Mark Valladares

Security bonds are a mistake, Nick…

By Mark Valladares | Tue 26th March 2013 - 9:55 am

Last June, the idea of insisting that those wishing to bring a foreign spouse into the country should have a minimum level of income was mooted. It was bad enough that the Government adopted it, but it was the Labour response that was even more dubious. Here’s what Yvette Cooper asked at the time;

Will the Home Secretary explain why the Government ruled out consulting on a bond that could have been used to protect the taxpayer if someone needed public funds later on?

So, when Nick Clegg talks about introducing a security bond for visa applicants, it isn’t original and …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 13 Comments
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Stephen Tall

Government pauses on web regulation to ponder question, “What is a small-scale blog?”

By Stephen Tall | Tue 26th March 2013 - 9:10 am

A follow-up to my weekend post, Bloggers unite to oppose “botched late-night drafting” that proposes new press/web regulation, highlighting the concerns of many — including the Hacked Off campaign group — that politicians’ hasty law-making had resulted in legislative over-reach.

lord mcnallyIn the House of Lords last night, the Government accepted an amendment that will exclude from the Royal Charter-backed independent self-regulation plans ‘A person who publishes a small-scale blog’.

How ‘a small-scale blog’ is defined will be consulted on by the culture, media and sport department. Patrick Wintour in The Guardian reports this as “a miniconsultation with the newspaper industry on how best to construct a workable definition of the bloggers”, which would be an, erm, interesting way of going about it.

Here’s what Lib Dem justice minister Lord (Tom) McNally told peers:

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Posted in Parliament | Tagged , and | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who’s up, who’s down? How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Tue 26th March 2013 - 8:15 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 650 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers?

Full results are published below, but here’s three key lists for those who want to cut to the chase… (with comparison to December 2012 ratings in brackets)

Top 5 Lib Dem performers in the Government:

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Crunch time for secret courts – email the Lords tonight

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 25th March 2013 - 7:52 pm

This time tomorrow, the House of Lords will have voted on the Justice and Security Bill. These men and women have the future of fair and open justice in their hands.

If they pass the Bill as it stands just now, it will not satisfy the Joint Committee on Human Rights. That is serious stuff. It is counter-intuitive for any Liberal Democrat to be going against what that Committee, not to mention Liberty, Amnesty and every other human rights organisation, says. How many red flags do we need?

The amendments in the Lords will, if passed, ensure that secret courts are only …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Sam Fisk and Kavya Kaushik

Opinion: Liberal Youth petition Nick Clegg on immigration

By Sam Fisk and Kavya Kaushik | Mon 25th March 2013 - 2:06 pm

The Liberal Democrats are committed to building a stronger economy in a fairer society. We might be sick of hearing that phrase but it does sum up our party’s values pretty well.

Yet Nick Clegg’s speech on Friday would damage the party’s plans for a stronger economy in a fairer society.

If Nick Clegg truly wants to enable everyone to get on in life, he should re-consider this new illiberal stance on immigration.

Liberal Youth oppose Nick Clegg’s ’security bonds’ policy, which will stifle foreign entrepreneurship and investment in Britain. We should be encouraging people to start up businesses in here, which create jobs and economic growth.  We …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 46 Comments
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Elizabeth Jewkes

Opinion: How I helped develop our £10,000 tax threshold policy

By Elizabeth Jewkes | Mon 25th March 2013 - 11:55 am

When Nick Clegg was first elected leader, he announced a new tax policy – to reduce the percentage paid from 20% to 16%. The policy was duly passed at the 2008 Conference. Another delegate mentioned to me that he would prefer to see the Income Tax threshold raised taking the lowest paid out of tax. ‘Too late now’ he said.

I took this as a challenge and looked for a way of changing tax policy. I didn’t have to wait long. Jo Swinson MP sent an email to Women Liberal Democrats asking for policy ideas for the Manifesto Day at the …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 8 Comments
Lester Holloway

Ethnic Minorities Liberal Democrats react to Nick Clegg’s immigration speech

By Lester Holloway | Mon 25th March 2013 - 10:55 am

Reaction to Nick Clegg’s immigration speech  shows just how much our party values the cultural and economic contribution migration makes to Britain.

In fairness, Nick did say some positive things but the idea of bonds, thought to be for £1,000, on visitors from ‘high risk’ countries was inevitably going to write ‘tough-on-migrants’ headlines in the media.

