John Whitehouse

Opinion: HS2 is NOT Lib Dem policy!

By John Whitehouse | Mon 9th September 2013 - 3:18 pm

The Lib Dem transport strategy “Building a Fast Track Britain” agreed in 2008 is an excellent document which is well worth re-reading. Lib Dem proponents of HS2 constantly refer back to this strategy when declaring their support for the project.

But High Speed Rail (HSR) does not necessarily mean HS2. On the day that the Public Accounts Committee publishes yet another damning indictment of the project, it’s worth making clear that HS2 is certainly NOT in line with Lib Dem transport strategy:-

  • It will not help to reduce carbon emissions. Its ultra-high speed specification will result in much higher emissions than a

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 77 Comments
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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert writes… Ending food-crop-based first-generation biofuels

By Julian Huppert | Mon 9th September 2013 - 2:13 pm

The issue of food being used for fuel has become increasingly contentious. And decisions are fast approaching – in the European Parliament Liberal Democrat MEP colleagues are currently negotiating capping the use of damaging biofuels. Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat Transport Minister will also be taking up the issue in the Council of Ministers.

While first generation biofuels were lauded as the future it is now clear they cause more problems than they solve. The UK’s Gallagher Review in 2010 in fact concluded that in some cases biofuels can generate a higher carbon footprint than fossil fuels and contribute to deforestation. Subsidies …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 22 Comments
Layla Moran MP

Opinion: Fracking cannot be at the expense of Climate Change targets

By Layla Moran MP | Mon 9th September 2013 - 1:03 pm

Next Sunday, conference will debate the Green Growth and Green Jobs motion (F10). This wide ranging motion includes, among other things, lines on fracking (56-58) which state:

Permitting limited shale gas extraction, ensuring that regulations controlling pollution and protecting local environmental quality are strictly enforced, planning decisions remain with local authorities and local communities are fully consulted over extraction and fully compensated for all damage to the local landscape

Like many of you I am skeptical about fracking for a number of reasons but primarily because I am absolutely committed to tackling Climate Change, and the lines in the motion do …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 16 Comments
Joe Otten

Liblink: Chris Huhne on being despised

By Joe Otten | Mon 9th September 2013 - 10:36 am

Chris Huhne is in apologetic-but-fighting form in the Guardian, taking on wider reasons than himself for the negative public perception of politicians.

Chris is careful to apologise for and explain without excusing his conduct, but goes on to argue –

Maybe it was coincidence, but that summer I was the only frontbencher who, with Nick Clegg’s brave backing, called for the Metropolitan police to reopen the voicemail hacking inquiry into Rupert Murdoch’s empire.

Given that I was falling in love with someone who was not my wife, you might think that it was an act of folly to court Murdoch’s hostility,

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged and | 28 Comments
Tom Burke

The Independent View: No real choice on nuclear

By Tom Burke | Mon 9th September 2013 - 8:45 am

Atoms are not the only fission products of nuclear power. This is a technology with a unique capacity to divide people and parties. The pro- and anti- lobbies have been fighting it out for forty years and are no nearer to agreeing about its role in our energy system than they were when they began.

When we joined the Coalition we had a settled policy that was an important part of our distinctiveness as the greenest of the major parties. The policy we took into the Coalition Agreement was clear and unambiguous. We had long opposed any new nuclear construction. In …

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged | 14 Comments
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The Voice

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: And now for something else… Childcare, Lobbying and HS2

By The Voice | Sun 8th September 2013 - 3:45 pm

Last week, Syria dominated. This week Nick Clegg uses his Leader’s letter to promote a just-announced initiative – 15 hours’ free nursery care to children from the poorest families – and defend another two currently under attack: the Transparency and Lobbying bill and HS2. On lobbying, he dismisses as ‘nonsense’ the idea the Government was ever wanting to gag charities and says the Coalition will accept amendments that make this crystal clear. While on HS2 he argues it is vital to increase capacity, and adds it’s just one of many improvements planned to the railways.

libdem letter from nick clegg

A few weeks ago I asked you to let me know what you wanted me to cover in this letter and one message came back more clearly than any other: anything and everything! The winning choice, by far, was “something else” – with suggestions from bees to tax avoidance.

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The Voice

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 8th September 2013 - 2:15 pm

Many thanks to the 18,000+ visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

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The Voice

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: The Shortlists (2): Tweeter of the Year

By The Voice | Sun 8th September 2013 - 12:00 pm

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards are but six days away. At 10 pm on Saturday 14 September, in Castle 2 of the Crowne Plaza, with cash bar on hand, and an imaginative dress code, the best in blogging, campaigning, social media and politics in general will be feted in a ceremony filled with razzmatazz, glitz and glamour.

