Liberal Democrat Voice

Top Conservatives fall out over waste collection policies

By The Voice | Thu 27th November 2008 - 9:00 am

Via the BBC:

From January English councils will be able to bid for pilot schemes to incentivise people for recycling more and deter them from throwing stuff away …

Eric Pickles, Conservative local government spokesman, has regularly criticised the “hated bin taxes”…

But Paul Bettison, a Conservative councillor responsible for waste on the Local Government Association said: “I wish Eric Pickles would stop calling them bin taxes. It is very galling.

“They are bin charges. They are not taxes at all. You pay for the service you get. The current system of invisible waste charges is much more like a tax.

“I know

…

Posted in News | Tagged eric pickles | 2 Comments

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Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust publishes details of planned donations to the Liberal Democrats

By The Voice | Wed 26th November 2008 - 11:30 pm

The latest quarterly donation reports show relatively modest donations from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust to the Liberal Democrats (£8,725 in the third quarter of 2008), but via their website comes news that more money is on its way:

Grants made in 2008
October 2008 Quarter

Liberal Democrats

£1,230,000 towards campaigning costs in the lead up to the next General Election allocated as follows:

* £150,000 to support campaigns in key seats with women, black and minority ethnic candidates;
* £700,000 towards the cost of campaign staff and literature;
* £200,000 for election related training;
* £180,000 to support voter contact operations.

www.libdems.org.uk

The Office of the Leader

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Posted in News | Leave a comment

LDV members’ survey (3): the party presidential election

By Stephen Tall | Wed 26th November 2008 - 9:29 pm

Over the last week, Lib Dem Voice has invited the members of our private forum (open to all Lib Dem members) inviting them to take part in a survey, conducted via Liberty Research, asking a number of questions about the party and the current state of British politics. Many thanks to the 200+ of you who completed it; we’re publishing the results this week on LDV.

This month saw the announcement of the result of the all-member ballot to elect the next President of the Liberal Democrats: Baroness Ros Scott won, with a resounding 72% of the vote, …

Posted in LDV Members poll | Leave a comment

Conservatives join Labour in blocking vote on Pre-Budget Report

By The Voice | Wed 26th November 2008 - 7:05 pm

John Hemming reports on his blog,

Confusion reigned in The House as the Conservatives decided to vote with Labour to ensure that there wasn’t a vote on the Pre Budget Report. Personally I think they didn’t know what was going on and will regret this in the future. Some came into the aye lobby and wandered out again. Technically there was a vote to have a vote 30 seconds before the end of the debate against which Labour and the Tories voted.

Posted in Parliament | Tagged john hemming | 2 Comments

Jenny Randerson AM: why I want to lead the Welsh Liberal Democrats

By Jenny Randerson | Wed 26th November 2008 - 4:45 pm

Once upon a time, Wales was full of hope for the future. The narrowly won referendum on the creation of Assembly had ushered in a new period for Wales. The idea that ‘never again’ could an “English” Government wreak devastation across the country as they had in the eighties, provided the prospect of a bright future for Wales.

Nearly ten years have now passed and Labour is approaching the half way point of its third term in office. The promised transformation of Welsh services and society has not yet come to pass. Wales is still the poorest nation of the UK; …

Posted in Leadership Election, Op-eds and Wales | 2 Comments

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Political party borrowing: prepare for a round of misreporting

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th November 2008 - 2:19 pm

The latest figures from the Electoral Commission for donations to political parties and borrowing by parties are out today.

It includes the claim that, “As at 30 September 2008, total borrowing stood at just over £31 million.”

