High Court rules that 2017 changes to PIP regulations are discriminatory

By Matt | Sun 24th December 2017 - 8:55 am

The High Court has found that part of the rules governing Personal Independence Payments are unlawfully discriminatory against people with mental health impairments.

The Public Law Project’s client, RF, won on all three grounds of her challenge (RF v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions). 

The judge quashed the 2017 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Regulations because they discriminate against those with disabilities in breach of Human Rights Act 1998 obligations. Because they were discriminatory, the judge also found that the Secretary of State did not have lawful power to make the Regulations (i.e. they were “ultra vires”), and that he should have consulted before making them, because they went against the very purpose of what PIP regime sought to achieve.

The judge heard that the Regulations were laid by negative resolution in February 2017, received relatively little parliamentary attention, and were rushed through the parliamentary process by the Secretary of State without prior reference to checks by relevant committees.  Contrary to the Secretary of State’s defence, the judge found that the decision to introduce the Regulations was ‘manifestly without reasonable foundation’ and commented that the wish to save money could not justify such an unreasonable measure.

During the course of the trial, the Secretary of State accepted that the testing carried out for PIP had not looked at whether the basis for treating those with psychological distress differently was sound or not, and the testing actually done was limited. 

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Wera Hobhouse MP

Wera Hobhouse MP: Only the people can finish what the people have started

By Wera Hobhouse MP | Fri 22nd December 2017 - 1:27 pm

This is the speech delivered by Bath MP Wera Hobhouse in favour of a referendum on the final Brexit deal during the debate on the EU Withdrawal Bill on Wednesday.

I rise to speak to amendment 120. Since I arrived in this place in June and started taking part in the Brexit debate, one thing has intrigued me: have the Prime Minister and many other remain MPs changed their minds? We all know that the Prime Minister supported remaining in June 2016. Has she changed her mind since? This is important because she and her Government use one big argument for pressing on with Brexit: it is the will of the people. Is it? For the Government and the hard Brexiteers, the referendum result is fixed forever. The people cannot change their minds. The Prime Minister and other MPs can change their minds, but the people cannot.​

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Caron Lindsay

Swinson: Sectoral analysis shows that Brexit is a far-reaching, ridiculous folly

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 22nd December 2017 - 11:00 am

So MPs and peers had some time alone with the Brexit “sectoral analysis” papers. And those of ours who expressed an opinion were far from impressed. You can make your own mind up as the papers have been partially published here.

Vince Cable had been particularly scathing about them in an article for the Independent on Sunday:

Those who have seen them – under a procedure rivalling access to the Crown Jewels – say they are descriptions of the sectors, not assessments of impact, and contain nothing unavailable on Wikipedia.

The second, more serious, point was that the decision to leave the customs union was taken by the Cabinet without any quantitative assessment of impact.

This doesn’t surprise me. Whenever I try to engage Brexiteers with technical issues which face supply chain industries, whose components cross borders, along with practical problems surrounding border certification and rules of origin, eyes glaze over.

Then Jo Swinson had some time alone in a darkened room with them and she was underwhelmed to say the least. She set out her thoughts in a series of tweets.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Dear Santa

By Tom Arms | Fri 22nd December 2017 - 8:55 am

Dear Santa,

To start with I would like a new pair of cufflinks (nothing too flashy), a kindle, a good thriller read and the time to read it.

Then there a few other items which I don’t usually place on my Christmas list.

For a start do you think you could work on some magic dust. I know you know how to make it. It’s magic dust that makes your reindeer fly.

So could you just make some dust to scatter while flying around  through the night sky which would restore a veneer of civilisation to the world. Something that would remove the perpetual scowls and angry body language of presidents—and lots of lots of other people. Something that makes them at least look as if they are searching for a solution rather than a fight.

By the way, do you ever take back presents? You know, if the boy or girl has misused them or doesn’t play properly? If so, would you please collect all the megaphones that you handed out to politicians a couple of Christmases ago. Oh, and while you are it, could you remove the cotton from their ears.