No one wants overseas visitors to disappear into the unofficial economy or exploited by unscrupulous criminals, but we have a whole apparatus to deal with that already.

The Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats welcome Nick’s desire to double fines for employing illegal workers, but our membership and BAME …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 25 Comments
David Thorpe

Opinion: Osborne’s mortgage scheme is the worst of both worlds

By David Thorpe | Mon 25th March 2013 - 9:53 am

Perhaps the best outcome from the Chancellor’s budget announcement that the UK Treasury is to underwrite billions of pounds worth of mortgages has been the muted reaction to it.

In a budget which was distinctly underwhelming, the Chancellor must have hoped that his latest attempt to ‘get the banks lending more’ would be hailed in the same way that previous populist capitalist measures, such as the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme were.

Most economic decisions are empirical, and there are valid points to make on either side of any argument.

But the Chancellor’s plan has nothing to recommend it. It will do …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 54 Comments
Julian Huppert

Julian Huppert MP writes…A credible alternative to prison has always been a Liberal Democrat priority

By Julian Huppert | Mon 25th March 2013 - 8:43 am

For decades British Governments have been locking up criminals for 12 months or less, to watch them reoffend straight after they leave prison. Worse than that, the policy is costly, and holds little public confidence.

But when you look at how we treat women offenders, the situation is even worse.

Almost half of women serving 12 months or less will reoffend within the next year. And of all women in prison, 6 in 10 are there for six months or less; the vast majority of whom have committed non-violent offences. The last Government’s response was to increase the female prison …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition almost 3 years on

By Stephen Tall | Mon 25th March 2013 - 7:55 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 650 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

(All comparisons are with our most recent survey conducted in December 2012.)

58% of member say party on “right course”

Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track?

    58% (-3%) – The right course
    33% (n/c) – The wrong track
    9% (+3%) – Don’t know / No opinion

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 12 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #318

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 24th March 2013 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 318th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (17 – 23 March, 2013), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, 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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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Behind the Budget – economic analysis, confidential briefings and cottage pie”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th March 2013 - 4:45 pm

Nick Clegg’s latest letter to supporters focuses on this week’s Budget taking us behind-the-scenes of how it was developed, and highlighting the Lib Dem successes alongside the challenges still facing the UK.

libdem letter from nick clegg

Agreeing the Budget is a long and painstaking process.

It started at the beginning of the year, with a presentation by the Chancellor to the Quad (that’s me, him, the PM and Danny Alexander). The information is confidential enough that everyone in the room – even the PM – has to give back the print outs at

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie on Iraq and four tests for future military intervention

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 24th March 2013 - 3:50 pm

Willie Rennie - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsThis week the Scottish Parliament debated the Iraq War, ten years on. This could have disintegrated into a “this is why we need independence” bunfight, but, actually, it ended up being one of those occasions when you could be proud of your Parliament for being thoughtful and mindful of the terrible human cost of this conflict.

Willie Rennie spoke for the Liberal Democrats in the debate and actually was applauded by the SNP benches who are, shall we say, not usually so friendly towards …

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Libby Local

Libby Local, Episode 14: “Team Libby”

By Libby Local | Sun 24th March 2013 - 2:20 pm

“I’m not at all political but I’ll help you if like.”

My standard doorstep smile broke into a broad grin. Half an hour and a pot of Earl Grey tea later, I had recruited myself a designer and copyrighter – @Demsburybess.

Correction. ‘Team Libby’ had gained a designer and copywriter. One of the first suggestions @Demsburybess made is that we have a team identity. Team Libby it is. I’m just a little self-conscious about the sobriquet but I’m really excited about it at the same time.

Team Libby is growing rapidly. Our helpers have been recruited through church contacts, in …

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Posted in Op-eds | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

Bloggers unite to oppose “botched late-night drafting” that proposes new press/web regulation

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th March 2013 - 12:30 pm

I’m one of 17 signatories (on behalf of LibDemVoice) to a letter published in Saturday’s Guardian, reproduced below, which opposes the “fundamental threat” of the draft legislation approved this week by MPs of all parties which would regulate blogs and other small independent news websites.

It’s not often you’ll see us, ConservativeHome, LabourList, Guido Fawkes, Liberal Conspiracy and Political Scrapbook agree on something. But what we term the “botched late-night drafting process and complete lack of consultation” has, for once, brought us together. And, as the letter notes, perhaps even more remarkably got Tom Watson and Rupert Murdoch agreeing, too.