As is now traditional, the Electoral Commission is in fact misreporting its own figures. As I wrote last time:

You will find that this is actually the total figure for borrowing plus unused credit facilities. It’s as if I had an unused credit card with a £500 limit that’s never come out of the envelope and never been used, but you said, “Ah ha! You

…

Posted in News | Tagged electoral commission and party funding | 1 Comment

Lib Dig Pig #1

By James Graham | Wed 26th November 2008 - 1:55 pm

Having shouted the loudest over the summer for someone (not me, you understand) to set up something like Lib Dig, it is inevitable that Lib Dem Voice would ask me to write a round up of the weekly digs. So here is my first attempt.

For those who don’t know, Lib Dig is a “social bookmarking” tool which allows Lib Dem members to share with other members (and the world) items on the internet that they feel deserve to get wider exposure.

Each week I will highlight the best of the non-Lib Dem related interwebs out there, as voted by LibDig users (if you aren’t one, and are a Lib Dem member, sign up here: http://libdig.co.uk). The rules for inclusion here are simple: they must have been “dug” for the first time in the last seven days and they can’t be Lib Dem-related or come from a Lib Dem blog. The top rated article of each category will be listed, along with three runners up, will be listed here. And finally, for the purposes of this column, my votes will be discounted (you can see my personal LibDig feed by going here: http://libdig.co.uk/users/4/james.graham/1.html).

Without further ado, here are this week’s top digs:

Posted in Best of Lib Dig | Leave a comment

PMQs: Nick tackles Gordon on fairness in the tax system

By Alix Mortimer | Wed 26th November 2008 - 12:54 pm

Clegg’s main question today to Brown was simple and broad: a Labour government had the opportunity in the Pre-Budget Report to make the tax system fairer. The Chancellor mentioned fairness eight times during his speech – why did they blow it?

Brown replied in the usual vein, citing increases in the various hand-outs – child benefit, child tax credit, pensions etc – which Clegg then rightly identified as a “list rather than an answer”. He also directly contradicted Clegg on the latter’s assertion that the VAT cut would help big spenders rather than hard-pressed “families” (I can’t

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Posted in News and PMQs | Tagged gordon brown and nick clegg | 1 Comment

Lack of men in childcare denies young children role models – Clegg

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th November 2008 - 12:30 pm

Interesting speech yesterday from Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg to the Daycare Trust about the importance of male role models for children:

I remember well when I first arrived at Westminster the strange looks I would get when I would miss a drink in the Commons bar so that I could put the kids to bed.

For men wanting to actually work in the field, the social disapproval, even hostility, that they often feel is a huge deterrent … Of those who have done it, some say the only way they were accepted was by being seen as ‘honorary women’, rather than

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Posted in News | Tagged lynne featherstone and nick clegg | 7 Comments

Tessa Jowell: five office redecorations in six years

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th November 2008 - 11:40 am

From the Mirror:

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has spent over £40,000 of taxpayers’ cash refurbishing a second office.

The Mirror revealed weeks ago how she has earned herself the nickname of Two Desks because she works from two different bases.

But the full cost of her extravagance has now been revealed in a written Parliamentary answer…

It is the fifth time in six years that Ms Jowell has had an office decorated.

Lib Dem Don Foster said: “Tessa Jowell’s fondness for office design has been widely documented and the huge amount of public money being wasted here demonstrates how profligate this government has become with

…

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Finance and economics: what we have learned, and what still needs to be done – part 3

By Tim Leunig | Wed 26th November 2008 - 11:30 am

This week Liberal Democrat Voice is running a series of articles from Tim Leunig about the economy – how we got here and what we should do next. So far the series has covered bank bailouts and bank lending.

Fiscal policy

Much has been written about the need for a fiscal boost. The debate has been poor, with politicians and the media muddling up underfunded tax cuts, tax cuts funded by spending cuts, and tax cuts funded by rises in other taxes. The last two have no impact in this context, and will not be considered.

Underfunded tax cuts, or unfunded …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economy | 13 Comments

Labour tax policy in chaos following publication of plans to increase VAT

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th November 2008 - 11:57 pm

Guido had the evidence: one of the budget documents talking about increasing VAT to 18.5% in 2011-12. Labour’s response? It’s a horrible editing blunder and that isn’t their plan, that bit shouldn’t have been in the paperwork, and so on.