At the moment opposing politicians spend  too much time shouting at each other through giant bullhorns while the cotton wool—plus their uncivilised behaviour—prevents  them from listening and discussing.  

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The Voice

Vince’s Christmas Message 2017

By The Voice | Thu 21st December 2017 - 3:35 pm
In his Christmas message this year, Vince is asking you to support a charity that works with the homeless near to you. Watch the video to find out more.

 

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Kirsten Johnson

Robots here and now

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 21st December 2017 - 12:56 pm

We are living in an increasingly automated, digitalised and interconnected world. I recently had the opportunity to tour an exhibit on automation, robotics, and future technology in Belgium.

  • There was a robot for feeding babies:

Not sure that I’d want this to be common-place. Bonding between parent/carer and child is ever so important. There is definitely a role for human contact in feeding a child.

  • A robot doll for reminding older people when to take medicines and eat. I can see the practical benefits here, but I would not wish a robot

…

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NewsHound

Police facing £125m real-terms cut

By NewsHound | Thu 21st December 2017 - 10:45 am

The party has criticised the government after it emerged the Home Office police grant for 2018-19 will remain exactly the same as this year, meaning police forces will see the equivalent of a £125m real-terms cut once inflation is taken into account.

The Home Office Police Core Settlement announced today for 2018/19 is £4,054,533,651 (link, p.3), which is exactly the same as in 2017/18 (link, p.6).

If funding had kept pace with annual inflation of 3.1%, it would have been increased by £125.7m (Office for National …

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The Voice

Lib Dem Amendment for people’s vote on Brexit deal defeated

By The Voice | Thu 21st December 2017 - 8:25 am

Last night, the House of Commons voted on Amendment 120 of the EU Withdrawal Bill, whether people should be given a vote on the final Brexit deal.

It was defeated, with 23 for and 319 against – most of Labour didn’t vote!

You can watch Wera Hobhouse’s passionate speech for giving people a say on the Brexit deal here.

And Tom Brake’s speech here.

Commenting on the vote, LibDem Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake said:

This is a shameful showing from the Labour party. They are meant to be opposing the government, but instead they

…

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Caron Lindsay

Carmichael: The Cabinet crumbles

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th December 2017 - 10:45 pm

A few weeks ago, I was out drinking (which I don’t do very often these days) on a Wednesday night and Michael Fallon resigned.

Tonight I was out drinking on a Wednesday night and Damien Green resigned. Robert Peston, who predicted he’d be absolutely fine, must be crying into his beer now.

All I can say is that it’s a sacrifice I would be prepared to make on a regular basis, especially for the Hanging Bat’s excellent honeyed ale with a schooner of rather excellent Porter on the side, all in the company of a very bad  influence indeed.

It must …

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Paul Tyler

Paul Tyler writes…What next for the Lords?

By Paul Tyler | Wed 20th December 2017 - 3:12 pm

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats peers, Dick Newby, has warned that the Prime Minister may try to pre-empt an agreement to restrict the ever-increasing size of the Lords by packing in new Tory appointments in the New Year.

The forecast that Theresa May would follow the plea of St Augustine – “Lord, make me pure, but not yet”. In the debate in December he set out the Party’s position on short term plans to present:

The proposals from the noble Lord, Lord Burns, offer an alternative way forward. From these Benches, as I say, we support their principal features: a significantly reduced size of your Lordships’ House, party membership based on electoral performance, and a gradual phasing in of the new arrangements. We do not of course resile from our policy of having elections for the political Members of your Lordships’ House, but we are realistic enough to know that this is not going to happen any time soon. In the meantime, it is highly desirable that something is done to reduce our size….

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NewsHound

Former Tory London Deputy chairman explains why he’s joined Lib Dems to fight Brexit

By NewsHound | Wed 20th December 2017 - 1:30 pm

Last week, Vince Cable welcomed Kishan Devani, former Tory Deputy Chairman of the London Conservative Party, to the Liberal Democrats. Mr Devani stood as a parliamentary candidate for the Conservatives in 2015 and in the London Assembly elections in 2016.