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Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members say the Eastleigh by-election result shows

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th March 2013 - 11:20 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 650 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

You say Eastleigh shows…

mike thornton eastleigh jon aylwin
There will probably be a hung parliament with the Tories under pressure from Ukip, the Lib Dems digging in against the Tories, and Labour the largest single party

LDV asked: I think the Eastleigh by-election result shows… (Respondents could choose multiple options.)

    75% – Ukip will pose a significant threat to the Conservatives at the next general election

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Boris has a right Mair in live BBC interview

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th March 2013 - 10:30 am

It was a masterclass in TV interviewing from Eddie Mair, occupying Andrew Marr’s Sunday morning chair on BBC1. (You can watch an excerpt from the interview here.)

mair johnson -mar 2013With documentary-maker Michael Cockerell’s film, ‘Boris Johnson: The Irresistible Rise’, to be screened on Monday evening (BBC2, 9pm), Mair took the opportunity to put to the twice-elected Mayor of London the allegations he’s always previously been able to laugh off. There’s a good feature about it in the Daily Mail (sorry) here.

Usually interviewers indulge Boris; I could say …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 18 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Salmond promises childcare revolution after turning down Rennie’s plans for nursery education

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 23rd March 2013 - 7:30 pm

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond  gave his keynote speech to SNP Conference this afternoon. There were three things in it that struck me as a Liberal Democrat.

A numbers game

Apparently a “yes” vote for independence would be a vote for a “prosperous economy and a just society.” Does this remind you of any phrase being used rather a lot at the moment by any Liberal Democrat who can be persuaded to do so? I wonder how prosperous an economy built on wildly optimistic estimates of oil revenues would be to start with.

Many nationalists have been complaining about their fixed budget doesn’t …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 6 Comments
Joe Otten

2013: The Year of Vince

By Joe Otten | Sat 23rd March 2013 - 4:27 pm

Following Vince Cable’s gentle call for more capital spending – now reflected in the recent budget – Politics Home talks to the Business Secretary. In suitably glowing terms…

In many ways, his allies think 2013 is The Year of Vince. His once lonely call (in the Coalition at least) for more capital spending and reliefs has been heeded. His ‘responsible capitalism’ agenda will bear fruit this year with boardroom and shareholder changes. He’s outmanoeuvred the Treasury by getting a £1bn business bank – in return for a Tory policy on employee share rights that has been gutted by the

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
The Voice

LDV Caption Competition: Where we plough, we win

By The Voice | Sat 23rd March 2013 - 12:52 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…
teamcleggsnow
(Photo by Ian Turgoose)

An action day this morning in Sheffield Hallam became an impromptu canvassing and snow clearing session. We know what Nick was saying while this photo was being taken, but what do you think could have been said that would have been even wittier?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, “Knowing Me” Nick Clegg, “Knowing You” Steve Coogan Edition.

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Posted in Caption Comp | Tagged , and | 12 Comments
Joe Otten

Lib Link: Immigration speech … an opportunity missed

By Joe Otten | Sat 23rd March 2013 - 11:24 am

Nick Thornsby, of this parish, adds his voice to the criticism of Nick Clegg’s speech on immigration, over at the Indepedendent.

Immigration is another area where the party has not just the opportunity but also a duty to shift the balance away from the negative rhetoric of the other parties and much of the media. Liberal immigration policies might not be politically popular, but it is the fate of liberals to be frequent holders of minority opinions, and we should do so proudly.

In a globalised world economy, where prosperity depends on succeeding in a global competition for

…

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Posted in LibLink | Tagged | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV Poll: Immigration – Lib Dem members have their say

By Stephen Tall | Sat 23rd March 2013 - 9:15 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 650 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Big majorities say immigration has had positive effect on UK

On balance, do you think immigration into the UK from the following areas has had a positive or negative effect on the UK?

    From Western European countries, such as France and Germany
    85% – On balance, has had a positive effect on Britain
    1% – On balance, has had a negative effect

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s illiberal hat-trick: now immigration joins ‘secret courts’ and media regulation on the pyre

By Stephen Tall | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 5:55 pm

nick cleggToday Nick Clegg made a speech on immigration. He was due to deliver it in February but decided to delay it until after the Eastleigh by-election: I guess it wasn’t an issue he wanted to stir-up for Ukip’s benefit. Or perhaps he realised that his position would be as well-received by many activists as a bucket of cold sick.