In the next few days, our Members’ Forum will be e-mailed with the chance to vote for the majority of the awards. They will have first sight of those shortlists and will be able to pick their winner. If you are a party member …

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The Voice

Independent says “Lib Dems go beyond meaning well”

By The Voice | Sun 8th September 2013 - 9:13 am

Today’s Independent editorial has some heartening words about the approach of Liberal Democrats within the Government and our ongoing policy making process.

The background to the motion on childcare is explored:

Hence the party’s plan to extend free childcare to all one- and two-year-olds, which we report on today, is no well-meaning wishlist, but a battle-hardened piece of legislation-ready policy.

The plan emerges from the struggle between the coalition partners over the last spending round, which was announced by George Osborne, the Chancellor, in June. Nick Clegg pushed for a better childcare deal, but eventually had to concede that NHS, schools and

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Caron Lindsay

+++Sarah Teather won’t fight 2015 election

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 7th September 2013 - 9:41 pm

Tomorrow’s Observer carries an interview with Sarah Teather in which she says that she will not defend her Brent Central seat in 2015, citing concerns about immigration policy.

It says:

In a blow to Clegg a week before his party gathers for its annual conference in Glasgow, Teather said his tougher approach to immigration – including a plan for some immigrants to pay a £1,000 deposit when applying for visas – left her feeling so “desolate” and “catastrophically depressed” that she was unable even to confront him over the issue. “It was

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Caron Lindsay

+++Convicted violent abuser Bill Walker resigns as MSP

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 7th September 2013 - 7:40 pm

16 days after his conviction for 23 charges of domestic violence against 3 former wives over a 28 year period, Dunfermline MSP has resigned his seat in Holyrood. Typically, he blamed the media pressure rather than his own actions.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

Good

Bill Walker should have understood immediately the gravity of his situation but it has taken sixteen days for the penny to drop.

It is sad that he continues to blame others instead of taking responsibility himself for his own actions.

It would have been wrong for someone convicted of so many counts of domestic violence to return

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Caron Lindsay

A few people are talking about party funding…

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 7th September 2013 - 4:53 pm

Yesterday’s Guardian makes a big thing over fairly cautious comments by Tim Farron about party funding in the wake of John Denham’s call for state funding of political parties and a £5000 donation cap.

Senior Liberal Democrats are pressing Nick Clegg to reopen talks withLabour on the funding of political parties after Ed Miliband’s chief negotiator in cross-party talks called for a radical rethink on large scale donations.

They believe that statements by John Denham MP, in which he said Labour could consider imposing a £5,000 cap

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 13 Comments
NewsHound

LibLink: Time to restore York’s green city status

By NewsHound | Sat 7th September 2013 - 2:15 pm

Liberal Democrats head to the beautiful city of York next March for Spring Conference.  Recently, our Council Group leader there set out a strong case for the Council to make the city the greenest in England.

Writing for local website YorkMix, Cllr Keith Aspden said:

I recently asked City of York Council to back an ambitious vision to make York the greenest city in the North of England. A city with the highest recycling rates amongst comparable councils. A city with a food waste recycling scheme in place.

A city which is seriously and ambitiously looking at renewable energy and sustainable food strategies.

This …

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The Voice

Liberal Democrat Voice Awards: The Shortlists (1): The Tim Garden Award

By The Voice | Sat 7th September 2013 - 12:00 pm

The Liberal Democrat Voice Awards are only a week away. At 10 pm on Saturday 14 September, in Castle 2 of the Crowne Plaza, with cash bar on hand, and an imaginative dress code, the best in blogging, campaigning, social media and politics in general will be feted in a ceremony filled with razzmatazz, glitz and glamour.

In years past, all the shortlists have been released at once. That’s because the Divine Ms Duffett is kind to you. I on the other hand, am happy to mess with your heads a bit more. So, in the style of the announcement of …

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Mark Valladares

The next arrival on Liberal Democrat Voice is… a Readers’ Editor…

By Mark Valladares | Sat 7th September 2013 - 9:51 am

It is a truism that, when running a collaborative, interactive website such as Liberal Democrat Voice, you are bound to upset someone at some point. After all, you’re dealing with people who have views, often rather firmly held ones. Passions run high, articles are published which generate, how shall I put it, a less than entirely supportive response.

At the moment, Liberal Democrat Voice relies on the integrity of its authors and other participants, backed up by a published, signposted comments policy, to ensure that abuse is kept to a minimum, in the hope that this will encourage participation by the …

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Lynne Featherstone says “End female genital mutilation in a generation”

By Andy Boddington | Sat 7th September 2013 - 9:03 am

Lynne Reatherstone FGM

Conference Committee is meeting today to discuss amendments to be taken at the Glasgow conference. An amendment to the motion on Domestic and Sexual violence concerns Female Genital Mutilation.