Brexit was a key motivator for Mr Devani’s decision as he explains in an article for Asian Lite International.

This lurch to the right began to be visible to me during the EU Referendum campaign. Having been instrumental in setting up ‘British Indians for In’ with the now Housing Minister Alok Sharma MP, I travelled up and down the country talking to the British Indian Community about the benefits of remaining in the EU. Currently the only political leader and party outlining the inconcistences in the Brexit argument are the Liberal Democrats & Sir Vince Cable – everyone else seems to have vanished & with them their ‘remain’ arguments too.

But not the only one…

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The Voice

How you can help Liberal Democrat Voice

By The Voice | Wed 20th December 2017 - 11:55 am

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 four simple ways:

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The Voice

A Newbie’s reflections

By The Voice | Wed 20th December 2017 - 10:25 am

When I first walked in to the offices of Eastbourne and Willingdon Lib Dems in April of this year, I had little idea just how swept up in it all I would get. Like many new (and more established!) members, I had got to the point with politics in this country where I felt “something must be done”!

On the first action day of the GE, I was warmly welcomed and soon sent out with the first of many walks to deliver. The bonhomie, and feeling that we were all working towards a greater good has stayed with me ever since. Being on the ground for the tail end of the local elections and the full GE campaign gave me an appreciation of how many other people shared my new-found passion for challenge and change. It also made me appreciate the necessity of an army of supporters to ensure we can continue challenge the big money (business or union) backing of other parties.

After the briefest of introductions to the local elections, the GE rapidly got into full swing. Election night in Eastbourne was bittersweet for us, our local success being tempered by the knowledge that despite working just as hard, Lib Dems across the country were meeting a brick wall. It was also the night that fully cemented my anti-Tory sentiment – as the results were announced in the town hall by the returning officer, the Tories, each and every one, booed the Green party candidate. The Tories, true to pantomime-villain form, picking on the weakest member in the room.

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Caron Lindsay

A chance to choose to #exitfromBrexit

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 20th December 2017 - 8:55 am

The EU Withdrawal Bill finishes its Committee stage in the House of Commons today and for Liberal Democrats the emphasis will be on our amendment calling for a referendum on the final deal.

Most of us baulk at the idea of another referendum, especially those of us who have been through two horrible and divisive referenda in the last three years as it is. Referenda are not an efficient tool to resolve complex issues and, as we have seen, can be manipulated by populists with an agenda.  However, the only chance we have of getting out of this mess is to …

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Rachel Palma-Randle

Some news about AdLib

By Rachel Palma-Randle | Tue 19th December 2017 - 6:55 pm

A lot has changed since 2014 – the biggest part of which is the fact that we now have around 100,000 members.

This is amazing, and it is radically changing us as a party but also challenging us to do things differently.

One challenge is that the cost of producing AdLib has escalated to the equivalent of the entire staffing budget for the Party’s Membership Department.

Because of these high costs, with regret, the Federal Board has decided to cease publishing it as a printed magazine in 2018.

I understand that this will be disappointing for many of you.

It has been a much-loved publication but we wanted to make sure you were aware of this change.

I am committed to exploring all opportunities in 2018 to make sure we have better, two-way communication with our members. That means using all sorts of tools, channels and formats.

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Stephen Tall

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: manager of the month for November

By Stephen Tall | Tue 19th December 2017 - 5:01 pm

Our fourth (and, sorry, very belated) update from the LDV Fantasy Football League. Congratulations to Emma Vincent, our Manager of the Month for November.

Her Killer Canaries scored an impressive 278 points, just edging out Andy Briggs’ eponymous Andy Briggs On Fire (269) and Victor Githae’s M.S.F.C BOOM Squad (265).

