Issan Ghazni

Equalities – how the ‘General Duty’ was saved

By Issan Ghazni | Fri 26th April 2013 - 10:21 am

It was fitting that, on the 20th anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence, the government decided to listen to campaigners and save a key element of our equalities laws.

Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (EMLD) played a leading role in the campaign to save Section 3 of the 2006 Equality Act which provides a vision and mission statement for Britain’s equality watchdog.

This is known as the ‘general duty’ and both informs the work of the watchdog – the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) – which itself is responsible for setting the standard for the rest of our public services.

That is …

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Paul Reynolds

Welfare Reform – are we missing the Big Picture?

By Paul Reynolds | Fri 26th April 2013 - 9:21 am

The welfare system is a vital part of any modern democracy. The general UK public want people protected from absolute poverty. We invented it – arising from our liberal reformist abhorrence of concurrent poverty and extreme wealth. Unfortunately it became central to big-state socialists’ social engineering policies. It has become a vast industry, with such complexity that its original aims have been all but lost. Amidst the financial crisis it falls to us, its inventors, to overhaul the sprawling system and propose major post-Coalition reforms..

Current Tory reforms aim to reduce complexity and cut the size of the welfare bill – …

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Stephen Tall

Clegg threat to block any further welfare cuts unless Cameron agrees to tax wealthy pensioners’ benefits

By Stephen Tall | Thu 25th April 2013 - 8:35 pm

It’s 18 months since Nick Clegg first publicly aired the idea that some universal benefits given to better-off pensioners should be means-tested — an idea that’s found favour with two-thirds of Lib Dem members.

There have always been three problems with the idea.

The first problem is that means-testing is bureaucratic and potentially expensive. However, there is an easy way around that: treat their cash value as income, and tax this income at the appropriate marginal rate, as proposed by CentreForum last year. Pensioners with annual incomes below the personal tax threshold would be wholly unaffected; those …

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink…Nick Thornsby: The snooper’s charter has reminded Nick Clegg, finally, he is a liberal

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th April 2013 - 6:55 pm

Yes, I know, it is Snoopers’ Charter Central here on Liberal Democrat Voice today. I hope you will forgive us for being relieved and delighted that Nick Clegg has made sure that the Government will not be bringing forward an illiberal, unnecessary and intrusive measure.

Over at the Guardian’s Comment is Free, our Nick Thornsby has given his take on the issue, going back through the events of the past year since the idea first emerged. At that point the Party was furious that we could even contemplate such a thing:

 Their anger was such that a hastily arranged conference call with

…

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Helen Duffett

Fairer Taxes – Preview tonight’s Lib Dem Party Political Broadcast

By Helen Duffett | Thu 25th April 2013 - 3:51 pm

Tonight’s Party Political Broadcast by the Liberal Democrats repeats the message that we have delivered a rise in the tax threshold, showing how people will benefit from this.

Nick Clegg says,

If you earn the minimum wage we have halved your Income Tax bill. And if you work tirelessly in a low-paid job, you’ll no longer pay any Income Tax at all.

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NewsHound

LibLink…Lynne Featherstone writes on World Malaria Day

By NewsHound | Thu 25th April 2013 - 1:43 pm

Over at the Huffington Post, Lib Dem international development minister Lynne Featherstone has been talking about the importance of World Malaria Day.

Here’s an excerpt:

Malaria affects over half the world’s population, with a child dying every minute from the disease. In the worst-affected countries malaria has a devastating impact on health systems and economies. When faced with these stark facts it can often seem like there’s no hope.

But amongst the gloom there are genuine signs that we may finally be winning the battle against malaria. Across the world malaria is on the decline. Over the past decade governments, NGOs and multilaterals

…

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg: Snoopers’ charter is not going to happen with Liberal Democrats in Government

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th April 2013 - 12:35 pm

Julian Huppert has already joyfully welcomed Nick Clegg’s decision to veto Tory plans on web snooping. However, I thought I’d give you the chance to hear Nick Clegg’s words from Call Clegg this morning. I certainly wasn’t expecting such an unequivocal statement. He has given himself no wiggle room at all. This is what he said:

What people have dubbed the snoopers’ charter, I just have to be clear with you, that’s not going to happen. In other words, the idea that the Government will pass a law which means there would be a record kept of every website you visit,

…

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Stephen Tall

Relief as 0.3% GDP growth shows economy flat-lining not shrinking. Has the Coalition’s mid-term slump bottomed out?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 25th April 2013 - 11:35 am

Reading too much into quarterly GDP figures is, of course, a mug’s game. They’re noticed mainly by avid Westminster-watchers and frequently revised both up and down.