Vince Cable has nicely summed up the situation:

This is either gross incompetence or duplicitous. It may be that this may be one option that they didn’t pursue. But if that is the case, why did it find itself in public documents?…

There are two explanations: they did pull it and maybe one of the reasons that the deficit is so alarmingly

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Posted in News | 9 Comments

LDV members’ survey (2): what you think are the most important issues facing the UK

By Stephen Tall | Tue 25th November 2008 - 9:04 pm

Tonight we look at what you consider to be the most important issues facing the UK. A word of explanation about the categories that were presented as options: they were based on …

Posted in LDV Members poll | 3 Comments

Neil Trafford passes away

By The Voice | Tue 25th November 2008 - 7:05 pm

As Anders Hanson has written earlier today:

It’s so hard to write this. As some of you may know, Neil Trafford has died in a car accident. I wasn’t sure if I should write anything here so soon, but when I started writing things down I found that although it was upsetting it was also helpful.

Neil was one of those amazing people who was not only a really committed Liberal Democrat and a phenomenal campaigner, but was also great fun to be with, was very outgoing and sociable and had a real normal life outside of the party.

Neil was hugely …

Posted in News | 44 Comments

Symantec, the BBC and hype: an tale of how not to report online crime

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th November 2008 - 6:55 pm

Online fraud is a serious problem, but that shouldn’t be a reason to turn off your critical faculties when a firm that sells software to deal with online fraud issues a news release on the topic.

On Monday the software firm Symantec issued a press release, which included this combination of claims:

While stolen credit card numbers sell for as little as $0.10 to $25 per card, the average advertised stolen credit card limit observed by Symantec was more than $4,000. Symantec has calculated that the potential worth of all credit cards advertised during the reporting period was $5.3 billion.

The $5.3 …

Posted in News | 2 Comments

Kirsty Williams AM: why I want to lead the Welsh Liberal Democrats

By Kirsty Williams AM | Tue 25th November 2008 - 4:45 pm

I am incredibly proud that the Welsh Liberal Democrats are on the verge of electing the first female party leader in Wales. It is a significant point in Welsh political history, and one that will follow a decade of immense change in how our country is governed.

I have had the privilege of being involved in that change, from the referendum campaign and the National Assembly Advisory group through to the rough and tumble of three election victories in Brecon and Radnorshire. That process of change is not about to stop and I want the Welsh Liberal Democrats to be …

Posted in Leadership Election and Wales | Tagged kirsty williams | Leave a comment

Clegg on the economy, the perils of frankness, and Rich Tea biscuits…

By Alix Mortimer | Tue 25th November 2008 - 3:06 pm

It’s all in an interview with 5Live’s Shelagh Fogarty for the December issue of Total Politics. It’s more a relaxed chat than a detailed policy piece but all the more interesting for that. Among the snippets:

On Lord Mandelson’s recent admission that he and Gordon Brown wasted a lot of time and effort on a personal feud, Nick Clegg is clear: “I think that’s a huge mistake in politics. It’s not easy and it does get personal. People say tough things. I think bluntly this is where Gordon Brown went wrong. Before he was reinvented as

…

Posted in News | Tagged total politics | Leave a comment

LDV’s Welsh Lib Dem leadership platform

By Stephen Tall | Tue 25th November 2008 - 2:13 pm

The election contest to lead the Welsh Liberal Democrats is well under-way: hustings are taking place throughout November, with the ballots posted out on November 21.

There are two candidates, both female: Jenny Randerson, AM for Cardiff Central, and Kirsty Williams, AM for Brecon and Radnorshire.

Lib Dem Voice is giving both leadership candidates the platform directly to address members in Wales, as well as the wider party. First up will be Kirsty – her leadership platform piece will be published on LDV this afternoon, at 4.45 pm. Jenny’s will be published very shortly.