Yesterday international development undersecretary Lynne Featherstone told the Guardian that ending female genital mutilation is a priority for the British government. She said that Africa’s success in outlawing the centuries-old practice means the world now has the opportunity of a lifetime to consign it to history within a generation. Click here for the video.

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Posted in Conference and News | Tagged | 6 Comments

Nick Clegg signals changes to Lobbying Bill to address charity concerns

By Andy Boddington | Fri 6th September 2013 - 3:40 pm

The Guardian and the Independent today report that  the government will backtrack over parts of the Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill.

The coalition has maintained that the bill does not impose undue burdens and restrictions on charities during election periods. A wide range of charities and Unlock Democracy have taken the opposite view. In a report yesterday, the cross-party Political and Constitutional Reform Committee also raised a number of worries and has advised the government to rewrite the bill:

Our main recommendation is that the Government should withdraw the Bill following its Second Reading, and support a motion in the House to set up a special Committee to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny, using the text of the existing Bill as a draft.

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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert: Trident – getting off the nuclear ladder

By Julian Huppert | Fri 6th September 2013 - 3:03 pm

TridentI firmly believe that we do not want Trident. We simply don’t need the ability to blow up large parts of the globe. Frankly, the idea that we have spent decades with nuclear armed missiles cruising the oceans ready to fire on a moment’s notice seems absurd to me. I look forward to a world where we do not have such weapons, and where no one else does either.

Even those who believe that the MAD theory worked during the Cold War surely must accept that  the world has changed – I am always amazed by those who still live in the 60s.

The Tories are still wedded to that position – they seem to display some bizarrely Freudian attachment to having missiles which can explode violently.

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Tom Brake

Social media training at Glasgow Conference

By Tom Brake | Fri 6th September 2013 - 2:12 pm

At last month’s Edinburgh TV Festival, Kevin Spacey’s McTaggert lecture warned television execs to ‘embrace online or die’.

I don’t imagine that I will be changing how I watch Borgen anytime soon, but I can see from my own children how technology is changing the way they watch television.

As Liberal Democrats, one of our strengths has always been our sense of duty to communicate; since the very first Focus leaflets were sent out. As an MP, I think that the technological developments that Kevin Spacey was discussing raise important questions about how technology is changing the way we engage with local people.

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“Yes to New Homes” – time to cure the housing deficit disease

By Andy Boddington | Fri 6th September 2013 - 12:12 pm

Housing completions by tenureWe used to be good at housebuilding. As the economy recovered after the Second World War, house building in England grew to reach a peak of around 352,000 in 1968. That level of housebuilding seems inconceivable now.

The ugly truth is that we have not been building enough houses to cope with our growing population and shrinking household sizes since the late 1970s. We need something like 250,000 new homes a year, yet we are barely building more than 100,000.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg says High Speed 2 is good for London

By NewsHound | Fri 6th September 2013 - 9:41 am

Writing in today’s Financial Times, Nick Clegg reasons that HS2 is good for London as well as the north.

He says that the capital’s long-term status as an economic global powerhouse will be threatened if housing and transport infrastructure inside London are not upgraded, and the links to and from the city are not improved. He cites Germany and Japan where good transport links have allowed prosperity to “flow from one part to another”. If we want to keep Britain among the world’s largest economies, Clegg argues, we must find a better way to link London to the rest of the UK.

There are forces who have always opposed doing anything big beyond London. They seem content to see the bubble blow up in the capital without providing any sort of valve for release. It has been going on for years, it has got to change and under this government it is.

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 11 Comments

Lib Dem win in Wadebridge East by-election

By Andy Boddington | Fri 6th September 2013 - 8:10 am

There were a number of by-elections yesterday. Congratulations to Stephen Knightley won in Cornwall for the Lib Dems, though press attention is bound to be on the UKIP win in Boston on miserable turnout of less than 14%.

Cornwall Wadebridge East

Stephen Knightley (Lib Dem) was last night elected as the new Cornwall Councillor for Wadebridge East with 408 votes. It was a close fought race with Independent Tony Rush gaining just nine votes less. The by-election was called after Independent Colin Brewer stood down – he was the councillor that said that disabled children “should be put down.” The turnout was a healthy 40.47%.