Here’s the current, full league table – note there are two former MPs in the top 10! Well done John Leech and Adrian Sanders:

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Joe Otten

Stephen Kinnock and Nick Clegg debate Brexit strategy

By Joe Otten | Tue 19th December 2017 - 10:43 am

Stephen Kinnock writes in Politics Home of his amicable clash over Brexit strategy with Nick Clegg.

Clegg is arguing for a change of course before 29 March 2019.

Look, it’s David Davis who famously said that ‘if a democracy cannot change its mind, then it ceases to be a democracy’. And the fact of the matter is that on an almost daily basis all those lies that were told by the likes of Boris Johnson during the campaign are being exposed, and the reality of what Brexit will do to our country is emerging,” he says.

Surely, as it becomes clear that things are not going to turn out as we were told, then we should be given the opportunity to re-consider, and to change course?

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Darren Martin

Blocked

By Darren Martin | Mon 18th December 2017 - 12:45 pm

Imagine waking up one morning in the not so distant future. You reach for your phone and none of your apps work, you can’t access your email, all your social media accounts have been deleted.

You can’t get any money out at the bank because your facial recognition is not working and you have no way of hailing an autonomous taxi.

You find out you have no job because you can no longer access the app that gives you shifts on a flexible basis.

People on the street avoid you, they all know you have been blocked.

Maybe you criticised the big monopoly tech …

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Mark Valladares

Welcome to my day- 18 December 2017: putting up the decorations…

By Mark Valladares | Mon 18th December 2017 - 8:23 am

Good morning! Yes, it’s the last Monday before Christmas, and politics is, in theory, winding down towards the transition to peace and goodwill to all. And yet, the DExEU equivalent of Bob Cratchit is probably hard at work preparing for Phase 2 of the Brexit negotiations. Not an enviable task, I suggest… If you’re watching, Bob, here’s a cheery penguin to admire…

We’re expecting a fairly quiet day here at LDV Towers. I’ll be taking my regular look ahead at this week in the Lords – yes, they’re still there – and we …

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #499

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 17th December 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 499th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (10-16 December, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can 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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Caron Lindsay

Don’t feel too sorry for Nigel Farage

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 17th December 2017 - 1:18 pm

I know that many of us who read and contribute to this site are pretty much bleeding heart liberals.

Our hearts are not bleeding, though, when we hear Nigel Farage whinging in the Daily Mail about how hard his life is. He complains about being skint and how there’s no money in politics.  

His near £90k salary apparently isn’t enough for him to live on. I’m sure  someone struggling on Universal Credit would have a different perspective.

But his MEP salary isn’t his only source of income. He doesn’t do all his media stuff for nothing. His most recent update to …

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The Voice

Vince: Brexit has no good options

By The Voice | Sun 17th December 2017 - 11:12 am

Vince Cable has been on Pienaar’s Politics on Radio 5 Live this morning. He told Pienaar and journalists Paul Waugh and Kate McCann there there were no good outcomes to Brexit.

There are no good options now. We are either going to get a very poor deal or none at all.

He added that the Single market was originally a British project and walking away imposes very major economic costs.

Those costs aren’t being felt yet as business is “sitting on its hands” waiting to see what emerges from the negotiations:

We haven’t got to decision point yet. All the Government has done is got through the first stage of agreeing to have negotiations and what happens then will determine whether there will be large scale disinvestment from the UK.

He confirmed that, when the Bill goes to the Lords, Lib Dem peers will be working with dissident Tory and Labour peers to “improve” the legislation, particularly by adding in a commitment to remain in the single market and customs union.

By the time the Bill comes back to the Commons, those MPs who favour the single market may well be prepared to vote for it.

More and more people were becoming disillusioned with Brexit, he added. He reminded everyone, as you would expect, that we would be pushing for an exit from Brexit referendum, emphasising that it isn’t a second referendum, but the chance for the public to have the final say on the deal. 

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David Warren

The better angels of our nature

By David Warren | Sun 17th December 2017 - 8:55 am

The US state of Alabama went to the polls this week in an election that can hardly have been more polarised.

