respect

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th September 2009 - 8:40 pm

Iain Dale has the results of a ComRes survey of 151 MPs (undertaken back in April-May this year) to find out which journalists and which bloggers they most respect. Here are the findings:

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem, Labour, Tory voters all say: scrap Trident

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th September 2009 - 7:45 pm

The Independent has the story:

The public wants Britain to scrap the Trident nuclear missile system but believes spending on health and education should rise each year, according to a ComRes poll for The Independent. By a margin of 58 to 35 per cent, people believe that the £25bn renewal of the Trident programme should be abandoned because of the state of the public finances.

Nick Clegg announced back in June his intention to ask the party conference to rule out like-for-like Trident replacement, arguing that the recession made it unaffordable and the political situation made it unnecessary.

The Indy notes that supporters of all three main parties support scrapping Trident:

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Stephen Tall

CK and Ming are most-missed political big-hitters

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th September 2009 - 6:55 pm

PoliticsHome has the low-down:

Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell are the former political ‘big beasts’ that the public would most like to see more of, according to a new PoliticsHome poll. 1,228 UK adults were shown a list of former political big hitters and asked to tick all of those they would like to see return to prominence.

The two former Lib Dem leaders were the most popular choices, with just over a third of people (thirty four per cent) wishing for Kennedy’s return, and twenty two per cent backing Campbell. Kennedy was the most popular choice among supporters of all political parties and none.

For the record, here’s the list of former big-hitters missed most by Lib Dem supporters, and whom we’d – apparently – like to see more of:

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Stephen Tall

Daily Mail urges readers, “Vote Lib Dem”

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th September 2009 - 6:20 pm

Well, almost. But those were the two words which leaped out from the screen when I saw this headline on the Mail’s website:


To speak to a human being when you phone customer services… vote LibDem

Here’s the story:

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Mark Pack

29% of seats have not changed hands since 1945

By Mark Pack | Tue 8th September 2009 - 4:20 pm

Cross-posted from The Wardman Wire:

A major part of the point of a democratic electoral system is that those elected to public office can be held to account by the public for their actions. The anger we often see over the behaviour of MPs – whether on matters of policy (such as the Iraq war) or on matters of probity (such as MPs’ expenses) – is often aggravated by an underlying lack of belief that MPs will in the normal course of events get held accountable for their actions. Hence the paucity of comments along the lines of “I can’t …

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Posted in General Election, News and Parliament | Tagged , and | 20 Comments
Alex Foster

David’s paucity of ambition

By Alex Foster | Tue 8th September 2009 - 2:06 pm

David Cameron is talking this lunchtime, the news tells us, of his plans to reform Parliament by removing subsidised meals and shaving 5% off the pay of ministers.

Danny Alexander MP, Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats is a) unimpressed and b) unfamiliar with the concept of run-on sentences:

There is a good argument to be made for cutting the cost of politics, the Liberal Democrats have proposed reducing the number of MPs by 150, but if the Conservatives seriously hope to convince people they are fit to govern it is time they stopped dodging

…

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Alex Foster

#ldconf 101 – access to conference fringes and training

By Alex Foster | Tue 8th September 2009 - 12:07 pm

Here’s a handy hint if you live near the conference centre in Bournemouth: you do not need to be a registered delegate to attend many of the fringe and training events.

The “Access” rules as set out in the Conference Directory (available for download here) say:

Access to all areas of the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) is possible only with a valid, visible conference photo pass worn with the official lanyard. You will be asked to show your pass when you enter the BIC and you are required to wear the pass with the lanyard visible at all times within the

…

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Mark Pack

Argentina, Mexico liberalise drug laws

By Mark Pack | Tue 8th September 2009 - 10:20 am

In Mexico:

The Mexican government has enacted a law decriminalising the possession of small amounts of drugs, including cocaine and heroin.

Mexican prosecutors say the move does not amount to legalisation.

They say it is designed to prevent corrupt police from seeking bribes from small-time drug users, and to encourage addicts to seek treatment. (BBC)

In Argentina:

Argentina’s Supreme Court on Tuesday decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, tossing out tough provincial drug laws whose penalties it deemed unconstitutional.

The high court ruling protects “the privacy of adults who are responsible for their own conduct,” according to a court statement.

It

…

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Mark Pack

Tower Hamlets: Labour activist investigated over postal vote fraud

By Mark Pack | Tue 8th September 2009 - 7:25 am

From the Evening Standard:

Police are investigating allegations of postal vote fraud by a London activist linked to one of Labour’s highest-profile parliamentary candidates.

The Met is examining an email in which Anisur Rahman, a Labour branch secretary in Tower Hamlets, admits “helping” a dozen voters fill in postal vote forms for the European elections.

Mr Rahman then told Rushanara Ali, who will become Britain’s first Bangladeshi MP if she is elected in Bethnal Green and Bow, that he was encouraging other activists to do likewise “for the benefit of the party”.

Electoral Commission guidelines ban activists from helping voters to fill in ballot

…

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Mark Pack

Saving general election night: round-up of reaction

By Mark Pack | Mon 7th September 2009 - 9:57 pm

Crikey, there has been quite a response on this and other sites to the launch this morning of a campaign to save election night. Amongst the posts such as Andrew’s and Jonathan’s agreeing with the campaign there have been a range of queries and criticisms, such as Costigan, Darrell, Mark, Nick and Paul.