I have read it all the way through, which is more than it deserved. It’s a lazy, lazy speech. It genuflects in the direction of liberalism with some stirring …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 134 Comments
Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 22 March 2013

By Helen Duffett | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

  1. I’m a liberal and I’m against this sort of thing. Leveson-style press regulation, that is (as well as secret courts) (67 comments) by Stephen Tall
  2. Opinion: The ‘Bedroom Tax’ does not pass the Fairer Society test (47 comments) by John Coburn
  3. Opinion: Time for Liberal Democrats to consider new claims about climate change (72 comments) by Michael Taylor
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Posted in Friday Five | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Nick Clegg’s speech on immigration: the good, the bad and the ugly

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 3:52 pm

The much-missed Conrad Russell said you should read something three times before you pass comment on it. I’ve done that with today’s speech on immigration by Nick Clegg. I’ve also had several cups of tea and am frantically hunting for some smelling salts to revive me. Leaders are supposed to lead and to challenge established thinking. I have no problem with him sticking his neck out on an issue if that is what he wants to do. It’s important that we listen to him and if we don’t like his ideas, to calmly and respectfully tell him so.

It seems …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 32 Comments
Tracy Connell

‘Shares for Rights’ defeated in the Lords

By Tracy Connell | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 2:51 pm

There is an unwritten rule that there can be no deaths in the Palace of Westminster. Well, we had one in the House of Lords on Wednesday, as the controversial ‘Employee Shareholder’ clause in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill was removed.

This pet project of George Osborne would have set up a new employment status where employees would be required to give up certain workers rights in exchange for shares in the company. Labour and crossbench Peers, plus a small number of prominent Liberal Democrat and rebel Conservative peers supported the amendment.

Crossbencher Lord Pannick, outlined four main problems with the new …

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 6 Comments
Prateek Buch

Opinion: George Osborne doesn’t get it… again

By Prateek Buch | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 1:21 pm

This should have been a budget for growth, helping the UK economy to recover from the deepest and longest depression on record. George Osborne’s announcements on childcare, investment in industrial research and of course raising the personal income tax allowance to £10,000 are welcome steps in the right direction. They are all are clear examples of Liberal Democrat influence in the Coalition, not least the flagship move on the tax threshold. These measures, however, don’t go nearly far enough to support businesses starved of credit or households facing escalating living costs and squeezed incomes – where was …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 7 Comments
Bill le Breton

No braking at Gambon – a monetary policy guide for petrolheads

By Bill le Breton | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 11:48 am

If you had to choose a person from the following list, and only this list, to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, would you choose James May, Jeremy Clarkson or Richard Hammond? Tough choice, but go on: indulge me!

The last time I wrote here, I predicted that the Quad had reached a turning point on monetary policy. I did this not on the evidence of Vince Cable’s New Statesman article, but on a report in the Financial Times that Osborne was set to change the regime imposed on the Bank of England.

Well, …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 10 Comments
Myriam Cherti

The Independent View: Clegg should champion ‘everyday integration’

By Myriam Cherti | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 10:21 am

Nick Clegg’s speech later today will remind us of how crucial an effective immigration policy is to Britain. One of the areas that has been the least developed by previous governments, as well as the Coalition government, is a clear integration policy. Far too often, integration policy has focused on the symbolic notions of identity and much less on the everyday experiences of individuals that might be able to capture better experiences of integration.

Although the UK’s experience of integration is generally positive, outcomes for different groups and in different places across the country are still very mixed. A new …

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Posted in The Independent View | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Valladares

This week in Europe: 18-21 March

By Mark Valladares | Fri 22nd March 2013 - 9:21 am

European Union flags - Some rights reserved by tristam sparksNew Slovene government formed with a strong liberal presence

Following what has been described as a “constructive motion of no confidence” in the Slovene Parliament, President Borut Pahor has invited Positive Slovenia‘s leader, Alenka Bratušek, to form a new government. ALDE member party, Civic List, has joined the administration, with its leader, Gregor Virant, becoming Minister of the Interior. In addition, ALDE Treasurer, Roman Jakič, has become Minister of Defence. For any Liberal Youth reading this, he’s a former IFLRY Vice-President.

EU …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Tagged , and | 1 Comment
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