In what is normally rock solid Republican territory, the GOP candidate Roy Moore faced Democrat Doug Jones. Mr Moore, a right winger opposes abortion in all circumstances, thinks homosexuality is a sin and believes Muslims should not be allowed to hold government jobs.

However Moore’s political views were not what made this race competitive.

The surfacing of allegations of sexually inappropriate behaviour was the issue that dogged him during the campaign. It made his principle opponent a contender in a state that the Democrats hadn’t won for decades.

Jones, who has never held office, but is well known in the state for his involvement in a high profile prosecution of Klansmen, was sneeringly described by President Trump as a liberal Democrat in a statement endorsing Moore.

This from a man who with every passing day reminds the Stephen King fans amongst us of the megalomaniac politician, Greg Stillson, from the Dead Zone.

That said these days most Republicans are pretty scary.

You have to go back a long way to find a GOP liberal of the Rockerfeller variety.

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Caron Lindsay

Poll gives Remain a 10 point lead over Leave – what does this mean?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 16th December 2017 - 10:27 pm

A BMG poll for the Independent shows a majority of those asked are now in favour of remaining in the European Union. In fact, Remain has a 10 point lead over leave which widens to 11% when you exclude the don’t knows:

When a weighted sample of some 1,400 people were asked: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union, or leave the European Union?” – 51 per cent backed Remain, and 41 per cent backed Leave.

7 per cent said “don’t know” and 1 per cent refused to answer.

After “don’t knows” were either pushed for an answer or otherwise excluded, 55.5 per cent backed Remain and 44.5 backed Leave.

Polling since this time last year appears to demonstrate a clear trend; Leave enjoyed a lead last December which gradually shrank, before turning into a lead for Remain in the month of the general election, that has since grown.

So by the time the Government drags us out of the EU, it is likely that a majority of people will be in favour of staying. How can that possibly be legitimate?

This poll does come with a bit of a health warning. The fieldwork was carried out during that week where the deal over the Irish situation was unravelling in slow motion in front of our eyes. However, the deal that was reached on 8th December, the final day of the fieldwork, is simply a bit of fudge covered with sticking plaster resolving none of the key issues. Those problems will loom large in the early months of 2018.

What if the polls turned? Surely the Government would be compelled to test whether their deal has public sympathy.

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Caron Lindsay

Politics Galore – a new podcast about Scottish of politics

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 16th December 2017 - 3:04 pm

One of the reasons I prefer writing over speaking in public is that my gob doesn’t have a backspace key. However, I am not known for my silence or unwillingness to express an opinion so when I was invited to take part in a new podcast about Scottish politics, I jumped at the chance.

On Thursday, just after the Scottish Budget was announced, I spent an enjoyable half an hour talking over the issues of the day with the hosts Andrew Jackson and David McColgan.

I don’t think I said anything too embarrassing but have a listen to try and …

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ALDC

ALDC’s bumper by-election report – 14 December 2017

By ALDC | Sat 16th December 2017 - 10:13 am

A bumper set of by-elections for the last time this year, with 2 on Wednesday and 8 on Thursday. We continued our fine form of recent weeks with another gain off the Conservatives, along with 2 solid holds, ensuring that we finished December with 19.7% (+8.2%) of the vote, standing candidates in 10 of the 12 contests.

A huge thank you to last night’s brilliant team of volunteers who came to 23 New Mount Street in Manchester to make calls at ALDC’s By-election HQ. It’s always good fun with such …

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Michael Meadowcroft

The Government does not have a clue on a solution to the Irish border problem

By Michael Meadowcroft | Fri 15th December 2017 - 10:25 am

Being an earnest seeker after truth I downloaded the full Joint Report of 8 December in order to discover just how the Prime Minister proposed to accomplish the trick of leaving the single market and the customs union whilst still having no physical border between the European Union, ie the Republic of Ireland, and the UK, ie Northern Ireland.