None of that means they don’t matter, though. They frame the way politics is reported in the here and now. And that can affect what happens in the future. They can create momentum, or they can stop it dead.

A triple-dip recession, against market expectations of a modest 0.1% increase in GDP, would’ve been a severe blow to the Coalition’s message that, surely but slowly, the medicine’s working. As it is, the actual 0.3% …

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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes…I agree with Nick. He’s right to kill the Snoopers’ Charter

By Julian Huppert | Thu 25th April 2013 - 9:35 am

On 18th March 2010 Nick Clegg gave a speech to Privacy International about Lib Dem plans to roll back the surveillance state.  He said:

 The Conservatives talk a good game on privacy but scratch beneath the surface and it is clear they cannot be trusted to roll back Labour’s surveillance state… Only the Liberal Democrats will bring an end to the endless snooping on innocent people.

We committed ourselves at the last election to ending ID cards, curbing CCTV and stopping the Home Office encroachment into our lives. Enough of citizens as suspects. Enough of “endless snooping” by the Government.

One of our …

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Caron Lindsay

Government changes its mind and makes caste discrimination illegal

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th April 2013 - 9:01 am

The BBC reports that Vince Cable has agreed to outlaw caste discrimination after the House of Lords twice voted on an amendment incorporating it into the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.

Those proposing the change argued that those considered to be of lower caste in some communities were discriminated against in employment or even at school. A government report from 2010 argued that a change in the law was the most effective way of dealing with this issue.

Liberal Democrat peer Eric Avebury has been at the forefront of the campaign to outlaw caste discrimination and has written about …

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Caron Lindsay

Danny Alexander on Scotland Tonight: Currency union with post independent Scotland unlikely to work

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 24th April 2013 - 6:58 pm

Scotland analysis infographic on currencyYesterday, the UK Government issued a 100 page report analysing an independent Scotland’s options for the currency it would use post independence. They also produced an infographic summarising its conclusions. Unsurprisingly, the report concludes that staying in the UK is the best option for Scotland. For the first time, there was a very clear warning that the Scottish Government’s preferred option of a currency union may not be achievable.

On the other hand, the Scottish Government produced its own report saying that a currency union could …

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Alexander Ehmann

Opinion: Cash for coffees and rights for shares

By Alexander Ehmann | Wed 24th April 2013 - 3:29 pm

This morning I purchased a coffee. Not a very eventful start you might think, but if you’ll allow me, I’d like to dwell on the transaction. The deal with the establishment from which I purchased the coffee, was that in exchange for my ability to leave the store with their product, I had to exchange £3.50 for the privilege. In a functioning free market economy, such exchanges are made willingly by the buyer and seller alike. The key to this relationship is choice. Indeed, I had many choices – whether I needed the product, where to buy the coffee from and what price I …

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Samuel Fisk

Liberal Youth are making a difference – can you help this weekend?

By Samuel Fisk | Wed 24th April 2013 - 1:58 pm

Liberal Youth are making a difference up and down the country this month to get more Liberal Democrats elected.  Just as in Eastleigh, we’re showing the potential for Liberal Youth to be an election winning organisation as well an internal policy pressure group.

We’ve already had national action weekends in Sheffield and Cambridge, as well as national phone banking events with our shiny new connect account.

But we’re only just getting started.

This weekend we’re urging Liberal Youth members with no elections in their region to head to key target areas.  We’re holding action weekends in Somerset and Northumberland this weekend.  …

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Nick Tyrone

Opinon: The Liberal Reconfiguration. Thoughts inspired by the One Nation Labour conference

By Nick Tyrone | Wed 24th April 2013 - 12:23 pm

Last week, my job took me to the One Nation Labour conference at Queen Mary, University of London. There I saw a series of lectures followed by Q&A’s on what the future direction of the Labour party should and should not be. It was a fascinating day – the Lib Dem baiting they have gotten used to falling back on has (mostly) stopped and there seems to be an honest appraisal under way within Labour’s ranks about how they want to move forward. Of most interest to Lib Dems, and indeed liberals of all self-applied stripes, were ideas around …

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NewsHound

Nick Clegg: “No Liberal Democrat Council will close a single library this year”

By NewsHound | Wed 24th April 2013 - 10:59 am

The Independent reports on Nick Clegg’s appearance on BBC Breakfast yesterday in which he talked about the local elections and the national situation. The Liberal Democrat leader contrasted the difference in approach between Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Labour councillors with respect to Council budgets:

The deputy prime minister criticised “extravagant” spending on the “wrong thing” by Labour and Conservative councils.