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Posted in Local government and News | Tagged | 12 Comments
The Voice

All in a night’s work: Nick Clegg faces down HS2 critics and embraces Home Rule

By The Voice | Thu 5th September 2013 - 8:05 pm

Nick Clegg is in Glasgow tonight, talking to CBI Scotland. Much of what he says is applicable across the whole UK, though. Here are some of the highlights:

The economy

At every step of the way, in the Coalition, we’re fighting hard to create jobs, boost growth and make a genuine difference to people’s lives across the UK.

That’s why we’ve committed to raise the personal allowance on income tax. So that basic rate tax payers will get to keep all of the first £10, 000 they earn. We’ve already taken over 2 million people out of paying income tax altogether. And by

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NewsHound

LibLink: Lorely Burt on Syria and the vote

By NewsHound | Thu 5th September 2013 - 6:39 pm

Writing in today’s Solihull Observer, Lorely Burt, Lib Dem MP for Solihull explains why she abstained in last week’s vote.

Personally I could not support the government’s position. I will not support any more foreign war adventures: no more putting British lives at risk without broad international support and a direct threat to this country or our people.

We have all been sickened by the pictures of rows of dead Syrian children, and people dying so painfully from gas poisoning. But even so, getting involved in another war is an unpalatable option for most of us.

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 9 Comments
Keith House

Keith House writes: Low carbon development, the Eastleigh way

By Keith House | Thu 5th September 2013 - 3:30 pm

This is the second of three extracts from the forthcoming collection of essays Green liberalism: a local approach to the low carbon economy. Similar collections will be published under Green Alliance’s ‘Green social democracy’ and ‘Green conservatism’ projects as part of the Green Roots programme, which aims to stimulate green thinking within the three dominant political traditions in the UK. 

An international airport where two major motorways bisect may not, at a first glance, be the obvious place to start when looking for a council committed to the green economy. Add in support from the council for the managed growth of …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg: All teens should have access to modern sex/relationship education, wherever they go to school

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 5th September 2013 - 2:59 pm

When I was 17 years old, even if I’d had the nerve to ask a middle aged male politician about sex education, they’d probably have mumbled an excuse, blushed and scurried off into the distance.

So, my hero of the week is 17 year old Yas,  who phoned into Call Clegg today and asked Nick if he couldn’t do something about updating the guidance on sex education. She said that the material they were being taught was so old that it came on VHS videos. Yas is working on the Telegraph’s campaign for better sex education and has started a …

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Frances Crook

The Independent View: Legal Aid for children in prison. A disastrous day for liberal values

By Frances Crook | Thu 5th September 2013 - 1:59 pm

Today is a disastrous day for children in prison. The abolition of legal aid for children in prison will give a blanket of secrecy to child abuse.

The Howard League legal team has represented hundreds of children in prisons and privately run secure training centres to help them to progress successfully through their incarceration and to make sure the arrangements for their resettlement are safe and supportive. Legal aid to pay for this work is being abolished.

Not only will this mean that children will not get the courses they need to address their offending or the local authority support to …

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Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | 13 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Carmichael: Salmond remarks ludicrous and offensive

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 5th September 2013 - 12:08 pm

Carmichael looking mean croppedI said yesterday that I wanted a Liberal Democrat to come out and passionately call Alex Salmond out for suggesting that the case against independence was the case against Scotland. To recap, this is what he said in a Scotland Tonight interview on Tuesday:

..let’s see if we can get the pressure on to make sure we pull the Prime Minister into the ring and then let’s see if he can articulate a case against Scotland because I’ll certainly be articulating the case for Scotland.

And that Liberal Democrat calling …

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Mark Pack

Opinion: Regulate more lobbying and less campaigning: how to improve The Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill

By Mark Pack | Thu 5th September 2013 - 10:30 am

Neither the current rules regulating lobbying nor those controlling so-called ‘third party’ campaigning (i.e. by someone other than candidates or their parties) are extensive enough. Both need improving.

With lobbying, the case for better regulation is easy to make: pick a scandal, any scandal.

With third party campaigning, the loopholes and relaxed existing rules are less obvious because, so far, they have either been largely under-exploited or have been made use of by ‘good guys’ such as Hope Not Hate. Yet the very same generous rules that let Hope Not Hate explicitly campaigning for people not to vote for the BNP could …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie to Bill Walker: Do the right thing and resign

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 5th September 2013 - 9:56 am

Hume_BettsworthWillie Rennie has written to Bill Walker, the MSP for Dunfermline who was convicted of 23 instances of assault against 3 ex wives and a stepdaughter over a 28 year period to ask him to resign his seat in the Scottish Parliament. Here’s his letter in full:

Dear Bill,

I am sure that you will be aware of the demands for your resignation from the Scottish Parliament from both members of the public and Members of the Scottish Parliament.

I was disappointed to read news reports that you are not planning to leave Parliament.

You

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