I searched in vain. There are no practical plans whatsoever in the Report. All there is are statements of intent on “the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland,” relying “to a significant extent on a common European Union legal and policy framework,” on being “committed …. to its guarantee of avoiding a hard border,” and “will propose specific solutions,” “will maintain full alignment,” with the necessary EU rules and “will establish mechanisms to ensure the implementation and oversight of any specific arrangement to safeguard the integrity of the EU Internal Market and the Customs Union.” It has the worthy aims of “what” they want, but nothing of “how”.

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Duncan Brack

Report of Federal Policy Committee meeting – 13 December 2017

By Duncan Brack | Fri 15th December 2017 - 8:55 am

FPC met on Wednesday evening for its last meeting of the year. Taking place in the House of Commons, we were regularly interrupted by the results of votes on amendments to the Brexit bill – including the one the government lost!

Tuition fees

Vince Cable – who is chair of the FPC as well as party leader – pledged in his leadership election manifesto to look at party policy on the tuition fees system: ‘We need a solution that keeps the benefits of the current system – relating contributions to income and protecting university funding – but is fairer across the board, including for the 60 per cent who never go to university, many of whom pursue vocational options instead.’ As he reported to conference in September, he asked David Howarth (Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge 2005–10) to consider options for reforming or replacing the current system and present them to FPC as a basis for consultation within the party.

David’s paper, which he outlined to FPC, sets out the benefits and drawbacks of five options. FPC members raised a series of fairly minor issues, but overall were happy with the paper. I won’t attempt to summarise it here, as the options deserve to be read in detail, and it’s not completely finalised yet. We will publish it as a consultation paper in late January or early February and hold a consultative session around it at the Southport conference, on the afternoon of Friday 9 March. Local and regional parties might like to consider organising discussions on the issue in the spring and summer. Based on the feedback we receive, FPC will aim to put a policy motion for debate to the autumn conference.

Education policy paper

Lucy Netsingha, chair of the Education policy working group, presented a near-final draft of the paper, following our discussion on its outline proposals at our previous meeting. FPC members raised a few new issues and resolved a number of others. We left the remaining major issue, on the future of the schools inspection regime and Ofsted, for discussion at our January meeting, when Layla Moran, the party’s education spokesperson, should be able to join us. The paper will then be published and submitted for debate at the spring conference in Southport.

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Caron Lindsay

Rennie: Scottish Budget a “missed opportunity”

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 14th December 2017 - 9:57 pm

Today was an historic day. Twenty years and three months ago, the Scottish people voted to have a Scottish Parliament with tax raising powers.

In his annual Budget, Scottish Finance Minister Derek Mackay increased the basic rate of income tax to 21p for those earning above £24,000. He also decreased it to 19p for the lowest earners up to £13,850. He put up the higher rate to 41p and the top rate to 46p.

It’s all pretty modest and it represents the sort of moves we were calling for in the Scottish elections last year and since. We wanted to see the money brought in put into education to make what Willie Rennie calls a “transformative”investment.

So we’re not going to complain about the idea of tax rises in principle. However, Derek Mackay is getting a world of pain from the Tories because the SNP said in their manifesto that they wouldn’t raise the basic rate of income tax. They were pretty scathing about our plans during the campaign and there are a whole load of words they said that are coming back to haunt them now.

They could have saved themselves that grief by ceding the principle last year.

Anyway, that is their problem to deal with. The Budget is a pretty modest affair. It’s certainly not the sort of budget to deal with a struggling health service, unfit for purpose education system and a housing crisis that keeps getting worse.

Willie Rennie had this to say:

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Kirsten Johnson

Faith and Liberalism

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 14th December 2017 - 1:30 pm

Following on from previous discussion on this site around the interaction between faith and being a Liberal Democrat,  I thought I’d share my story and, hopefully, encourage others to do the same. I am writing in a personal capacity, but happen to be Vice-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum.

I am only a Liberal Democrat because of my Christian faith.  I’d better unpack that.  My faith has been a journey, brought up in a protestant household, with my childhood and teenage years in the Assemblies of God, and then working as a musician

…

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