“Above all, what you shouldn’t do when money is scarce, is waste money on extravagant or unnecessary expenditure – so the Conservative leader of the Leicestershire county council who spent over £200,000 on a chauffeur, or the Cotswold conservatives who spent

…

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Dr Jenny Woods

Opinion: A reference article for the Communications Data bill

By Dr Jenny Woods | Wed 24th April 2013 - 9:37 am

Back in February 2012, I became concerned about rumours of proposed new legislation which would put in place the means for monitoring all UK citizens’ online and mobile communications – legislation which had previously been thrown out as unworkable by opposition parties when the last Labour government tried something similar.

I wrote a policy amendment, appended to Julian Huppert’s Spring 2012 Conference motion on civil liberties, setting out what I hoped would be a good Liberal Democrat position against those – then unseen – proposals. If I’d known then what was to be …

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Stephen Tall

We should drop the ban on political advertising on TV

By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th April 2013 - 8:25 am

european court of human rightsThis week saw the failure of the attempt by Animal Defenders International to overturn the the UK’s ban political advertising on radio and television. The Guardian reports:

By a narrow majority decision, judges at the European court of human rights in Strasbourg have ruled that preventing the broadcast of a commercial – showing a girl in chains in a chimpanzee’s cage – did not violate freedom of expression. …

The animal rights group lost its appeals in both the high court and the House of Lords before

…

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Stephen Tall

Lord Rennard: police launch formal investigation

By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th April 2013 - 8:00 am

Today’s Independent reports:

The Metropolitan Police has launched a formal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard. Scotland Yard said that detectives had moved from assessing the claims of a small number of women to carrying out “inquiries to corroborate those allegations”. The Metropolitan Police set up a dedicated phone line for alleged victims of sexual misconduct after a number of women made claims in the media about inappropriate conduct by Lord Rennard. The peer, the party’s former chief election strategist, has repeatedly denied any improper behaviour or sexual harassment.

He said at the time

…

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Mary Reid

Schools in well-off areas ‘are failing’ poorer pupils

By Mary Reid | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 7:13 pm

David LawsThe Pupil Premium has had an impact on the educational achievements of many children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Indeed, the gap in attainment between them and the rest of the pupil population is the narrowest it has been for many years.

However, in an interview with the Independent, David Laws highlights the, perhaps surprising, differences between performance in deprived and in affluent areas of the country. It seems that disadvantaged children in well-off areas are not achieving as well as similar children in deprived areas.

David Laws, the Schools minister, described the

…

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Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes… Did it. As promised.

By Julian Huppert | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 6:12 pm

Libel Reform campaign logoI’ve been working on the Defamation Bill for years and now we are near the end phase.

Last week, I wrote here that we’d managed to secure a concession from the Government on something we’d argued for for a while – requiring companies to prove serious financial harm to take any libel action.

There were skeptics – lots of people saying they’d believe it when they saw it.

Well, today the Lords discussed the Government amendment we won, and supported it. The Bill can now proceed to Royal Assent.

We can …

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Paul Thompson

Opinion: Snoopers Charter about to resurface

By Paul Thompson | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 5:05 pm

Negotiations are currently taking place deep within the coalition that could change our relationship with the internet forever.  The second draft of the Data Communications Bill, or Snoopers Charter is currently being negotiated and if it’s anything like the 1st draft that was rejected in December, it could effectively spell the end of privacy as we know it on the internet.

The Data Communications Data Bill will force internet service providers and other internet businesses to collect and store all of your electronic communications for at least 12 months.  This will include all your emails, websites you’ve visited, Skype calls, social media, telephone calls etc.  …

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Colin Gell

Opinion: The London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games post-Games review

By Colin Gell | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 4:32 pm

812I wrote a little article on 9th April that related to sports funding and its relationship with the nation’s health. If I’m honest, I really just pointed out that there were things that simply didn’t add up.  A new  post-Games review was published over this weekend, which for the first time sees the government considering and attacking the impact of funding.