The issues people have raised over the campaign generally fall into four categories:

Cost: isn’t it more expensive to count on Thursday night? Yes – and no. Yes, in that often councils pay staff for counting on Thursday night (and whether or …

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Posted in General Election and News | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #133

By Stephen Tall | Mon 7th September 2009 - 7:45 pm

Welcome to the 133rd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (30th August – 5th September 2009), together with a hand-picked quintet, partly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget, by the way, you can now sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox – just click here – ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | 2 Comments
Prateek Buch

Conference fringe: Defending free speech – keep libel laws out of science

By Prateek Buch | Mon 7th September 2009 - 7:02 pm

With a harsh economic recession continuing to bite, with Westminster politics remaining in the doldrums and with a global climate change summit fast approaching, legal action taken against a science writer may be far down your priority list as party conference season approaches. And yet, the British Chiropractic Association’s attempts to silence Simon Singh’s critical comments reveal fundamental flaws in Britain’s libel law, and threaten to undermine the freedom of expression that insulates us from the very worst consequences of public and private sector failures.

It is in this context that I invite all Lib Dem Voice readers to attend a fringe event I’ve organised at this year’s conference. The event is entitled Defending free speech – keep libel laws out of science, and will take place in the Marriott Highcliff Hotel’s Blandford Syndicate room 3 at 13.00.

We will hear an illustrious panel of speakers discussing how legal threats are being used to suppress scientific debate, and how Britain’s libel laws must be reformed:

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The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Mon 7th September 2009 - 5:35 pm

The Voice is only a success because of the interest and support from our readers. For many people just lurking and reading the site is all they want to do – and that’s fine, we’re grateful for people taking the time to read the site.

You can though help us continue to produce interesting content for a growing audience. Here are three simple ways:

1. Let us have your tips for stories. Perhaps there’s something outrageous going on in your local council? Or you’re an expert in a particular area and have spotted a story other people have missed? Or you’ve seen …

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Mark Thompson

Mark Reckons interviews Lib Dem PPC Bridget Fox

By Mark Thompson | Mon 7th September 2009 - 3:51 pm

Last weekend, I took a trip over to Islington to meet Bridget Fox, the Lib Dem candidate for Islington South & Finsbury.

I had got to know Bridget a little bit via Twitter and blogging but I thought it would be interesting to meet her. She seemed like a strong campaigner from what I could tell and with the Labour incumbent Emily Thornberry only having won against Bridget by 484 votes in 2005, the seat is one of the party’s main targets at the next general election.

I helped out during the day with some leafletting and canvassing. In between the morning and afternoon sessions I took the opportunity to interview her outside the Market Cafe on Whitecross Street.

An edited version of the interview appears below. The full version is available on my blog here.

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The Voice

The Indy’s Q&A with Lembit

By The Voice | Mon 7th September 2009 - 2:15 pm

Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik is the subject of The Independent’s ‘You ask the questions’ feature today. In it he tells readers:

  • about his leadership aspirations (he has none);
  • how he thinks Nick Clegg is doing better as leader than Lembit thought he would be doing;
  • describes the Liberal brand as “public-service orientated, slightly left-leaning and suspicious of authority. We’re sort of courteously anti-establishment.”
  • his views on the Megrahi realease;
  • he favours research on the legalisation of the prescription of hard drugs;
  • he’s pleased to have the chance to write a politicla column for the Daily Sport.


    • You can read the     …

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    Posted in News | Tagged | 3 Comments
    Mark Pack

    What do councillors spend their time on?

    By Mark Pack | Mon 7th September 2009 - 12:20 pm

    ComRes has recently published the results of a survey it carried out earlier this year, asking over 500 councillors in England and Wales (but not Scotland) a wide range of questions.

    One in particular which caught my eye was about how much time being a councillor took up, and where that time went:

    Councillors spend the most hours per month attending council meetings and following this on committee work. On average, councillors spend about 19 hours a month attending council meetings. This is greatest among councillors serving in county councils who spend, on average, 24 hours a month attending council meetings. This

    …

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    Posted in Local government and Polls | Tagged | 1 Comment
    Stephen Tall

    Daily View 2×2: 7 September 2009

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 7th September 2009 - 9:45 am

    2 Big Stories

    Government’s Libya policy: confusion reigns

    The mounting government confusion over its policy towards Libya continues today.

    First we had the Prime Minister’s refusal to make a comment on the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi; then it emerged that Gordon Brown had let it be known he agreed with the Scottish executive’s decision; over the weekend Justice Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged the obvious – that government policy was strongly influenced by trade and oil.

    And now it emerges that Mr Brown is stepping up British attempts to win compensation for the victims of the bombing:

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    Mark Pack

    Save general election night!

    By Mark Pack | Mon 7th September 2009 - 8:50 am

    Yesterday’s Sunday Times reported how our traditional general election night is under threat from more and more councils wanting to move their count to a Friday.

    Although there are some understandable reasons for this (principally the extra logistical burden of new checks against postal vote fraud), overall losing the drama of Thursday night through to the early hours of Friday morning would be a backwards step because:

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    Posted in General Election and News | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
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    Recent Comments

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