Posted in Leadership Election and Wales | Tagged kirsty williams | Leave a comment

LDV readers say: Narrow yes to presumed consent for organ donations

By Stephen Tall | Tue 25th November 2008 - 1:42 pm

In the light of the recommendation from the Organ Donation Task Force to reject the idea of ‘presumed consent’ – meaning that unless people opted out of the register or family members objected, hospitals would be allowed to use their organs for transplants – Lib Dem Voice last week our readers the question:Do you think it would be right to introduce presumed consent for organ donations?

Our poll swayed back and forth during the week, but in the end a narrow majority of you voted in favour of ‘presumed consent’. Here’s what you told us:

• Yes, I do

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Posted in Voice polls | Leave a comment

Is major change on the way for Ordnance Survey?

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th November 2008 - 1:20 pm

Following on from my weekend post about an example of how Ordnance Survey’s business model holds back innovative use of public data, yesterday’s Pre-Budget Report included this:

The HM Treasury/Shareholder Executive assessment of trading funds has considered the potential for innovation and growth from increasing commercial and other use of public sector information. It will shortly publish some key principles for the re-use of this information, consider how these currently apply in each of the trading funds and how they might apply in the future, and the role of the Office of Public Sector Information in ensuring that Government policy

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Posted in News | 1 Comment

Finance and economics: what we have learned, and what still needs to be done – part 2

By Tim Leunig | Tue 25th November 2008 - 11:30 am

This week Liberal Democrat Voice is running a series of articles from Tim Leunig about the economy – how we got here and what we should do next. Yesterday was bank bailouts, and today…

Bank lending

It is important not to resume borrowing levels of two years ago. Indeed, we can calculate the optimal level of mortgage lending. Net lending should equal the value of new houses built, minus deposits on those houses, plus the same for houses bought by newly-formed households, and those moving to larger houses, minus regular capital repayments on the existing mortgage stock. Housebuilding rates are low …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economy | 3 Comments

Which country bans election candidates from updating homepages and blogs during an election campaign?

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th November 2008 - 8:50 am

It’s been a democracy for over 50 years.

60% of its population has access to high speed broadband.

More blogs are written in its native language than in any other language.

And the country is … Japan, where:

Once an official campaign has started, candidates are barred from updating their home pages, launching or amending blogs—podcasts are allowed because the law applies only to text or images—posting political statements or sending text messages to mobile phones. Additional regulations prohibit donors from using credit cards online to support candidates, effectively preventing online fundraising.

But things are starting to change:

Politicians have begun discovering the power of YouTube

…

Posted in Online politics | Tagged japan | 3 Comments

NEW POLL: what do you make of the Pre-Budget Report?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th November 2008 - 8:15 pm

We now know the details of Alastair Darling’s ‘crisis budget’, the PBR. The Guardian has a brief run-down of the headline changes here, chief of which are:

• VAT to be cut from 17.5% to 15% from Monday until 2010
• Top rate of income tax to rise to 45% on those earning more than £150,000 – the top 1% of earners – from 2011
• Allowances to be raised, so this will be worth £145 a year to 22 million basic-rate taxpayers
• National Insurance to rise by 0.5% on all rates of national insurance from 2011

The big question is: will it …

Posted in News | 8 Comments

LDV members’ survey (1): big yes to tax cuts in recession

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th November 2008 - 7:45 pm

First up, we asked about the current state of the British economy. LDV asked: At our September conference, the party approved the Make It Happen policy document which committed the Lib …

Posted in LDV Members poll | Leave a comment

Pre-budget report: Lib Dem reaction so far

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th November 2008 - 6:20 pm

LDV’s own Alix Mortimer has already live-blogged Labour’s pre-budget report, the Government’s response to recent economic turmoil, which (to my eyes) looks like being more dramatic than expected, and less effective than needed. Alix was quick to pick up the (deferred) impact of the national insurance hike:

This 0.5% on National Insurance. I smell another 10p fiasco. NI already hits lower earners disproportionately hard, with a current rate of 11% on your earnings between about £6,000 and about £40,000, and then 1% above that. What is this “offsetting” which will miraculously absolve those earning below £20,000 from being hit? Very

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Posted in News | 2 Comments

Pre-Budget Report – the live(ish) blog

By Alix Mortimer | Mon 24th November 2008 - 3:36 pm

15.31. The PBR has just got underway, with Darling solemnly recounting Labour’s received wisdom on how the credit crunch started (nowt to do with us) and being barracked accordingly.

So what with the pre-announcements to the pre-budget report, is there any more to come? Will we see any surprises on top of the pre-announced changes to VAT, the higher rate of tax, vehicle excise duty and the continuance of the 10p rebate? My feeling is that we will. Liberal Democrats were miraculously let off by the Tories’ non-announcement about giving tax breaks to

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Posted in News | Tagged economy | 27 Comments

Finance and economics: what we have learned, and what still needs to be done – part 1

By Tim Leunig | Mon 24th November 2008 - 11:30 am

This week Liberal Democrat Voice is running a series of articles from Tim Leunig about the economy – how we got here and what we should do next.

Bank bailouts

The economic downturn was precipitated by financial problems. This is a sign of a successful financial sector: they are there to bear risks other people do not want to bear, and are correspondingly prone to crises from time to time. Since the underlying rationale of a bank is to borrow short and lend long, the threat of bank runs will always be with us.

Banks in Britain needed government assistance to distinctive reasons. …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged economy | 9 Comments

The VAT cut and higher-rate income tax increase: what will be the impact?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th November 2008 - 10:58 am

According to the widely-leaked reports of the Chancellor Alastair Darling’s pre-budget reports, we can expect the following measures:

VAT: Temporary 2.5% cut
Income tax: 5p increase for top earners after next election
Vehicle excise duty: Postpone planned increase
10p tax rebate: Extend for another year
Corporation tax: Next rise postponed

The Lib Dems’ Vince Cable is sceptical of the impact of the measures, especially the temporary cut in VAT: “The principle of tax cuts we don’t question – you have to have a tax cut – but a small and temporary reduction on value added tax may not have an effect”. Instead he once …

Posted in News | Tagged ConservativeHome | 8 Comments

LibDemBlogs gets a Welsh version

By Mark Pack | Mon 24th November 2008 - 10:40 am

Ryan’s highly popular and successful LibDemBlogs aggregator now comes in a Welsh flavour – www.welshlibdemblogs.co.uk

This site selects the Welsh blogs (only) from the main LibDemBlogs site and so is aimed mainly at readers from Wales – especially those outside the party – who don’t want the much higher and broader volume of traffic on the original aggregator.

Posted in Online politics and Wales | Leave a comment

Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen #92

By Stephen Tall | Sun 23rd November 2008 - 8:10 pm

Welcome to the 92nd of our weekly round-ups from the Lib Dem blogosphere, featuring the seven most popular stories according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (16th-22nd November), together with a hand-picked quintet, mostly courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

How about starting with the most popular blog-posting, and we work our way down? Here goes…

Posted in Best of the blogs | Tagged david lammy and james graham | 1 Comment

Op-eds

We need better conversations on AI and the environment (Josh Matthews)
How to spot a Racist (Ben Rich)
Councils must help music – so music can help their communities flourish (Charlie Clinton & Josh Matthews)
Welcome to the Brexit argument, Prime Minister! (Dr Anthony Harris)
Can we afford the Triple Lock? Not as a low tax party (Joe Wright)

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Vince Cable writes: Drill, baby, drill…or not

Lib Dems must do better on Burnham

Britain should be proud, but never afraid of the stranger

Lib Dem Women: Amplifying women’s voices at Conference

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