The report indicates that as an inspiration the games was a huge success, and its narrative is one that wants to build out from this.  This strategy has to use …

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The Voice

LibLink: Edward McMillan-Scott – End the European Parliament’s “travelling circus”

By The Voice | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 3:14 pm

EU Parliament Brussels - Some rights reserved by PoetografieEdward McMillan-Scott MEP is the only British Vice-President of the European Parliament and has been leading the campaign for a single seat for the European Parliament. On the British Influence website he writes:

For four days each month, the European Parliament leaves its working base in Brussels, the EU’s political capital, and descends on Strasbourg, its official ‘Seat’ for debates and votes. In addition, half of the Parliament’s staff work in Luxembourg. This arrangement costs €180 million and 19,000 tonnes of C02 every

…

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Sue Royston

The Independent View: Tax threshold changes – why the gains don’t reach the pockets of low earning families

By Sue Royston | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 1:32 pm

MoneyIncreasing the personal tax allowance to £10,000, to allow workers to keep more of their earnings before they start paying tax, sounds like a no-brainer as a way of helping hard working families trying to manage. However, a closer examination tells a different story – many poorer working families will keep only a fraction of the increase in net pay. This is because most of it will be deducted from any housing benefit or council tax support they receive. Higher income families in contrast keep all the net gain.

A single person …

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The Voice

LibLink: Greg Mulholland – A day to celebrate England, Englishness, and all things English

By The Voice | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 11:58 am

st georgeToday is St George’s Day, and Greg Mulholland has marked the occasion with an article in Endeavour Public Affairs.  He writes:

St George’s Day is an occasion when we should celebrate England, Englishness, and all things English.  Yet how many English people actually take the time to celebrate, to commemorate the event, even by that most English of pastimes, by popping for a pint of England’s national drink, beer, in one of our most distinctive of English institutions, the public house?

It often seems to me, surely strangely, that the answer is fewer than the number of people who live in England and celebrate St Patrick’s Day.  It is not only the Irish Diaspora communities who celebrate this, so why is it that not more English residents, whether born and bred or not, choose to celebrate our national day?

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Stephen Tall

The 2013 spending review: the Lib Dem problem is at least as big as Labour’s

By Stephen Tall | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 10:25 am

Piles of money. Photo credit: czbalazs - http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1236662Last Friday’s Independent splashed on the story, Exclusive: Labour bets the house with pledge to outspend Tories.

The story itself is disputed: Ed Balls rushed on the radio to rebut it: “Is it the policy of Ed Miliband and me Ed Balls that we will decide now to bet the house with a pledge to outspend the Tories? No, that is not our policy, that is not our position.” (Note to Ed Balls’ handlers: speaking of yourself in the third person is …

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Lord Tom McNally

Lord McNally writes… Liberal Democrats can be proud of the Defamation Bill

By Lord Tom McNally | Tue 23rd April 2013 - 8:50 am

Yesterday I published a new government amendment to the Defamation Bill which will strengthen the “serious harm” test already in the bill to make it more difficult for corporations to sue for libel. This new amendment makes it clear that a body trading for profit will only satisfy the serious harm test if it is able to show that the statement complained of has caused or is likely to case the body serious financial loss. This is almost identical to the original clause Anthony Lester proposed in his private members bill. This will make it clear that bodies trading for …

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Lord Anthony Lester

Lord Anthony Lester writes: Free speech is the lifeblood of democracy

By Lord Anthony Lester | Mon 22nd April 2013 - 6:58 pm

When I began drafting my private member’s bill to reform the law of libel in early 2010, with the help of the Libel Reform Campaign, the Lib Dems were the only party committed to reform, having grasped the chilling effect on free speech caused by the vagueness and uncertainty of the law, and the extortionate legal costs which accompany it.

By the time of the election that year, successful campaigning meant that all three main parties included libel reform in their manifesto commitments.

A pledge to reform libel law to better protect freedom of expression was included in the coalition agreement, and …

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Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg tells Wales: Liberal Democrat councillors create jobs and fight to protect services

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 22nd April 2013 - 3:58 pm

Nick Clegg’s speech to the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference has been widely covered. The Guardian led on his push for greater diversity in the Party and mentioned his defence of the Government’s economic policy, missing out the massive section on how the Liberal Democrats are delivering fairness in many areas across Government. Why would they do that, I wonder?

The BBC led on Nick’s assertion that he would not let the Government lurch to the right.

Having read the whole speech, I think there’s a part that has so far not made the headlines. Nick has spent a great deal of …

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Libby Local

Libby Local 15: Vile politics

By Libby Local | Mon 22nd April 2013 - 2:28 pm

Vile Tory propaganda was on my mind as I trudged up Crow Hill in a state of exhaustion. It was three on a Friday afternoon. Would I ever finish my last minute canvass for postal voters or would I collapse first?

The non-stop campaigning was just one reason I felt so tired. The vile propaganda in Tory leaflets was also getting to me.

The night before our core team met for an after-canvas drink in the Market Tavern.

The consensus was that the campaign was going well. @Demsburybess had taken charge of design, producing a clean, modern look to my Focus newsletters. It …

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